Light Waves Unit Quiz Study Guide

Why can we see an explosion but can’t hear it?

Light waves travel faster than sound waves, allowing us to see the explosion before the sound reaches us. Additionally, space has no medium for the sound to travel through

What light on the electromagnetic spectrum has the highest and lowest frequency?

Highest frequency: gamma rays, lowest frequency: radio waves.

What visible lights have the highest and lowest eberg

Highest energy: violet, lowest energy: red.

Waves that make water molecules vibrate

Microwaves

High energy waves given off by radioactive materials

Gamma rays

Waves used to give off signals, including wifi and text messages

Radio waves

Waves that cause sunburn

Ultraviolet rays

Waves used to diagnose broken bones

X-rays

Only waves humans are able to perceive

Visible light

What does it mean to transmit light

To send light waves through a medium, allowing them to pass from one place to another.

What surface type allows light to trasnmit

Transparent

What does it mean for light to be absorbed

The energy of the light is being taken in

What does absorbed light get converted in to?

Thermal/heat energy

When light bounces off an object, it’s called:

Reflection.

What material would allow light to pass through and give privacy with a window

Translucent materials

When light travels through different mediums (air to glass), what happens to the speed and path of the wave?

The speed decreases, the light refracts (bends)

Why does light travel fastest in a vacuum like space

There’s no medium so there’s no particles to interact and alter the path.

How does frequency affect light waves

Higher frequency increases energy and decreases wavelength of light waves. Additionally, the frequency determines the color of visible light

Why does light travel fastest through a vacuum vs. solids?

In a vacuum, there are no particles to obstruct or slow down the light waves, allowing them to travel unimpeded.

The denser the medium light travels through is….

the slower the light will travel

What structure of the eye focuses light onto the retina

the lens

What cells in the retina are responsible for seeing color?

cones

What cells in the retina are responsible for vision in low light

rods

Both the cochlea and the retina take sound/or light energy and convert it into ____ so that it can travel to the ____ to be processed (via ___ ___)

Electrical impulses, brain, optical nerve

Cochlea is to the ___ as auditory nerve is to _______

retina, brain

What colors of light does a yellow object reflect

red/green

What colors of light does a yellow object absorb

blue