SOAR-High Earth System Science Viewing the Visible Spectrum Observations

Name  ______________________ Date  _______________________

Each individual wavelength within the spectrum of visible light wavelengths is representative of a particular color.  That is, when light of that particular wavelength strikes the retina of our eye, we perceive that specific color sensation.  Isaac Newton showed that light shining through a prism will be separated into its different wavelengths  and will thus show the various colors that visible light is comprised of. The separation of visible light into its different colors is known as dispersion.  Each color is characteristic of a distinct wavelength; and different wavelengths of light waves will bend varying amounts upon passage through a glass prism.

When all the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum strike your eye at the same time,  you see white. Thus, visible light is sometimes referred to as white light.  Technically speaking, white is not a color at all, but rather the combination of  all the colors of the visible light spectrum.  If all the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum give the appearance of white,  then none of the wavelengths would lead to the appearance of black.  Black, then, is not actually a color. Black is merely the absence of the wavelengths of the visible light spectrum.  So when you are in a room with no lights and everything around you appears black,  it means that there are no wavelengths of visible light striking your eye as you look at the surroundings.
From The Physics Classroom: Light and Color: http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/light/u12l2a.html
 

1.   List the colors of light you see in order
 

Invisible		p  acespacespace	paceColor Vocabulary    pace   to choose from:   violet indigo red green yellow blue orange cyan
V i s i b l e	Longest Wavelength Energy Level: ______ (high or low?)	1.
		2.  ce
		3.
		4.
		5.
		6.
		7.
	Shortest Wavelength Energy Level: _____ (high or low?)	8.
Invisible

2.   In the chart above,  write the name of the next longest wavelength of invisible light, and the next shortest wavelength of invisible light.

3.   What is the name of the glass that breaks up the light?  ____________

4.  What color is the light before it enters the glass?  ______________

5.   There are no exact bounds to the optical spectrum.  A light-adapted eye typically is most sensitive to green light (~555 nm).  Commonly the response of the eye is considered to cover 380 nm to 780 nm although a range of 400 nm to 700 nm is the range for many people's eyes.  The eye may, however, have some visual response at even wider wavelength ranges.

Make a light pencil mark on the paper where you see the edge of the light on both sides of the spectrum.  Compare your eyes with other student's.
 
 
 

6.  What is a wavelength?
 

7.  What do all the energies in the electromagnetic spectrum have in common?
 

8.  Compare 'white' light and the blackness of a dark room.
 

9.  Why do plants appear green?  (Explain from a physics point of view - what happens to the light?)
 
 
 
 

10.  Think about looking at the Earth from space with a visible light camera.  What kinds of things could you measure using visible light?