LIGHT AND COLOR

LIGHT:PARTICLE Light is made of tiny

“packets” called photons. The speed of light (in

vacuum) is 300,000 km/s! The circumference of the

earth is about 40,075 km In one second, a light

beam can travel about 7.5 times around the earth

LIGHT:PARTICLE

The Michelson experiment Calculating the speed of light using a rotating

mirror

LIGHT:WAVE Electromagnetic Spectrum

Radio Waves Microwaves Infrared Visible (Light) Ultraviolet X-Rays Gamma Rays

Greater Frequency

LIGHT:WAVE

LIGHT:WAVE Radio waves

Low frequency, hard to disrupt

Microwaves Rotate water molecules

Infrared Heat

Ultraviolet Sunburn

X-Rays Penetrate skin

Gamma Rays Strongest energy in Universe

LIGHT

Light slows down when it passes through materials

Fiber Optics Critical Angle

COLOR White Light

Combination of all visible light

“Black Light” The absence of light

COLOR

The color you see from an object is the color it reflects (doesn’t absorb)

What you see depends on what light reaches your eye