24.1
Light travels in straight lines
Sources and seeing, the speed of light, shadows and the pinhole camera.
24.3
Refraction, lenses and the eye
Light bending as it changes speed, lenses that focus, the eye and the energy light carries.
Daily 5
Five quick diagram questions a day from this unit. The ones you get wrong come back sooner. Progress saves in this browser.
What this unit covers
Mapped to the KS3 national curriculum (Physics: light waves).
| Programme of study | Lesson |
|---|---|
| the similarities and differences between light waves and waves in matter | 24.1 |
| light waves travelling through a vacuum; speed of light | 24.1 |
| the transmission of light through materials: absorption, diffuse scattering and specular reflection at a surface | 24.1, 24.2, 24.4 |
| use of ray model to explain imaging in mirrors, the pinhole camera, the refraction of light and action of convex lens in focusing (qualitative); the human eye | 24.1, 24.2, 24.3 |
| light transferring energy from source to absorber leading to chemical and electrical effects; photo-sensitive material in the retina and in cameras | 24.3, 24.4 |
| colours and the different frequencies of light, white light and prisms (qualitative only); differential colour effects in absorption and diffuse reflection | 24.4 |