Electromagnetic Spectrum

Measuring the electromagnetic spectrum

You actually know more about it than you may think! The electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is just a name that scientists give a bunch of types of radiation when they want to talk about them as a group. Radiation is energy that travels and spreads out as it goes-- visible light that comes from a lamp in your house and radio waves that come from a radio station are two types of electromagnetic radiation. Other examples of EM radiation are microwaves, infrared and ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma-rays. Hotter, more energetic objects and events create higher energy radiation than cool objects. Only extremely hot objects or particles moving at very high velocities can create high-energy radiation like X-rays and gamma-rays. Here are the different types of radiation in the EM spectrum, in order from lowest energy to highest:

Radio: Yes, this is the same kind of energy that radio stations emit into the air for your boom box to capture and turn into your favorite Mozart, Madonna, or Justin Timberlake tunes. But radio waves are also emitted by other things ... such as stars and gases in space. You may not be able to dance to what these objects emit, but you can use it to learn what they are made of.

Microwaves: They will cook your popcorn in just a few minutes! Microwaves in space are used by astronomers to learn about the structure of nearby galaxies, and our own Milky Way! Infrared: Our skin emits infrared light, which is why we can be seen in the dark by someone using night vision goggles. In space, IR light maps the dust between stars. Visible: Yes, this is the part that our eyes see. Visible radiation is emitted by everything from fireflies to light bulbs to stars ... also by fast-moving particles hitting other particles. Ultraviolet: We know that the Sun is a source of ultraviolet (or UV) radiation, because it is the UV rays that cause our skin to burn! Stars and other "hot" objects in space emit UV radiation. X-rays: Your doctor uses them to look at your bones and your dentist to look at your teeth. Hot gases in the Universe also emit X-rays .

Gamma-rays: Radioactive materials (some natural and others made by man in things like nuclear power plants) can emit gamma-rays. Big particle accelerators that scientists use to help them understand what matter is made of can sometimes generate gamma-rays. But the biggest gamma-ray generator of all is the Universe! It makes gamma radiation in all kinds of ways.

A Radio Wave is not a Gamma-Ray, a Microwave is not an X-ray ... or is it?

We may think that radio waves are completely different physical objects or events than gammarays. They are produced in very different ways, and we detect them in different ways. But are they really different things? The answer is 'no'. Radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and all the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are fundamentally the same thing. They are all electromagnetic radiation.

Radio waves, visible light, X-rays, and all the other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are fundamentally the same thing, electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation can be described in terms of a stream of photons, which are massless particles each traveling in a wave-like pattern and moving at the speed of light. Each photon contains a certain amount (or bundle) of energy, and all electromagnetic radiation consists of these photons. The only difference between the various types of electromagnetic radiation is the amount of energy found in the photons. Radio waves have photons with low energies, microwaves have a little more energy than radio waves, infrared has still more, then visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, and ... the most energetic of all ... gamma-rays. Actually, the electromagnetic spectrum can be expressed in terms of energy, wavelength, or frequency. Each way of thinking about the EM spectrum is related to the others in a precise mathematical way. So why do we have three ways of describing things, each with a different set of physical units? After all, frequency is measured in cycles per second (which is called a Hertz), wavelength is measured in meters, and energy is measured in electron volts.

The electromagnetic spectrum can be expressed in terms of energy, wavelength, or frequency. The answer is that scientists don't like to use big numbers when they don't have to. It is much easier to say or write "two kilometers or 2 km" than "two thousand meters or 2,000 m". So generally, scientists use whatever units are easiest for whatever they are working with. In radio astronomy, astronomers tend to use wavelengths or frequencies. This is because most of the radio part of the EM spectrum falls in the range from about 1 cm to 1 km (30 gigahertz (GHz) to 100 kilohertz (kHz)). The radio is a very broad part of the EM spectrum. Infrared astronomers also use wavelength to describe their part of the EM spectrum. They tend to use microns (or millionths of meters) for wavelengths, so that they can say their part of the EM spectrum falls in the range 1 to 100 microns. Optical astronomers use wavelengths as well. Scientists use both angstroms (0.00000001 cm, or 10 -8 cm in scientific notation) and nanometers (0.0000001, or 107 , cm). In the newer "SI" version of the metric system, we think of visible light in units of nanometers or 0.000000001 meters (10-9 m). In this system, the violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red light we know so well has wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers. This range is only a small part of the entire EM spectrum, so you can tell that the light we see is just a little fraction of all the EM radiation around us! By the time you get to the ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray regions of the EM spectrum, lengths have become too tiny to think about any more. So scientists usually refer to these photons by their energies, which are measured in electron volts. Ultraviolet radiation falls in the range from a few electron volts (eV) to about 100 eV. Xray photons have energies in the range 100 eV to 100,000 eV (or 100 keV). Gamma-rays then are all the photons with energies greater than 100 keV. Show me a chart of the wavelength, frequency, and energy regimes of the spectrum !

Why Do We Have to Go to Space to See All of the Electromagnetic Spectrum?

Electromagnetic radiation from space is unable to reach the surface of the Earth except at a very few wavelengths, such as the visible spectrum, radio frequencies, and some ultraviolet wavelengths. Astronomers can get above enough of the Earth's atmosphere to observe at some infrared wavelengths from mountain tops or by flying their telescopes in an aircraft. Experiments can also be taken up to altitudes as high as 35 km by balloons which can operate for months. Rocket flights can take instruments all the way above the Earth's atmosphere for just a few minutes before they fall back to Earth, but a great many important first results in astronomy and astrophysics came from just those few minutes of observations. For long-term observations, however, it is best to have your detector on an orbiting satellite ... and get above it all!

How X-rays Work

As with many of mankind's monumental discoveries, X-ray technology was invented completely by accident. In 1895, a German physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen made the discovery while experimenting with electron beams in a gas discharge tube. Roentgen noticed that a fluorescent screen in his lab started to glow when the electron beam was turned on. This response in itself wasn't so surprising -- fluorescent material normally glows in reaction to electromagnetic radiation -- but Roentgen's tube was surrounded by heavy black cardboard. Roentgen assumed this would have blocked most of the radiation.

Roentgen placed various objects between the tube and the screen, and the screen still glowed. Finally, he put his hand in front of the tube, and saw the silhouette of his bones projected onto the fluorescent screen. Immediately after discovering X-rays themselves, he had discovered their most beneficial application. Roentgen's remarkable discovery precipitated one of the most important medical advancements in human history. X-ray technology lets doctors see straight through human tissue to examine broken bones, cavities and swallowed objects with extraordinary ease. Modified X-ray procedures can be used to examine softer tissue, such as the lungs, blood vessels or the intestines. In this article, we'll find out exactly how X-rays machines pull off this incredible trick. As it turns out, the basic process is really very simple.

What's an X-Ray?
X-rays are basically the same thing as visible light rays. Both are wavelike forms of electromagnetic energy carried by particles called photons (see How Light Works for details). The difference between X-rays and visible light rays is the energy level of the individual photons. This is also expressed as the wavelength of the rays. Our eyes are sensitive to the particular wavelength of visible light, but not to the shorter wavelength of higher energy X-ray waves or the longer wavelength of the lower energy radio waves. Visible light photons and X-ray photons are both produced by the movement of electrons in atoms. Electrons occupy different energy levels, or orbitals, around an atom's nucleus. When an electron drops to a lower orbital, it needs to release some energy -- it releases the extra energy in the form of a photon. The energy level of the photon depends on how far the electron dropped between orbitals When a photon collides with another atom, the atom may absorb the photon's energy by boosting an electron to a higher level. For this to happen, the energy level of the photon has to match the energy difference between the two electron positions. If not, the photon can't shift electrons between orbitals.

The atoms that make up your body tissue absorb visible light photons very well. The energy level of the photon fits with various energy differences between electron positions. Radio waves don't have enough energy to move electrons between orbitals in larger atoms, so they pass through most stuff. X-ray photons also pass through most things, but for the opposite reason: They have too much energy. Other X-Ray Uses
The most important contributions of X-ray technology have been in the world of medicine, but X-rays have played a crucial role in a number of other areas as well. X-rays have been pivotal in research involving quantum mechanics theory, crystallography and cosmology. In the industrial world, X-ray scanners are often used to detect minute flaws in heavy metal equipment. And X-ray scanners have become standard equipment in airport security, of course.

They can, however, knock an electron away from an atom altogether. Some of the energy from the X-ray photon works to separate the electron from the atom, and the rest sends the electron flying through space. A larger atom is more likely to absorb an X-ray photon in this way, because larger atoms have greater energy differences between orbitals -- the energy level more closely matches the energy of the photon. Smaller atoms, where the electron orbitals are separated by relatively low jumps in energy, are less likely to absorb X-ray photons. The soft tissue in your body is composed of smaller atoms, and so does not absorb X-ray photons particularly well. The calcium atoms that make up your bones are much larger, so they are better at absorbing X-ray photons.

The X-Ray Machine

The heart of an X-ray machine is an electrode pair -- a cathode and an anode -- that sits inside a glass vacuum tube. The cathode is a heated filament, like you might find in an older fluorescent lamp. The machine passes current through the filament, heating it up. The heat sputters electrons off of the filament surface. The positively-charged anode, a flat disc made of tungsten, draws the electrons across the tube.

The voltage difference between the cathode and anode is extremely high, so the electrons fly through the tube with a great deal of force. When a speeding electron collides with a tungsten atom, it knocks loose an electron in one of the atom's lower orbitals. An electron in a higher orbital immediately falls to the lower energy level, releasing its extra energy in the form of a photon. It's a big drop, so the photon has a high energy level -- it is an X-ray photon.

The free electron collides with the tungsten atom, knocking an electron out of a lower orbital. A higher orbital electron fills the empty position, releasing its excess energy as a photon.

Free electrons can also generate photons without hitting an atom. An atom's nucleus may attract a speeding electron just enough to alter its course. Like a comet whipping around the sun, the electron slows down and changes direction as it speeds past the atom. This "braking" action causes the electron to emit excess energy in the form of an X-ray photon.

The free electron is attracted to the tungsten atom nucleus. As the electron speeds past, the nucleus alters its course. The electron loses energy, which it releases as an X-ray photon.

Contrast Media In a normal X-ray picture, most soft tissue doesn't show up clearly. To focus in on organs, or to examine the blood vessels that make up the circulatory system, doctors must introduce contrast media into the body. Contrast media are liquids that absorb X-rays more effectively than the surrounding tissue. To bring organs in the digestive and endocrine systems into focus, a patient will swallow a contrast media mixture, typically a barium compound. If the doctors want to examine blood vessels or other elements in the circulatory system, they will inject contrast media into the patient's

bloodstream. Contrast media are often used in conjunction with a fluoroscope. In fluoroscopy, the X-rays pass through the body onto a fluorescent screen, creating a moving X-ray image. Doctors may use fluoroscopy to trace the passage of contrast media through the body. Doctors can also record the moving X-ray images on film or video. The high-impact collisions involved in X-ray production generate a lot of heat. A motor rotates the anode to keep it from melting (the electron beam isn't always focused on the same area). A cool oil bath surrounding the envelope also absorbs heat. The entire mechanism is surrounded by a thick lead shield. This keeps the X-rays from escaping in all directions. A small window in the shield lets some of the X-ray photons escape in a narrow beam. The beam passes through a series of filters on its way to the patient. A camera on the other side of the patient records the pattern of X-ray light that passes all the way through the patient's body. The X-ray camera uses the same film technology as an ordinary camera, but X-ray light sets off the chemical reaction instead of visible light. (See How Photographic Film Works to learn about this process.) Generally, doctors keep the film image as a negative. That is, the areas that are exposed to more light appear darker and the areas that are exposed to less light appear lighter. Hard material, such as bone, appears white, and softer material appears black or gray. Doctors can bring different materials into focus by varying the intensity of the X-ray beam.

