Visible Light and Color

Thursday, April 7, 2022

Visible Light and Color

Almost everyone loves a rainbow.


Rainbow visible light


Rainbows are an example of visible light.


When you see a rainbow or other colors you are viewing visible light

Visible light is the narrow range of wavelengths and frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum. It is found between infrared waves and ultraviolet waves

Visible light waves have wavelength of about 400 nm and 700 nanometers.


electromagnetic spectrum


When the sun rises and sunlight brightens the day you are seeing white light

White light is visible light of all wavelengths combined

Light from light bulbs is also made up of white light


White light is made up of different wavelengths which results in us seeing  different colors.

If white light passes through a prism you can see the different colors. pause

Interesting Science fact Isaac Newton described how white light is made up of different colors in in 1671 in his book opticks. 


An easy way to remember the colors of visible light to to use the name

ROY G BIV


Which stands for Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo and Violet.


roygbiv


Red light at the lower end of the visible spectrum, has a longer wavelength, of about 740 nanometers,; light in the middle of the spectrum is seen as green; and light at the upper end of the spectrum, with a wavelength of about 380 nm, is seen as violet. 

Colors containing only one wavelength are also called pure colors and are red,green, and blue

All other colors that we perceive are mixtures of these colors. 


Red light has the lowest frequency and photon energy and violet has the highest frequency and photon energy.

Here is a nice chart summarizing wavelength frequency and photon energy.


visible light

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