Chapter 17 -Light and its phenomena

I took this video myself one day on a lovely beach. The sun was shining directly overhead. A boat was in the distance. The sea was glorious. I saw this phenomenon called SUN GLITTER . (Check wikipedia also)

Here, as an observer standing on the beach, you will feel like you are seeing a thousand suns. The water molecules on the waves (which are angled towards our eyes), reflect the sun’s rays. (Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection) This simple formula becomes a beautiful natural phenomenon.

A physics explanation sketch is below

This course explains about light . Light is the only thing in the wide Universe that behaves both as a particle and as a Wave. Earlier it was thought by scientists that light must be a particle , imagine billions and billions of particles shooting out from the sun towards us. Later, it was proved by scientist Young in his ultra-famous “Young’s Double Slit experiment” that light must be a WAVE. Final verdict on the subject? Light behaves both as a wave and as a particle. Read on….

Following topics are covered:

1) Nature of Light – is it a wave or particle, or both? This is still not decided in the scientific world.

2) More about light waves as Electromagnetic waves, introduction to the Special Theory of Relativity

3) Young’s Double-Hole experiment

4) Young’s Double Slit experiment

5) Conceptual Difference between Interference and Diffraction

6) Interference due to Thin Films

7) Fresnel’s Biprism experiment – Refraction, Interference

• equation derivation

8) Coherent versus Incoherent waves

9) Diffraction of light

10) Practical Experiment : Fraunhofer Diffraction with Circular Hole.