6 Light and Sound

By the end of this chapter, you will be competent to...

w investigate the phenomena related to the reflection of light.

w investigate the phenomena related to the refraction of light.

w investigate the phenomena related to the behaviour of sound.

w use the behaviour of light and sound to fulfill day to day requirements.

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 6.1 Behaviour of light

6.1.1 Reflection of light

You may recall your experiences where you used a plane mirror or a piece of
metal with a shining surface to reflect light on to the wall. Here, the piece of metal or
the plane mirror reflects the light.

A phenomenon of travelling of a ray of light through a certain medium, strikes a

surface, changes its dirrection and travels back through the same medium is called
reflection of light.(Fig 6.1.1)

plane mirror

Fig 6.1.1 Reflection of light by a plane mirror

Reflection of light by a plane mirror.

A beam of light is formed by a large number of rays of light.

Parallel beam of light Ray of light Diverging beam of Converging

light beam of light
Fig 6.1.2

When illustrating in a diagram a ray of light is denoted by a straight line and its
direction of travelling is indicated by an arrow on the straight line.

Let us carry out Activity 6.1 to understand the laws of reflection.

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 Activity - 6.1.1
Find a plane mirror, an electric torch, 4 pins, sheet of white paper, thin
sheet of rigifoam, a comb, and a black paper.
Place the white paper on the rigifoam sheet, place the plane mirror on it,
and with the help of the torch direct a beam of light on to the mirror at same
angle, along the white paper, using the comb.
Place 2 pins on the ray which strikes the mirror.
Place 2 other pins on the reflected ray
Draw the position of the mirror, and a line perpendicular to it.
Remove the pins and join their positions with a straight line.

plane mirror

white paper
regifoam sheet
normal
comb
black paper

torch

The angle between the normal and the incident ray is the angle of
incidence, and the angle between the normal and the reflected ray is the
angle of reflection.
Measure the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection. Record the
values of angles.

Compare the rays and the angles that may have drawn with the fig 6.1.3.a
normal

incident ray
reflected ray

angle of in angle of reflection

point of incidence plane mirror

Fig 6.1.3 a

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 The following conclusions can be made by the activity you conducted.
1. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal drawn to the point of incident
lie on the same plane.
2. The angle of incident is equal to the angle of reflection.
These are known as laws of reflection.

In the fig 6.1.3.a, light rays are coming

from an object (a lamp) in front of the plane
mirror. After reflection some of the rays enter
the observer's eye. These rays seem to come
from a position behind the mirror. Then the
observer sees an image of the lamp.
Fig 6.1.3b - Image in a plane mirror

Do you know?
A line perpendicular to any plane is known as a normal and the line drawn
at an angle of 900 to a straight line is known as perpendicular line.

Wonders of reflection

In jewellery shops large plane mirrors are

placed in front and on the sides of the jewellery
items, parallel to each other. Then the number
of items in the shop appear multiplied many
times. This arrangement gives many images by
reflecting light many times. This is called
multi-reflection. ( Fig 6.15) Fig 6.1.4 - A jewellery shop where
plane mirrors are used to obtain
muti - reflections.
Kaleidoscope

Many symmetrical patterns can be created in a Kaleidoscope. The angles

between the 3 plane mirrors placed here is 600. When we consider a pair of plane
mirrors 5 images are formed. In a kaleidoscope, six patterns of images can be seen
with the object (Fig 6.1.5). If you place some small pieces of coloured glass in a
Kaleidocope, a variety of patterns are formed in this way.

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 Fig 6.1.5 - Kaleidoscope and patterns of images

Periscope
A periscope consists of 2 plane mirrors Plane mirror
parellel to each other and placed at a
certain distance at an angle of 450. This
enables an object on the other side of a barrier
to be observed clearly. Light getting reflected
through the two mirrors form an image of the
object that we wish to see.
Let us focus our attention to a magic
based on reflection of light. You may have
seen this item named "Head without body" Fig 6.1.6 - Periscope
at various exibitions.

Find a square table about 65 cm in height, and a plane mirror about 1m long
and 60 cm wide.
As shown in the diagram, make 2 slits in the inner side of the two opposite legs
of the table, and fix the mirror as shown in the diagram.(the height of the mirror
should be nearly that of the legs of the
table.)
Make a hole in the table behind the head table
mirror. It should allow the head of a
person to be inserted.
This set up should be in dim light,
therefore, fix a low intensity bulb on
top of the set up. Place a bench behind
the mirror and get a person to sit on
Image of the front
it. Arrange so that his head is leg of the table Plane mirror
above the hole, as in the figure.

