Physics · Class 12 · Chapter 10
Wave Optics
11 lessons100 min6 simulations10 practice questions
Light behaves as a wave. Huygens' construction of wavefronts gives the laws of reflection and refraction, and predicts that light slows down in a denser medium. Two coherent sources add their amplitudes and make the steady bright and dark fringes of Young's double-slit experiment, while a single slit spreads light into a diffraction pattern with a broad central maximum. Polarisation, seen with polaroids and described by Malus' law, shows that light is a transverse wave.
Also called: interference · Young's double slit experiment · YDSE · diffraction · polarisation
Lessons
11 lessons · 100 min
01Light as a waveNCERT §10.16 min02Wavefronts and Huygens principleNCERT §10.26 min03Refraction of a plane waveNCERT §10.3.110 min1 sim04Rarer medium, reflection and lensesNCERT §10.3.2, §10.3.37 min05Coherent and incoherent additionNCERT §10.49 min1 sim06Young's double-slit experimentNCERT §10.514 min2 sims07Diffraction at a single slitNCERT §10.6, §10.6.110 min1 sim08Interference, diffraction and seeing themNCERT §10.6.1, §10.6.27 min09Polarisation of lightNCERT §10.76 min10Malus' law and crossed polaroidsNCERT §10.710 min1 sim11Chapter reviewMust-know facts, traps and formulas15 min
Simulations
6 in this chapter
Huygens wavelets at a boundaryIn: Refraction of a plane waveCoherent and incoherent additionIn: Coherent and incoherent additionYoung's double-slit fringesIn: Young's double-slit experimentYoung's fringes: colour and mediumIn: Young's double-slit experimentDiffraction at a single slitIn: Diffraction at a single slitPolaroids and Malus' lawIn: Malus' law and crossed polaroids