JASON Mission Center : Exploring Visible Light

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From: Infinite Potential Mission 1: Critical Current (pp: 17)

Exploring Visible Light

In this activity, you will work through a set of activities to observe and analyze how visible light behaves when it interacts with a variety of materials. Based on these interactions, you will analyze each experience and record what you observe in graphs and diagrams. The data will be used to help you illustrate and understand the behavior of light rays.

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The surface characteristics of an object determine the behavior of light rays that strike it.

As the sun’s electromagnetic energy travels through space, it interacts with different materials along its journey to and around Earth. Based on the properties of the material, electromagnetic energy will be affected in a variety of ways. Janet Green must observe, explore, and monitor these effects as she makes space weather forecasts.

In this activity, you will work through a set of investigations to observe and analyze how visible light behaves when it interacts with a variety of materials. Based on these interactions, you will analyze each experience and record what you observe in graphs and diagrams. The data will be used to help you illustrate and understand the behavior of light rays.

Materials

Lab 3 Data Sheet
graph paper
aluminum foil
flashlight
ruler

comb
modeling clay
flat mirror
flexible mirror
concave lens
convex lens

Lab Prep

Dim the lights in the room. Hold a flashlight 10 cm above a sheet of graph paper. Observe the characteristics of this beam, noting the circles of different brightness. Measure and record the diameter of the outermost beam.
Determine the relationship between the distance you hold your flashlight from the sheet of paper and the diameter of the circle of light that appears on the paper. Collect data and graph your results.
From your data and graph, explain the relationship between beam diameter and flashlight distance. Did all groups in your class discover the same association? Discover why or why not.

Make Observations

Separate two desks or lab tables, forming a gap of about 5 cm. Position a comb several centimeters away from and parallel to the gap. With its teeth pointing down, place a small lump of clay at either end of the comb to secure its upright position.
Shine the beam of a flashlight through the comb teeth, casting a shadow across the gap. What do you observe? How does the distance from light to comb affect the cast pattern? Explain.
Use aluminum foil to cover a good portion of the comb’s teeth, producing a central, stamp-sized window that will limit the number of projected rays.
Adjust the flashlight’s angle, position, and distance to produce a pattern of rays that appear parallel. Hold a mirror in this light-ray pattern. What happens to the rays that strike the mirror’s surface? Draw a picture of what you observe.
Examine a convex and a concave lens. Make a sketch that illustrates a cross section, or side view, of each lens. Look through these lenses at nearby and distant objects. How do the lenses affect the viewed images? Does the distance to an object affect the transmitted image? Explain.
Place each lens within the table gap so that parallel rays strike the midsection of the lens. How does passing through each lens affect the rays? Make a ray diagram that illustrates your observations.
Obtain a small sheet of flexible mirror. Examine your reflection. How does flexing the mirror affect the reflected image of your face? Position the mirror within the comb’s ray pattern and observe the angles at which rays are reflected. Does altering the mirror’s reflective surface from concave to convex affect the observed rays? Explain. Make a ray diagram that illustrates your observations.

Journal Question
Explain the role of different lenses that are found in your home, school, and neighborhood.

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