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 A person observing from the front, (from a distance) will see as if there is a head
without a body.
Let us investigate the reason for this phenomenon. You can investigate the manner
in which the laws of reflection have been used here. Here, the image of the front leg of
the table is formed at an equal distance and of equal size behind the mirror and appear
as the back leg of the table, to an observer in front.

6.1.2 Refraction of light

Activity - 6.1.2
Find a cup, a coin and get some water.
Place the cup on the table and place the coin in
it.While observing the coin from above the brim
of the cup, walk backwards till you cannot see image
the coin. When the coin disappears completely, water
start pouring water into the cup and observe what
happens. coin

You will be able to see the coin again. When water is poured into the cup the coin
will appear to be raised.

Activity - 6.1.3
Find a glass of water and a pencil.
Place the pencil in the glass half - filled with water.
When you observe the pencil from the top, how does it
appear?

The pencil will look bent at the surface at which it comes into contact with water.

You have learnt in a previous grade that the reason for the phenomenon in the
activities 6.1.2 and 6.1.3 is the property of refraction of light.

Let us investigate what happens when light travels through a block of glass.

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 Activity 6.1.4
Find a comb, a plane mirror, rectangular glass block, white paper, rigifoam
sheet, black paper and an electric torch.

Set up the equipment as shown in the figure. Using the plane mirror focus a
thin beam of light through the thin, narrow spaces in the comb on the block of
glass.

electric torch
comb

plane mirror rectangular glass block

black paper
rigifoam sheet
white paper

Fig 6.1.7

The change in travelling direction when rays of light pass from one
transparent medium to another transparent medium is known as refraction of
light.
Now let us identify the path of the
ray of light through the glass block.
The ray of light falling on the glass incident ray
block is called the incident ray while
refracted ray
the ray that goes through the glass block
is the refracted ray. The ray of light
which leaves the glass block is called
the emergent ray.

The rays of light going through a

block of glass get refracted in this manner
due to the difference in the speed of light
through different media. The speed of emergent ray
light in certain media are Fig 6.1.8 - Refraction through a rectangular
indicated below. block of glass

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 Transparent medium Speed of light (m s-1)
Air 3.0 108
Water 2.25 108
Glass 2.0 108
Diamond 1.24 108
6.1.1 Table - Speed of light in different media.

Dense and rare media

When we consider any two media, the medium through which light travels faster
or the medium where the density is low, is called the rave medium.
The medium through which light travels slowly or has a high density is called the
dense medium.

Do you know ?
Light has the highest speed in a vacuum. It is 3.0 108 m s-1

normal
When light travels from a rare medium to a
incident ray
dense medium the refracted ray bend towards
the normal. Here, air is the rare medium and air intrerface
glass is the dense medium.
glass

refracted ray

incident ray Fig 6.1.9

normal
intrerface
glass
But when light travels from a dense medium to a
air refracted ray rare medium the refracted ray bends away from the
normal. Here, glass is the dense medium and air is the
rare medium.

Fig 6.1.10

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Applications of concept of refraction.
When observing very small objects,
simple microscope or hand lens is used
to magnify them. But this instrument can
be used to magnify an object to a certain
amount only.
The hand lens contains a convex
lens. Light from the object get refracted
through the lens and a magnified image
of the object can be seen through the lens. Fig 6.1.11 Magnifying a small object
using a hand lens
Lens of an eye
The eye contains a convex lens made up of living materials. Light rays from an
object get refracted as they travel through the lens. These refracted rays get focussed
on to a layer of cells called the retina. This is called focusing of light rays.

Parallel ray of light

Focus ^F&

F = Focus
Convex lens
eye ball
Fig 6.1.12

Eye defects and remedies

We can see an object without a strain to our eyes when it is at infinity.
You may have experienced that for a normal healthy eye in order to observe an
object clearly it should be placed 25 cm away from the eye (Fig 6.1.13).
retina
retina
near

distant objectat
25cm
eye ball
Fig 6.1.13

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 (Certain people have to use spectacles to improve their eyesight. Even you who
is reading this book may be a user of spectacles. Spectacles are used as a remedy for
certain defects in the eyes.)

