Light and Colour Flashcards
What is a Prism?
A triangular shaped piece of glass used to produce a spectrum by splitting white light
How do you produce a spectrum of white light?
Each frequency of light travels at a slightly different speed in glass
Each frequency of light is refracted by a different amount
What is the difference in Refraction between higher frequency light and lower frequency light?
Colours with a higher frequency are refracted more than those with a lower frequency
What is Dispersion?
The separation of colours in white light into a continuous spectrum
What does spectral colours mean?
A colour related to a single wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum
What are the Spectral Colours?
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
(Mnemonic: Roy. G. Biv
Which 3 of the spectral frequencies is the retina of your eye sensitive to?
Red, Green, Blue
What is percieved colour?
The colour that we see because of the light that is absorbed by the three types of photo receptors (Red, Green, Blue) on our retina
How is colour related to Transmission and Absorption?
If you put materials infront of a white light source that absorb certain frequencies of light but transmit others
What are examples of filters that affect absorption and transmission?
Red filter absorbs all different frequencies of white light except red, it transmits red
No light goes through a red and green filter togther
If your receptor cells receive the right amount of red, green, blue you see white
How is colour related to reflection?
Reflection from surfaces depends on the type of surface
What are the two types of surface?
Scattered, Specular
What is Specular reflection?
Reflection at a smooth surface, parallel beams still parallel after reflection
What is Scattered reflection?
Reflection from a rough surface, light is scattered in all directions
Why does ink appear black?
Because the particles absorb all the wavelengths
