Science 8 – Unit C: Light & Optical Systems
Download
Report
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?