Are X-Rays Bad For You?

X-rays are a wonderful addition to the world of medicine; they let doctors peer inside a patient without any surgery at all. It's much easier and safer to look at a broken bone using X-rays than it is to open a patient up. But X-rays can also be harmful. In the early days of X-ray science, a lot of doctors would expose patients and themselves to the beams for long periods of time. Eventually, doctors and patients started developing radiation sickness, and the medical community knew something was wrong. The problem is that X-rays are a form of ionizing radiation. When normal light hits an atom, it can't change the atom in any significant way. But when an X-ray hits an atom, it can knock electrons off the atom to create an ion, an electrically-charged atom. Free electrons then collide with other atoms to create more ions. An ion's electrical charge can lead to unnatural chemical reactions inside cells. Among other things, the charge can break DNA chains. A cell with a broken strand of DNA will either die or the DNA will develop a mutation. If a lot of cells die, the body can develop various diseases. If the DNA mutates, a cell may become cancerous, and this cancer may spread. If the mutation is in a sperm or an egg cell, it may lead to birth defects. Because of all these risks, doctors use X-rays sparingly today. Even with these risks, X-ray scanning is still a safer option than surgery. X-ray machines are an invaluable tool in medicine, as well as an asset in security and scientific research. They are truly one of the most useful inventions of all time.

X-rays

As the wavelengths of light decrease, they increase in energy. X-rays have smaller wavelengths and therefore higher energy than ultraviolet waves. We usually talk about X-rays in terms of their energy rather than wavelength. This is partially because X-rays have very small wavelengths. It is also because Xray light tends to act more like a particle than a wave. X-ray detectors collect actual photons of X-ray light - which is very different from the radio telescopes that have large dishes designed to focus radio waves! X-rays were first observed and documented in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, a German scientist who found them quite by accident when experimenting with vacuum tubes. A week later, he took an X-ray photograph of his wife's hand which clearly revealed her wedding ring and her bones. The photograph electrified the general public and aroused great scientific interest in the new form of radiation. Roentgen called it "X" to indicate it was an unknown type of radiation. The name stuck, although (over Roentgen's objections), many of his colleagues suggested calling them Roentgen rays. They are still occasionally referred to as Roentgen rays in Germanspeaking countries. The Earth's atmosphere is thick enough that virtually no X-rays are able to penetrate from outer space all the way to the Earth's surface. This is good for us but also bad for astronomy - we have to put X-ray telescopes and detectors on satellites! We cannot do X-ray astronomy from the ground.
How do we "see" using X-ray light?

What would it be like to see X-rays? Well, we wouldn't be able to see through people's clothes, no matter what the ads for X-ray glasses tell us! If we could see X-rays, we could see things that either emit X-rays or halt their transmission. Our eyes would be like the X-ray film used in hospitals or dentist's offices. X-ray film "sees" X-rays, like the ones that travel through your

