Light, with which we see, is only one small part of a vast spectrum of the same kind of thing, the various parts of this spectrum being distinguished by different values of a certain quantity which varies. This variable quantity could be called the “wavelength.” As it varies in the visible spectrum, the light apparently changes color from red to violet. If we explore the spectrum systematically, from long wavelengths toward shorter ones, we would begin with what are usually called radiowaves. Radiowaves are technically available in a wide range of wavelengths, some even longer than those used in regular broadcasts; regular broadcasts have wavelengths corresponding to about 500 meters. Then there are the so-called “short waves,” i.e., radar waves, millimeter waves, and so on. There are no actual boundaries between one range of wavelengths and another, because nature did not present us with sharp edges. The number associated with a given name for the waves are only approximate and, of course, so are the names we give to the different ranges.

Then, a long way down through the millimeter waves, we come to what we call the infrared, and thence to the visible spectrum. Then going in the other direction, we get into a region which is called the ultraviolet. Where the ultraviolet stops, the x-rays begin, but we cannot define precisely where this is; it is roughly at 10⁻⁸ m, or 10⁻² μm. These are “soft” x-rays; then there are ordinary x-rays and very hard x-rays; then γ-rays, and so on, for smaller and smaller values of this dimension called the wavelength.

Within this vast range of wavelengths, there are three or more regions of approximation which are especially interesting. In one of these, a condition exists in which the wavelengths involved are very small compared with the dimensions of the equipment available for their study; furthermore, the photon energies, using the quantum theory, are small compared with the energy sensitivity of the equipment. Under these conditions we can make a rough first approximation by a method called geometrical optics. If, on the other hand, the wavelengths are comparable to the dimensions of the equipment, which is difficult to arrange with visible light but easier with radiowaves, and if the photon energies are still negligibly small, then a very useful approximation can be made by studying the behavior of the waves, still disregarding the quantum mechanics. This method is based on the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which will be discussed in a later chapter. Next, if we go to very short wavelengths, where we can disregard the wave character but the photons have a very large energy compared with the sensitivity of our equipment, things get simple again. This is the simple photon picture, which we will describe only very roughly. The complete picture, which unifies the whole thing into one model, will not be available to us for a long time.

We do not even bother to say what the light is, but just find out how it behaves on a large scale compared with the dimensions of interest. All this must be said in order to emphasize the fact that what we are going to talk about is only a very crude approximation; this is one of the chapters that we shall have to “unlearn” again. But we shall very quickly unlearn it, because we shall almost immediately go on to a more accurate method.

Although geometrical optics is just an approximation, it is of very great importance technically and of great interest historically. We shall present this subject more historically than some of the others in order to give some idea of the development of a physical theory or physical idea.

First, light is, of course, familiar to everybody, and has been familiar since time immemorial. Now one problem is, by what process do we see light? There have been many theories, but it finally settled down to one, which is that there is something which enters the eye—which bounces off objects into the eye. We have heard that idea so long that we accept it, and it is almost impossible for us to realize that very intelligent men have proposed contrary theories—that something comes out of the eye and feels for the object, for example. Some other important observations are that, as light goes from one place to another, it goes in straight lines, if there is nothing in the way, and that the rays do not seem to interfere with one another. That is, light is crisscrossing in all directions in the room, but the light that is passing across our line of vision does not affect the light that comes to us from some object. This was once a most powerful argument against the corpuscular theory; it was used by Huygens. If light were like a lot of arrows shooting along, how could other arrows go through them so easily? Such philosophical arguments are not of much weight. One could always say that light is made up of arrows which go through each other!