Discover - Light Moves

You examined how light moved through various materials to classify them as transparent, translucent, and opaque. Now, you will look closely at how the light rays are travelling. Do they keep moving in a straight line, or do they change direction?

How light behaves depends on the type of material it interacts with. Light travels in a straight line until it hits an object. Then, light is affected in the following ways.

  • Transmitted – Light passes through the object.

  • Refracted - Light is transmitted but it bends as it moves through the object. Light bends uniformly (bends in the same direction) OR light is scattered (bends in different directions)



  • Absorbed – Light is blocked completely.



  • Reflected – Light bounces off the object uniformly (bounces off in the same direction) OR light is scattered (bounces off in different directions).


 Notebook: How does light travel through various materials?

  1. Watch the following video on how light travels, is absorbed, reflect & refracts

Video Link: