Megan Oliver Light Research Paper Optical Phenomena For centuries, people have observed the strange colors

that light up the sky and have wondered what made those beautiful, and sometimes unreal, images. The rainbows in the sky and those strange patches of water on the highway that disappear when you get close to them may seem mysterious to some, but they arent as mysterious as they seem. These are types of optical phenomena, and they are caused by the refraction and reflection of light. Light is refracted when it meets a boundary that separates two areas of different densities. This could mean that the light is traveling into an area with a different temperature, pressure or moisture level or another medium. When the light encounters this boundary, there are three things that could happen. Most of the light could travel through the boundary, where it will be refracted, leaving the small portion that didnt pass through to be reflected back. The light ray could hit the boundary at an angle, called the critical angle, which causes the half of the light to be refracted in a line parallel to the boundary while the other half if reflected back. Lastly, you may encounter a total internal reflection. This is when the light hits at an angle greater than the critical angle and causes the light ray to completely reflect off the boundary without passing through into the other medium. Total internal reflection causes the phenomena known as fiber optics. This is when light is internally reflected until it reaches the end of the fiber optic cable. This happens because the light enters at one end of the cable and is reflected off of both of the internal sides until it reaches the end, where the light will be released. That is why, although you see light throughout the length of the cable from the reflection, the ends glow brighter because that is where all of the light is released.

Another phenomenon that occurs is the mirage. A mirage happens when the ground is so hot that it heats the air directly above it, making that air hotter than the air at higher altitudes. There are multiple things that are going on to cause you to see a mirage. For instance, say you are looking at a tree that appears to be beside a body of water. A group light rays from the sun are reflected from the tree and are moving towards you in a straight line. This causes you to see the tree just as it is. However, another group of light rays hit the boundary between the cooler and warmer air and are refracted. These light rays travel towards the ground and back up to you in a U-shaped curve. Your eyes follow that path, but you dont see it start to curve, so when it starts to move upwards, thats where you see a reflection of the real image. All of this happens because of the hot air causing the light rays to refract. There is also a phenomenon known as an ice halo. This happens when the Sun or Moon refracts in the ice crystals in the clouds. This may be caused by a refraction of light through the crystals, a reflection of light from the crystals, or a combination of the two. The most common is the 22 halo, which is a halo composed of a group of arcs or one complete circle. The light from the Sun or Moon may make an arc of white light, or it may be separated into its separate colors, causing a rainbow-looking arc. Yet another phenomenon is the light pillars, sometimes called sun pillars. Light pillars occur when the light reflects off of the ice crystals in the sky. They can be caused by artificial light, such as streetlights or car headlights, or by the Sun and Moonlight, in which case they would be called sun pillars. They are very common occurrences in the winter months in areas like Niagara Falls, where there is a constant source of water. This happens because of the abundance of ice in the air from the mist of the Falls. The light may be yellow, blue, red, or violet in color. This is caused by dispersion.

Dispersion is the bending of light at different angles due to each wavelengths index of refraction, which is how much it refracts when it hits a boundary. Dispersion is most commonly shown with the help of a glass prism. When white light travels from the air through the glass, it separates into its component colors. Red, which has the longest wavelength, has the lowest index of refraction. Violet, which has the shortest wavelength, has the highest index of refraction. This means that when the colors exit the prism, red will be on top because it refracted the least and violet will be on bottom because it refracted the most. Think of a rainbow. This is caused by dispersion. Basically, white light is refracted inside of a water droplet. The light refracts when it moves from the air to the water, and each color will start to separate because they refract at different angles. The light may be internally reflected, in which case it will bounce back into the water before it exits, or it will go ahead and exit the drop of water. Either way, the light will be refracted again, which will further separate the colors. This allows you to see the distinct colors of the rainbow. As you can see, light is capable of many things when it is refracted and reflected, and everything within the topic of optical phenomena is caused by this interaction between light and matter. So the next time youre outside, look for a type of optical phenomenon. Whether it be as simple as a rainbow or as stunning as the light pillars at Niagara Falls or as confusing as a mirage, remember that it is all made possible because of a refraction of light rays in the sky.