Light and the Electromagnetic Spectrum

Flashcards covering key concepts related to light and its properties as discussed in the introductory astronomy lecture.

Properties of Light

Characteristics including wave and particle behavior, as well as absorption and transmission.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Range of all types of electromagnetic radiation, differing in wavelengths and frequencies.

Kirkhoff's Laws

Three laws describing how light is emitted or absorbed by matter.

Black Body Radiation

Radiation emitted by an idealized perfect absorber and emitter of light.

Doppler Effect

Change in frequency or wavelength of light caused by the motion of the source relative to the observer.

Wave-Particle Duality

Concept that quantum entities, like light, exhibit both wave and particle properties.

Photon

Discrete packets of energy that make up light.

Planck's constant

A constant used to describe the sizes of quanta, denoted as h.

Interference

Overlap of two or more waves that results in a new wave pattern.

Emission Spectrum

Spectrum showing the discrete wavelengths emitted by a substance.

Absorption Spectrum

Spectrum showing dark bands where wavelengths are absorbed by a cooler gas.

Stefan-Boltzmann Law

Law stating that the total energy emitted by a black body is proportional to the fourth power of its temperature.

Wien's Law

Describes the relationship between the temperature of a black body and the wavelength of its peak emission.

Quantum Mechanics

The branch of physics that deals with the behavior of particles on very small scales.

Redshift and Blueshift

Redshift: increase in wavelength (moving away); Blueshift: decrease in wavelength (moving closer).