Long sightedness
Certain people can see objects at a distance clearly but not the objects which are
near by. Such persons find difficult to read books. Such a defect where one can see
distant object but not the near by objects is called long sightedness. (Fig 6.1.14.a)
a) Defect of long sightedness
lenses

O i O i

O = Object
(a) Long sightedness i = image (b) Correcting long
sightedness
Fig 6.1.14

In this defect light rays from near by object do not get focussed on the retina,
but at a point behind it. The main reasons for this is the eye ball being short and the
inability of the eye to increase the curvature of the eye as required.
The remedy for long sightedness is to wear spectacles with convex lenses. This
helps to focus light rays from close by objects on to the retina. (Fig 6.1.14.b)

Short sightedness
Some people can see near by objects clearly, but not the objects at a distance.
Such people find difficult to read the letters on the black board from the back of the
class room.
This defect where close by objects are seen clearly but distant objects are not
seen clearly is called short - sightedness. (Fig 6.1.15.a)

a) Short sightedness b) Correcting short sightedness

Fig 6.1.15

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 The defect here is that light rays from a distant object gets focussed at a point
before it reaches the retina.
The main reasons for this is the eyeball being long, and the inability of the eye to
reduce the curvature of the eye lens sufficiently.
The remedy for short sightedness is to wear spectacles with concave lenses.
(Fig 6.1.15.b)

Wonders of refraction
w A waterbody at a distance of a tarred road.
On a day when sun is bright a
tarred road gets heated up
more. Then the layers of air
just above it too gets heated
up, density of the air is
decreased and rises up. Then
the upper layer of air behaves
as a light ray from the top of
a tree or a building get
refracted as they come Fig 6.1.16
down. It approaches the tarred road undergoes total internal reflection. The light
rays entering the eyes form an inverted image in the eye. Therefore, when we see
from far, it appears as if there is a pool of water. This is called a mirage
(Fig 6.1.16.).

w A star shines but a planet does not shine.

A star is a larger object than a planet. The distance from the earth to a distant star
is measured in light years. Therefore, we see stars smaller than planets. When
light rays travel from a star to the earth they come from a rare medium of air
particles. Since the layers of air in the atmosphere are constantly in turbulance, the
light from the stars get refracted in various directions.
Hence the apparent position and shine of a star varies constantly. However planets
are comparatively close to the earth, and will appear larger in size. Hence, does not
show a clear difference in the apparent position nor in the glitter. So a planet does not
shine.

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 6.2 Behaviour of sound

Memorise the following facts that you have already studied about sound in grade 8.

Sound is produced by vibrating various strings, membranes and air columns.

A solid, liquid or gaseous medium is necessary for sound to transmit from one
place to another.

In this chapter, let us study some scientific phenomena related to the behaviour of
sound.

6.2.1 Reflection

A small child who entered a large hall without any furniture, shouts loudly. He was
ammused by hearing his own voice over and over again, and shouted repeatedly. You
also may have experienced such incidents.

Actually how does such an incident occur? Let us do the following activity 6.2.1
to investigate the phenomenon scientifically.

Activity - 6.2.1
Take a sheet of glass and place it vertically on a table using blocks of wood or
bricks.

Place a piece of cardboard vertically on the table, perpendicular to the centre

of the sheet of glass.

Place, a piece of PVC tube on the table, about 50 cm long (AB), on one side
of the cardboard, at an angle to the glass sheet. Keep Ticking watch at
the far end of the tube.

Place another piece of PVC tube (CD), on the other side of the cardboard,
Keep your ear at the far end of this tube and observe for a Tick sound,
while changing the angle of the tube. (See fig. 6.2.1 below)

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 B piece of cardboard
glass sheet C
A
PVC tubes watch

D
ear
Fig. 6.2.1 - Reflection of sound

You could hear the tick sound of the watch through the PVC tube, while you
are changing the angle of tube. What is the reason for this observation? This is because
the tick sound of the watch transmits through tube AB, reflects from the sheet of
glass and returns to the ear through tube CD. What is the purpose of keeping a piece
of cardboard between the two tubes? That is to prevent the tick sound of the watch
reaching the ear directly.

Sound reflects by the obstacles.

Now can you explain the incident faced by the small child who shouted in the
large hall, scientifically? You may have experienced of reflection of sound in your
day-to-day life. See the figure
6.2.2 below.

The boy in this figure hears

the sound of the vehicle, which
is on the other side of the hill, as
if it is coming from the wall. This
is because the sound reflects
from the wall and reaches the
ears of the boy.

Now let us consider a few

phenomena related to reflection
Fig 6.2.2 - Sound of the vehicle comes through the wall of sound.

