PSYC 215 Chapter Notes -Spectral Power Distribution, Reflectance, Rayleigh Scattering
Document Summary
Chapter 6: physics of vision light & the eye. What is light: light is a form of radiant energy which stimulates receptors in the eye to evoke a visual sensation, light has speed 3 x 108 m/s, a million times faster than sound. Light as rays: light normally travels in straight lines or rays from a light source. Light rays are emitted from a point on a source in all directions. If the source is a spatially distributed object comprising many points, the lens will form a spatially distributed image of the object, inverted but with preserved topology. Light as particles: newton: light rays consist of a stream of particles. Reflections occur when they bounce off an opaque surface, and refractions occur when they enter a medium at an oblique angle and are deflected. Wavelengths that stimulate the eye occupy a narrow range from 400-700nm.