Rectilinear Propagation of Light
Light · Rectilinear Propagation and Reflection
Syllabus tag: KCSE | Physics | Form 1 | Topic 8 Rectilinear Propagation of Light
Lesson objectives
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- State that light travels in straight lines and give the evidence.
- Explain shadows and eclipses using rectilinear propagation.
- Describe the pinhole camera and calculate magnification.
- State the laws of reflection and describe images in a plane mirror.
Summary
Light travels in straight lines, a property called rectilinear propagation. It explains shadows, eclipses and the pinhole camera. Light reflects from surfaces obeying two laws: the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, and the incident ray, reflected ray and normal all lie in the same plane.