4.1 Light

What we know as light is more properly called

electromagnetic radiation

The wavelength

of light is the distance between corresponding points in two adjacent light cycle

What we know as light is more properly called

electromagnetic radiation

The wavelength

of light is the distance between corresponding points in two adjacent light cycle

Wavelength is represented by

λ, the lowercase Greek letter lambda

Wavelength is expressed in units of

length (meters, centimeters, etc)

The frequency

of light is the number of cycles of light that pass a given point in one second

Frequency is represented by

v, the lowercase Greek letter nu

Frequency is expressed in units of

per second, written as s^-1

Hertz H_z

the unit measurement for frequency

One property of light waves is

that their speed is equal to their wavelength multiplied by their frequency

The speed of light is

A constant (c)

What does the speed of light equal

2.9979×10⁸ m/s or 3.00×10⁸ m/s

Because the speed of light does not change,

the wavelength and the frequency of light are inversely proportional to each other: as one increases, the other decreases and vice versa.

For most wave energy is proportional

Wave amplitude or the height of the wave

Planks Constant

h. 6.626×10^-34 J·s

what doe the units J·s mean?

joules x seconds

Because of a light wave’s behavior, it is often referred to as a

photon

The Electromagnetic spectrum

is the entire range of possible values for light

Visible light

light we can see without external aid wavelength range between 400 and 700 nm