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Strategy: Substitute the value for the speed of light in meters per second into Equation 1.1.2 to calculate the wavelength in meters. Solution: From Equation 1.1.2 , we know that the product of the wavelength and the frequency is the speed of the wave, which for electromagnetic radiation is 2.998 × 10 8 m/s: λν = c = 2.998 \times 10^8 m/s.
- 5.3: Light, Particles, and Waves
Learning Objectives. Make sure you thoroughly understand the...
- 5.3: Light, Particles, and Waves
Nov 13, 2022 · Learning Objectives. Make sure you thoroughly understand the following essential ideas. Cite two pieces of experimental evidence that demonstrate, respectively, the wave- and particle-like nature of light. Define the terms amplitude, wavelength, and frequency as they apply to wave phenomena. Give a qualitative description of electromagnetic ...
Summary. Light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation move through a vacuum with a constant speed, c, of 2.998 × 10 8 m s −1. This radiation shows wavelike behavior, which can be characterized by a frequency, ν, and a wavelength, λ, such that c = λν. Light is an example of a travelling wave.
- Overview
- Ray theories in the ancient world
Light is electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range of wavelengths, from gamma rays with wavelengths less than about 1 × 10−11 metres to radio waves measured in metres.
What is the speed of light?
The speed of light in a vacuum is a fundamental physical constant, and the currently accepted value is 299,792,458 metres per second, or about 186,282 miles per second.
What is a rainbow?
A rainbow is formed when sunlight is refracted by spherical water droplets in the atmosphere; two refractions and one reflection, combined with the chromatic dispersion of water, produce the primary arcs of colour.
Why is light important for life on Earth?
While there is clear evidence that simple optical instruments such as plane and curved mirrors and convex lenses were used by a number of early civilizations, ancient Greek philosophers are generally credited with the first formal speculations about the nature of light. The conceptual hurdle of distinguishing the human perception of visual effects from the physical nature of light hampered the development of theories of light. Contemplation of the mechanism of vision dominated these early studies. Pythagoras (c. 500 bce) proposed that sight is caused by visual rays emanating from the eye and striking objects, whereas Empedocles (c. 450 bce) seems to have developed a model of vision in which light was emitted both by objects and the eye. Epicurus (c. 300 bce) believed that light is emitted by sources other than the eye and that vision is produced when light reflects off objects and enters the eye. Euclid (c. 300 bce), in his Optics, presented a law of reflection and discussed the propagation of light rays in straight lines. Ptolemy (c. 100 ce) undertook one of the first quantitative studies of the refraction of light as it passes from one transparent medium to another, tabulating pairs of angles of incidence and transmission for combinations of several media.
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With the decline of the Greco-Roman realm, scientific progress shifted to the Islamic world. In particular, al-Maʾmūn, the seventh ʿAbbāsid caliph of Baghdad, founded the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma) in 830 ce to translate, study, and improve upon Hellenistic works of science and philosophy. Among the initial scholars were al-Khwārizmī and al-Kindī. Known as the “philosopher of the Arabs,” al-Kindī extended the concept of rectilinearly propagating light rays and discussed the mechanism of vision. By 1000, the Pythagorean model of light had been abandoned, and a ray model, containing the basic conceptual elements of what is now known as geometrical optics, had emerged. In particular, Ibn al-Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen), in Kitab al-manazir (c. 1038; “Optics”), correctly attributed vision to the passive reception of light rays reflected from objects rather than an active emanation of light rays from the eyes. He also studied the mathematical properties of the reflection of light from spherical and parabolic mirrors and drew detailed pictures of the optical components of the human eye. Ibn al-Haytham’s work was translated into Latin in the 13th century and was a motivating influence on the Franciscan friar and natural philosopher Roger Bacon. Bacon studied the propagation of light through simple lenses and is credited as one of the first to have described the use of lenses to correct vision.
Nov 14, 2024 · Light - Photons, Wavelengths, Quanta: By the end of the 19th century, the battle over the nature of light as a wave or a collection of particles seemed over. James Clerk Maxwell’s synthesis of electric, magnetic, and optical phenomena and the discovery by Heinrich Hertz of electromagnetic waves were theoretical and experimental triumphs of the first order. Along with Newtonian mechanics and ...
The relation between the wavelength λ (Greek lambda) and frequency of a wave ν (Greek nu) is determined by the propagation velocity v, such that. v = νλ v = ν λ. For light, this equation becomes. ν = c λ ν = c λ. where c is the speed of light, 2.998 x 10 8 m/s.
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Related Behind the Scenes at MIT Videos. Exploring the Molecular World with X-Ray Diffraction. Cathy Drennan explains how she and her lab apply the principles of constructive / destructive interference, and other characteristics of light (including energy, frequency, and intensity) in their research using X-ray crystallography to determine the three-dimensional shape of proteins.