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 6.2.2 Echo

If you hoot in an open field,

where there is a hill or a jungle close Sound travels
Obstacle
by, you may hear the sound of hoot
again after a short while. After a
loud sound of thunder, a series of
waning sounds of thunder may be
heard with short time intervals. Sound reflected
Recall the incident of the small child
in the large hall that we discussed
Observer
before. Such phenomena are
referred to as echo.
Fig 6.2.3 - Pathway of sound when echo is heard
The reason for hearing echo is
the reflection of sound by obstacles and reaching our ears.

We have obstacles for sound everywhere around us. But we do not experience
echo always. why is that?

Sound travels through the air at a speed of 330 m s-1. The sensation of a sound
retains in our brain for about 1/10 s. Therefore, the time between the initial sound and
its reflection should exceed 1/10 s, to experience an echo. Now can you calculate the
minimum distance between the observer and the obstacle, for experiencing an echo?
Study the following calculation carefully.

The distance that sound travels through air in 1 s = 330 m

Minimum distance that sound shoul travel
through air to hear echo = 330 m s-11/10 s
= 33 m
The minimum distance between the
observer and the obstacle = 33 m
2
= 16.5 m
Therefore the following conditions should be fulfiled for an echo to be heard in air.

The distance between the observer and the obstacle should be more than 16.5 m

Reflecting sound should be strong enough to be heard by the observer.

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 Various instruments are made to fulfil human needs, using the phenomenon of
echo.

One of these instruments is the echo sounder, which is used to get information
about the depth of ocean at a given place, locations of under sea obstacles, the depth
to a shoals of fish etc. See Fig. 6.2.4 below.

Ultra sound (sounds which have higher

frequencies than the upper limit of human
hearing) is sent towards the bottom of an
ocean by this instrument. Echo of reflected
sound is received and the depth of ocean is ocean
determined according to the time taken, using echosounder
computers. This whole process is known as
SONAR (SOund NAvigation and Ranging).
Fig.6.2.4 Using Echosounder to
measure the depth of ocean
Do you know?
Some mammals like insectivorous
nocturnal bats and dolphins in the ocean find
their way using a method simalar to SONAR

Ultra sound scanners are used to diagnose

internal ailments of human body. Ultra sound waves
are sent and the echo reflected from internal organs
are utilised here.
Fig 6.2.5 - Ultra sound scanning
for diagnosing ailments

6.2.3. Reverberation

You may have experienced that in certain lecture halls, the words uttered by the
lecturers are not clear. They are mixed together. This is because of the reaching of
reflected sound to the listener, before losing the sence of the initial sound. Therefore,
the listener feels that the initial sound is prolonged in his ear. Here the initial sound and
the reflected sound are not differentiated as in echo. Such phenomenon is referred to
as reverberation.

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 6.2.4 Absorption of sound
Now, you have understood that echo as well as reverberation could be
experienced in auditoriums and cinema halls. Those phenomena may prevent clear
listening. External sound is also a nuisance for the activities in a studio. Sometimes the
sound that comes out from a hall is also a nuisance to the outsiders. When a hall,
auditorium or a studio is being planned, the behaviour of sound or acoustics in it
should also be taken into consideration.
You may have seen that a curtain is always hung as the background of the
stage of halls. And there are side curtains also. Most probably there are perforated
sheets as ceiling of most halls. The walls of the halls are plastered roughly. Those
measures are taken for the absorption of sound. This minimizes echo and
reverberation.
Now let us consider again, the activity 6.2.1, which we did to get experience on
reflection of sound. Repeat that activity replacing the glass sheet by a polystyrene
sheet or a cloth. Then you will not hear the reflecting tick sound clearly. The reason
for this is the absorption of sound by polystyrene or cloth.

Assignment - 1
Find as much as possible, the methods and materials used to absorb sound in
various instances. Prepare a report on your findings.
Clue :- Placing sponge, styroform or kapok between the speakers in buffles.

6.2.5 Resonance

Most probably you may have experienced the following incidents.

Vibration of glasses of doors and windows when thundering.
Maximal oscillation of a suspension bridge while walking over it rhythmically.
Vibration of shutters of a bus while racing the engine to a certain speed.
What is the reason for such phenomena? Before discussing this let us pay our
attention to a certain fact about the rate of vibration or frequency of an object.
When a wire is pulled to a certain extent and vibrated, it always gives the same
tone. When you beat a stretched membrane or blow a whistle, it gives the same tone,
though you do it any times. The reason for this is that an object has its own Natural
Vibration Frequency. Now let us consider the three phenomena mentioned earlier.

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 Thundering occurs because of the vibration of air layers. They have their own
frequency. The glasses of doors and windows of our houses vibrate accordingly
because their natural vibration frequency is equal to that of vibrating frequency of
air layers.

