Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Wavelengths and Corresponding Colors in the Visible Light Spectrum, Slides of Physics

The relationship between wavelengths and colors in the visible light spectrum, discussing the human eye's sensitivity to various wavelengths and the scattering of light. It also touches upon ultraviolet and infrared radiation, their sources, and their impact on human skin and the earth's energy budget.

What you will learn

  • What are the properties of ultraviolet and infrared radiation?
  • How does the human eye perceive different colors in the visible spectrum?
  • What is the wavelength range for visible light?

Typology: Slides

2021/2022

Uploaded on 09/12/2022

shachi_984a
shachi_984a 🇺🇸

4.6

(15)

222 documents

1 / 3

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
What Wavelength Goes With a Color?
Our eyes are sensitive to light which lies
in a very small region of the
electromagnetic spectrum labeled
"visible light". This "visible light"
corresponds to a wavelength range of
400 - 700 nanometers (nm) and a color
range of violet through red. The human
eye is not capable of "seeing" radiation
with wavelengths outside the visible
spectrum. The visible colors from
shortest to longest wavelength are:
violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and
red. Ultraviolet radiation has a shorter
wavelength than the visible violet light.
Infrared radiation has a longer
wavelength than visible red light. The
white light is a mixture of the colors of
the visible spectrum. Black is a total
absence of light.
Earth's most important energy source is
the Sun. Sunlight consists of the entire
electromagnetic spectrum.
(Wavelength image from Universe by Freedman and Kaufmann.)
pf3

Partial preview of the text

Download Wavelengths and Corresponding Colors in the Visible Light Spectrum and more Slides Physics in PDF only on Docsity!

What Wavelength Goes With a Color?

Our eyes are sensitive to light which lies in a very small region of the electromagnetic spectrum labeled "visible light". This "visible light" corresponds to a wavelength range of 400 - 700 nanometers (nm) and a color range of violet through red. The human eye is not capable of "seeing" radiation with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. The visible colors from shortest to longest wavelength are: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Ultraviolet radiation has a shorter wavelength than the visible violet light. Infrared radiation has a longer wavelength than visible red light. The white light is a mixture of the colors of the visible spectrum. Black is a total absence of light.

Earth's most important energy source is the Sun. Sunlight consists of the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

(Wavelength image from Universe by Freedman and Kaufmann.)

Violet Light

The visible violet light has a wavelength of about 400 nm. Within the visible wavelength spectrum, violet and blue wavelengths are scattered more efficiently than other wavelengths. The sky looks blue, not violet, because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light (the sun also emits more energy as blue light than as violet).

Indigo Light

The visible indigo light has a wavelength of about 445 nm.

Blue Light

The visible blue light has a wavelength of about 475 nm. Because the blue wavelengths are shorter in the visible spectrum, they are scattered more efficiently by the molecules in the atmosphere. This causes the sky to appear blue.

Green Light

The visible green light has a wavelength of about 510 nm. Grass, for example, appears green because all of the colors in the visible part of the spectrum are absorbed into the leaves of the grass except green. Green is reflected, therefore grass appears green.

Yellow Light

The visible yellow light has a wavelength of about 570 nm. Low-pressure sodium lamps, like those used in some parking lots, emit a yellow (wavelength 589 nm) light.

Orange Light

The visible orange light has a wavelength of about 590 nm.

Red Light

The visible red light has a wavelength of about 650 nm. At sunrise and sunset, red or orange colors are present because the wavelengths associated with these colors are less efficiently scattered by the atmosphere than the shorter wavelength colors (e.g., blue and purple). A large amount of blue and violet light has been removed as a result of scattering and the longwave colors, such as red and orange, are more readily seen.