Did you know that light travels in straight lines? Or that it can both refract and reflect depending on the lens or mirror? Light is incredible and can appear to be in many forms. Light is both a partical and a wave. To show this our class did a mirrors lab with partners. Jordyn and I used a ray box and baffle to shine light onto a variety of mirrors such as convex, concave, normal mirrors and even tin foil! Like particles, light bounces off of things and that’s exactly what we proved with the mirrors when the light bounced and reflected off of them! Have you ever been to a wave pool? Well, waves in a wave pool bounce off of the walls surrounding the pool as they form. That is just like light! When we used mirrors to see the light reflect, the particles and waves were really bouncing off of the mirror and because both waves and particles can bounce off of things, that means that light must be made of both waves and particles!

The second lab that we did was to show how light can refract and go through an obese tu such as a lexan block. For this lab, I was grouped with Ben, and the two of us completed the lab sheet together using similar materials and methods as the first lab. To view our lab sheet, click the pictures below! ⤵️

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Physicist Ibn al-Haytham, studied a dark chamber he called a « Albeit Almuzlim » which, in English is translated to camera. He was a Muslim Scholar during the Golden Age. He made significant advances in optics, math and astronomy.  Ibn al-Haytham observed how when light travels through a small hole and in straight lines, it can project an image. This was the beginning of the camera.

Cameras today can capture both real and virtual images. The benefit of a camera and how it can capture images has influenced our understanding on how light can project an image.

As you probably already know, light plays a huge role in our world today. Most of us use it everyday in multiple different ways and forms. Our largest and most important source of light today would be the sun. It gives us both heat and light. Without it, our world would be lifeless. Nothing more than an ice coated rock. Besides just giving light to Earth, the sun generates weather patterns, stirs our atmosphere and gives plants energy. Other, man made lights, do this too. Infact, light has many roles most of which are to help us people for example, lighting up our rooms so we can see at night! Some people might even call light as part of their worldview. 

Light plays a huge role in my worldview. I’m dependent on it so I can see. And not just so I can see in the dark, but in general. See, pupils absorb light (hmmm…maybe that’s why they’re black?) most of which comes from the sun. This allows us to see and form an image kind of like a camera! Well, no light? No image!

After thinking all about how much humans depend on light, it’s time to think about why we are so drawn to it. Is it because it’s bright? Or that it’s fascinating? It turns out that we aren’t actually attracted to the brightness of the light but the changes such as in appearance and movement. Some people nowadays just feel more attracted to light simply because of how it can give warmth and the fact that they can see around it. Some people just feel safer around light and seeing as we humans are all animals, animals have a natural instinct to go towards safety. But studies show that humans are attracted to light when it contrasts with something. People say that when light contrasts, it gives us some sort of visual cue. Perhaps that’s why business ads use contrasting colours to catch attention! Anyways, movements are a sign that something has happened and therefore we are mostly drawn to light, just as we are to ads, out of pure curiosity.

Well, light sure does play a huge role in our everyday lives. Us humans have studied it and have been drawn to it for thousands of years! Light is incredible and can be used in different ways and take place in different forms. It can be a wave, a particle and it can refract and reflect.

I hope you enjoyed my Refracted Reflections post and feel free to leave a comment and check my blog for future posts!