Maximal oscillation of the suspension bridge occurs because its natural vibration
frequency is equal to the frequency of rhythmic walking over it.

Vibration of the shutters of a bus could also be considered in the same way.

This vibration of an object, which has the natural vibration frequency equal to the
frequency of another vibrating object is known as Resonance.

Let us do the following activity 6.2.2 to get experiences on resonance.

Activity - 6.2.2
Take few pebbles, the masses
of which are almost same, and C
tie them to strings of different A F
lengths. Hang those pebbles on
another loosely tied horizontal B E
string. (See the figure below)
D G
Lengths of strings of several
hanging pairs of pebbles should
be equal (B-E and A-F in the Resonance of hanging pebbles
figure)

Oscillate the pebble B. Observe what happens to the other pebbles. Oscillate
any other pebble and observe what happens.

When B is oscillated, other pebbles also oscillate slowly. But after a short while,
pebble E starts to increase its oscillation. Lengths of B and E are equal. Therefore the
natural vibration frequency of them are equal. It is said that E resonates because of B.
What happens here is that the kinetic energy in B, transmits through horizontal string
and accumulate in E. That is why the magnitude of oscillation of B decreases while that
increases in E. You will further notice that the magnitude of oscillation changes from E
to B and B to E in turn. If you oscillate the pebble A, which pebble resonates? Clarify
the reason for your observation.

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 Following are few occations which are associated with resonance.

When an army parade is crossing a bridge, they do not march rhythmically. The
reason is that, if the frequency of marching is equal to the natural vibration
frequency of the bridge, it will resonate and may collapse.

A clever vocalist can tune his / her voice to resonate a near-by wine glass to
break.

Fig. 6.2.6 - A wine glass could be broken by tuning the voice

Resonance could be used to tune a musical instrument to a required note.

When you are blowing a stream of air,

Eddy currents generate round the
stream of air. The frequency of
vibration of eddy currents differ
according to the speed of blowing.
When you blow through a tube with a
closed end, a sound is generated. This
happens because, natural frequency of
air column in the tube is equal to
frequency of eddy current of blown air
Fig. 6.2.7 - Resonance of air column in a tube
stream. Sea Fig. 6.2.7

6.2.6 Musical sound and Noise

Musical sounds

A sound with a systematic frequency pattern is known as a note or a tone. You

may have heard that there are seven notes in music, denoted by C, D, E, F, G, A & B.
Suitable combinations of several notes give musical sounds. Music is used for various
purposes. Music helps to eradicate loneliness and fatigue as well as to entertainment.

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 It is thought that soft music helps to improve the efficiency of workers in a
workplace. Doctors prescribe soft music for patients suffering from certain illnesses
such as gastritis, heart diseases and so on.

Noises
Unorderly frequency patterns are known as Noises. These are unwanted sounds.
Level of sound or loudness is measured using sound level meters. This is measured in
units called decibels (dB). Sound of 130 dB may cause pain in a person and that of
180 dB may cause death. Heavy noise may also cause health problems like damaging
ear drums, causing high blood pressure, disability of keeping attention and head ache.

Assignment - 2
Find out the methods and the strategies implemented to minimize and control
noise in various occasions.
Several instances are given below as examples.
Reduce the noise of engines of motor vehicles.
Protect workers in factories from noise.
Minimize noise transmitting to the houses near highways.
Reduce the effect of loudspeakers with excess noise, which obstruct those
who sleep at night.
Prepare a letter to be published in a science magazine, including your findings.

A
Exercises C
D
1. (i) State two laws of reflection of light.
E
(ii) Shown below is an incident ray on a
plane mirror. Which is the correct B
reflected ray? S

T
(iii) Which is the correct path of an inci- R
dent ray PQ striking a slab of glass. Q U
V
P

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2. (i) The diagram below shows a light ray which falls on a surface seperating two
transparent media. (copy the diagram and draw the refracted ray.)

ray ray

water air air

water
air glass glass
air

ray ray

(ii) Indicated below is a ray of light travelling through

X
two transparent media select the dense medium
and the rare medium.
Y

3. (i) State two phenomena, which occur due to reflection of sound and clarify the
difference between those two.

(ii) Time taken for an ultra sound wave to reflect from the sea bottom and receive
back to the echo sounder of a ship was 0.2 s. What is the depth of the sea at
that point? (The speed of sound in water is 1400 ms-1)

(iii) (a) What do you mean by the term resonance?

(b) State three instances where resonance occurs.

(iv) Write four ill - effects of noise.

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