Part 2 - Making sense of sunlight Flashcards
What is the visible spectrum?
When a beam of white light is passed through a glass prism, it is broken up, dispersed, into a band of colours
The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 390 to 700 nm
It is an example of a continuous spectrum
In nature raindrops play the role of the prism creating a rainbow
What is the black body spectrum? (radiation)
It arises from hot dense objects
Other everyday examples of objects that emit continuous spectra include the heated metal of a tungsten filament in a light bulb (Figure 2.4a), or the hot-plate on an electric cooker (Figure 2.4b).
What is quantum physics?
It governs the behaviour of matter and energy on the very smallest of scales
What is the only thing the black body spectrum relies on?
the temperature of the body that is emitting the radiation.
For example a metal ball being heated with gradually increase in light with temperature.
There are two changes to the ball. Firstly, as the temperature increases the ball appears to get brighter, suggesting it is emitting more radiation. Secondly as the temperature of the ball increases the colour of light that is emitted changes from a dull red to a bright yellow/white.
