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All About Light Discussion

Light can be described as both a particle (photon) and wave. It is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and travels at 300 million meters per second. When light interacts with matter, it can be transmitted, reflected, scattered, or absorbed. These interactions determine the color and appearance of objects and allow astronomers to study properties of stars like composition, temperature, and motion by analyzing their light spectra.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
76 views29 pages

All About Light Discussion

Light can be described as both a particle (photon) and wave. It is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and travels at 300 million meters per second. When light interacts with matter, it can be transmitted, reflected, scattered, or absorbed. These interactions determine the color and appearance of objects and allow astronomers to study properties of stars like composition, temperature, and motion by analyzing their light spectra.

Uploaded by

Mika Mendoza
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LIGHT AND HEAT ENERGY

SCIENCE 8
LEARNING GOALS

 differentiate heat and light at the molecular level;


 explain the properties of light and interaction to
matter;
 convert temperature from thermometric scale to
another.
Light and Matter: Outline
Much of what we have learned about the universe is based on
observing light, and understanding how it has interacted with
matter
• Properties of light and matter

• Absorption of light to convert in to heat

• How light interacts with matter


What is light?
We see light as color and brightness
It’s actually electromagnetic radiation:
Partly electric, partly magnetic
Flows in straight line (radiates)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, light was
well understood as an electromagnetic wave.
• In the same year (1905) that Einstein published his
famous paper on Special Relativity, he also published a
paper on the photoelectric effect. He won the Nobel
Prize for the later, but remarkably no prize was ever
given for Relativity!
• When Einstein and others published work on the
photoelectric effect, scientists began to understand
light also as a discrete unit, the photon.
Light: The Main Points
• Most of what we know about the universe comes to us in the form of light

• The visible light that our eyes can see is only a small part of the electromagnetic
spectrum
• Also radio waves, infrared light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, gamma-rays

• By spreading light out into different “colors” (taking a spectrum) we can learn
about the physical conditions of the light-emitter and of intervening material
• Composition, temperature, motion toward or away from us, rotation rate, atmospheric
structure
Where does light come from?
• The Sun and stars.
• It all starts with ATOMS
• A nucleus surrounded by electrons
that orbit.
• Like the planets in the solar system,
electrons stay in the same orbit,
unless…
Where does light come from
• Electrons get kicked into a different orbit
• This doesn’t happen very often in solar
systems, but it does in atoms
• If you add energy to an atom (heat it up),
the electrons will jump to bigger orbits.
• When atom cools, electrons jump back to
original orbits.
• As they jump back, they emit light, a form
of energy
How do we experience light?
• The warmth of sunlight tells us
that light is a form of energy!

• We measure the flow of energy


in light in units of watts: 1
watt = 1 joule/s.
Color of light
• Each electron that jumps back emits one photon of light

• The bigger the jump, the higher the energy.


• The energy determines color; a blue photon has more energy than a
red

• Shine all the colors together, you get white light!


Light as particle
• A photon is like a particle, but it has no mass

• Think of a photon as a grain of sand.

• We see so many photons at the same time it’s like seeing all the sand
on a beach; we don’t notice the single grains

• When light hits film in a film camera, it acts like photons.


Light as a wave
• But sometimes light acts like a wave
• A wave has a wavelength, a speed and a frequency.
• We’ll learn more about wave behavior when we talk about
polarization
• All light travels same speed (in vacuum)
• The energy goes up as frequency goes up
• Color depends on frequency
• Wavelength gets shorter as frequency goes up
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
Light can be described as a wave
• Wave: a periodic disturbance that travels through
space and time
• Wavelength λ (e.g. meters)
• Frequency f (cycles per sec or Hertz)
• Propagation speed c (e.g. meters / sec)
Speed of light

• Light travels at 300,000,000 meters/second


• It takes 8 minutes for a light wave (or a photon) to travel from the sun to the
earth.
• We see the moon because it reflects the sun’s light
• It takes 1 second for light reflected off the moon to reach the earth.
Light and matter
• When light hits something (air, glass, a green wall, a black dress), it
may be:

• Transmitted (if the thing is transparent)


• Reflected or scattered (off mirror or raindrops)
• Absorbed (off a black velvet dress)

• Often it’s some combination. Take a simple piece of paper: you can
see some light through, white reflects, black print absorbs.
The waves can pass through the object

 
 
  The waves can be reflected off the object.
 
 
 

The waves can be scattered off the object.

The waves can be absorbed by the object.

The waves can be refracted through the object.


Reflection and color
• Remember, white light contains all colors (a
rainbow or prism separates them so we can see
this)

Why does a green wall look green in the sunshine?

• Well, in the dark, it’s black. No light reflects off


it.
• A green wall reflects only green light; it absorbs
all the other colors.
Absorption and color
• Why is a black car hotter than a white car in the summer?
• Remember light is energy. Heat is another form of energy.
• A white car reflects all wavelengths of light.
• A black car absorbs all wavelengths of light, absorbing the energy and
turning it to heat.
Reflection and Scattering

Mirror reflects Movie screen scatters


light in a light in all directions
particular
direction
Interactions of Light with Matter

• Interactions between light and matter determine the


appearance of everything around us
Light transmission
• Transparent materials transmit light, like windows.
• Remember all light has same speed in vacuum?
• Different frequencies have different speeds in transparent materials –
that causes a prism to separate the colors.
• Colored glass or plastic only transmits the color that it is; it absorbs or
reflects the other colors.
Using Light to Study the Stars

Astronomers collect energy from the stars with a telescope


Visible light
Infrared light
Radio waves, etc.

Each atom has a special pattern of light frequencies like a fingerprint

The fingerprint of frequencies will be shifted if the star is moving away or toward us (like the sound of a
freight train)

The temperature of the Star can be determined from the color of the star

Here are two pictures of the ring nebula. One in visible light one in infrared light…

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