Advertisements
Advertisements
Questions
Explain how the formation of a rainbow occurs.
Explain the phenomenon of rainbow formation in the sky. Draw the labelled ray diagram in support of your explanation.
Advertisements
Solution
- The beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow is a combination of different phenomena, such as dispersion, refraction, and reflection of light.
- The rainbow appears in the sky after a rain shower.
- The water droplets act as small prisms.
- When sunlight enters the water droplets present in the atmosphere, they refract and disperse the incident sunlight.
- Then they reflect it internally within the droplet and finally refract it again.
- As a collective effect of all these phenomena, the seven coloured rainbows are observed.

RELATED QUESTIONS
Fill in the following blank with a suitable word:
When light is reflected, the angles of incidence and reflection are ............ .
State whether the following statement is true of false:
A student says that we can see an object because light from our eyes is reflected back by the object.
A ray of light strikes a plane mirror such that its angle of incidence is 30°. What angle does the reflected ray make with the mirror surface?
What is the difference between regular reflection of light and diffuse reflection of light?
A boy with a mouth 5 cm wide stands 2 m away from a plane mirror. Where is his image and how wide is the image of his mouth?
Define the following terms used in the study of reflection of light by drawing a labelled ray-diagram:
- Incident ray
- Point of incidence
- Normal
- Reflected ray
- Angle of incidence
- Angle of reflection
Explain why, though both a plane mirror and a sheet of paper reflect light but we can see the image of our face in a plane mirror but not in a sheet of paper.
Write all the capital letters of the alphabet which look the same in a plane mirror.
If a ray of light goes form a denser medium to a rarer medium, will it bend towards the normal or away from the normal?
A ray of light travelling in glass emerges into air. State whether it will bend towards the normal or away from the normal.
Fill in the following blank with suitable word:
Light travelling along a normal is ...............refracted.
Light travels more quickly through water than through glass.
- Which is optically denser: water or glass?
- If a ray of light passes from glass into water, which way will it bend: towards the normal or away from the normal?
When a light ray passes from air into glass, what happens to its speed? Draw a diagram to show which way the ray of light bends.
A coin in a glass tumbler appears to rise as the glass tumbler is slowly filled with water. Name the phenomenon responsible for this effect.
With the help of a labelled diagram, explain why a tank full of water appears less deep than it actually is.
A vertical ray of light strikes the horizontal surface of some water:
- What is the angle of incidence?
- What is the angle of refraction?
How does the light have to enter the glass:
to produce a large amount of bending?
The speed of light is more in glass than in water.
Light travels at a lower speed in water than in air.
When a ray of light travels from water to air, it bends ............. the normal.
Draw suitable diagrams to illustrate how a beam of light incident parallel to the principal axis is reflected by:
(a) a concave mirror, and (b) a convex mirror
The diagram (figure) given below shows two parallel rays 1 and 2 incident on (a) a concave mirror, (b) a convex mirror. Draw the reflected rays and mark the focus by the symbol F.

A ray of light passes from medium 1 to medium 2. Which of the following quantities of the refracted ray will differ from that of the incident ray: Speed, intensity, frequency, wavelength?
Fill in the blank and Explain the completed sentences.
The change in ______ of light rays while going from one medium to another is called refraction.
We can see the sun even when it is little below the horizon because of ______.
List four characteristics of the image formed by a concave lens of focal length 20 cm when the object is placed at a distance of 40 cm from its optical centre.
The size of image of an object by a convex lens of focal length 20 cm is observed to be reduced to `1/3` rd of its size . Find the distance of the object from the optical centre of the lens .
Identify the wrong figure from the following.
The speed of light varies in different media.
Write scientific reason.
The sun appears on the western horizon for some time after sunset.
Write scientific reason.
The bottom of a pond appears raised.
The refractive index of a transparent medium is always greater than ______.
You are given water, mustard oil, glycerine and kerosene. In which of these media a ray of light incident obliquely at same angle would bend the most?
The deviation of light ray from its path when it travels from one transparent medium to another transparent medium is called ______.
The angle of incidence for a ray of light having zero reflection angle is ______.
If a beam of red light and a beam of violet light are incident at the same angle on the inclined surface of a prism from air medium and produce angles of refraction r and v respectively, which of the following is correct?

In the above diagram light is travelling through different media. It is noted by a scientist that ∠1= ∠3 = ∠4 but ∠2 < ∠1. Which of the following statement would be correct?
A pencil when dipped in water in a glass tumbler appears to be bent at the interface of air and water. Will the pencil appear to be bent to the same extent, if instead of water we use liquids like, kerosene or turpentine. Support your answer with reason.
Which surface will not reflect most of the light falling on them?
The bending of light as it passes from one medium to another is called ______.
A water tank appears shallower when it is viewed from the top due to refraction.
Why a pencil partly immersed in water appears to be bent at the water surface.
When a ray of light travels normal to the given surface, then the angle of refraction is ______.
When a light ray passes from a rarer medium to a denser medium, it bends:
The constant \[\frac{\sin i}{\sin r}\] for a given pair of media is called the:
A larger refractive index of a medium means that light travels:
