Download Chapter 18 Vocabulary – Optics and Light

Chapter 18 Vocabulary – Optics and Light
1. optics – the study of visible light and the ways in which visible
light interacts with the eye to produce vision.
2. law of reflection – states that the angle of reflection equals the
angle of incidence.
3. regular reflection – the reflection of parallel light rays all in the
same direction.
4. diffuse reflection – the reflection of parallel light rays in many
different directions.
5. image – a picture of an object formed by waves of light.
6. convex – curved outward.
7. concave – curved inward.
8. focal point – the point at which the rays meet after reflecting
from a concave mirror or being refracted by a convex lens.
9. lens – a clear optical tool that refracts light.
10.focal length – the distance from the center of the lens to the
lens’s focal point.
11.cornea – a transparent membrane that covers the eye.
12.pupil – a circular opening that controls how much light enters
the eye.
13.retina – structure of the eye that contains specialized cells that
respond to light and where the image of an object is projected.
14.laser – a device that produces an intense, concentrated beam of
light that is brighter than sunlight.
15.fiber optics – technology based on the use of laser light to send
signals through transparent wires called optical fibers.