The formation of a mirage on a hot road is caused by:
- A.Reflection from the road surface
- B.Dispersion of sunlight
- C.Total internal reflection after refraction in air layers
- D.Scattering by dust particles
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, total internal reflection after refraction in layers of air. On a hot day the air touching the road is heated and becomes rarer than the cooler air above it. Light coming down from the sky passes from denser layers to rarer ones, bends away from the normal at each step, and when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle it is totally internally reflected upward. The eye traces it back in a straight line and sees a shimmering patch that looks like water.
Option A is wrong because the road is rough and not a mirror. Option B, dispersion, splits white light into colours and explains a rainbow, not a mirage. Option D, scattering, explains the blue of the sky and the red of the setting sun.
Read the full article: Light: Reflection and Refraction Notes with PYQs
Practice Questions
View allA ray of light travelling from a rarer medium to a denser medium:
- A.slows down and bends away from the normal
- B.slows down and bends towards the normal
- C.speeds up and bends away from the normal
- D.speeds up and bends towards the normal
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A denser medium has a higher refractive index, and the refractive index is the speed of light in vacuum divided by its speed in the medium, so light must travel more slowly inside it.
Read the full explanation →A concave lens has a focal length of 15 cm. If the object is placed at 30 cm from the lens, what is the image distance?
- A.-20 cm
- B.-10 cm
- C.-15 cm
- D.-18 cm
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By the sign convention the focal length of a concave lens is negative, so f is minus 15 centimetres, and the object distance measured against the direction of the incident light is minus 30 centimetres.
Read the full explanation →Name the scientist who first used a glass prism to obtain the spectrum of sunlight.
- A.C. V. Raman
- B.Lord Rayleigh
- C.Isaac Newton
- D.S. Chandrasekhar
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Newton passed a narrow beam of sunlight through a glass prism in a darkened room and obtained a band of seven colours on the wall, which he named the spectrum.
Read the full explanation →The image formed by a plane mirror is always:
- A.Real, inverted and of the same size
- B.Virtual, erect and of the same size
- C.Virtual, erect and diminished
- D.Real, erect and magnified
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Rays reflected from a plane mirror diverge and only appear to come from a point behind the mirror, so the image cannot be caught on a screen and is virtual.
Read the full explanation →Which type of mirror is used as a rear-view mirror in vehicles?
- A.Plane mirror
- B.Concave mirror
- C.Convex mirror
- D.Cylindrical mirror
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A convex mirror curves outward and spreads the light that falls on it, so it always forms a virtual, erect and diminished image, whatever the distance of the object.
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