Transcript Science 8 – Unit C: Light & Optical Systems

Science 8 – Unit C: Light
& Optical Systems
Jessica Binder
What do you see?
Mirage
 Meaning: “to look at, to wonder
at”.
 Root word: “mirror” and “to
admire”.
 Optical phenomenon
 Can be captured on camera
 Inferior and superior mirage –
perceived position of the image
relative to actual position
What Causes a Mirage?
 Refraction: Bending of light when it
travels from one medium to another.
 Light bends because it changes
speed when it moves between
materials that have different
densities (and temperatures).
 The bending of light makes the
object’s image appear to be in a
different position from where the
object really is.
Inferior Mirage
 The air close to the ground is hotter and less dense than
air higher up. As a result, light from the sky directed at
the ground is bent upward as it enters the less dense
air.
 The “pools of water” are actually images of the sky
refracted by warm air near the ground.
 Highway mirage or desert mirage.
Superior Mirage
 Air below the line of sight is colder than that above.
Rays are bent down and so the image appears above the
true object.
 Less common than inferior mirages.
 Polar regions, over large sheets of ice.
What do you see now?