skin. It also sees shadows left by things that the X-rays can't travel through (like bones or metal). When you get an X-ray taken at a hospital, X-ray sensitive film is put on one side of your body, and X-rays are shot through you. At a dentist, the film is put inside your mouth, on one side of your teeth, and X-rays are shot through your jaw, just like in this picture. It doesn't hurt at all - you can't feel X-rays. Because your bones and teeth are dense and absorb more X-rays then your skin does, silhouettes of your bones or teeth are left on the X-ray film while your skin appears transparent. Metal absorbs even more X-rays can you see the filling in the image of the tooth? When the Sun shines on us at a certain angle, our shadow is projected onto the ground. Similarly, when X-ray light shines on us, it goes through our skin, but allows shadows of our bones to be projected onto and captured by film. This is an X-ray photo of a one year old girl. Can you see the shadow of what she swallowed? We use satellites with X-ray detectors on them to do X-ray astronomy. In astronomy, things that emit X-rays (for example, black holes) are like the dentist's X-ray machine, and the detector on the satellite is like the X-ray film. X-ray detectors collect individual X-rays (photons of X-ray light) and things like the number of photons collected, the energy of the photons collected, or how

fast the photons are detected, can tell us things about the object that is emitting them. To the right is an image of a real X-ray detector. This instrument is called the Proportional Counter Array and it is on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite. It looks very different from anything you might see at a dentist's office!
What does X-ray light show us?

Many things in space emit X-rays, among them are black holes, neutron stars, binary star systems, supernova remnants, stars, the Sun, and even some comets! The Earth glows in many kinds of light, including the energetic X-ray band. Actually, the Earth itself does not glow - only aurora produced high in the Earth's atmosphere. These aurora are caused by charged particles from the Sun. To the left is the first picture of the Earth in X-rays, taken in March, 1996 with the orbiting Polar satellite. The area of brightest X-ray emission is red. The energetic charged particles from the Sun that cause aurora also energize electrons in the Earth's magnetosphere. These electrons move along the Earth's magnetic field and eventually strike the Earth's ionosphere, causing the X-ray emission. These X-rays are not dangerous because they are absorbed by lower parts of the Earth's atmosphere. (The above caption and image are from the Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 30, 1996.)

Credit: Polar, PIXIE, NASA

Recently, we learned that even comets emit X-rays! This image of Comet Hyakutake was taken by an X-ray satellite called ROSAT, short for the Roentgen Satellite. (It was named after the discoverer of X-rays.)

The Sun also emits X-rays - here is what the Sun looked like in Xrays on April 27th, 2000. This image was taken by the Yokoh satellite.

Many things in deep space give off X-rays. Many stars are in binary star systems - which means that two stars orbit each other. When one of these stars is a black hole or a neutron star, material is pulled off the normal star. This materials spirals into the black hole or neutron star and heats up to very high temperatures. When something is heated to over a million degrees, it will give off X-rays! The above image is an artist's conception of a binary star system - it shows the material being pulled off the red star by its invisible black hole companion and into an orbiting disk.

This image is special - it shows a supernova remnant - the remnant of a star that exploded in a nearby galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud. The false-colors show what this supernova remnant looks like in X-rays (in blue), visible light (green) and radio (red).

Credit: X-ray (NASA/CXC/SAO); Optical (NASA/HST); Radio: (CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA)

This is the same supernova remnant but this image shows only X-ray emission.

Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

Electromagnetic Spectrum Tour

Light, heat, radio signals, and medical X-rays are all forms of electromagnetic radiationwaves moving through space that are delivered by massless particles called photons. The only thing that differentiates one type of electromagnetic radiation from any other is the energy carried by its photons. Here, take a tour of the spectrum that begins with radio waves and takes you through microwaves, infrared radiation, light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays.

Electromagnetic Radiation
Electromagnetic radiation, the larger family of wave-like phenomena to which visible light belongs (also known as radiant energy), is the primary vehicle transporting energy through the vast reaches of the universe. This interactive tutorial explores the classical representation of an electromagnetic wave as a sine function, and enables the visitor to vary amplitude and wavelength to demonstrate how this function appears in three dimensions. The tutorial initializes with a sine function simulating electromagnetic wave propagation traversing from left to right across the window. The oscillating electric field vectors of the virtual electromagnetic wave are represented by blue lines, while the magnetic field vectors are depicted in red. In order to

operate the tutorial, use the mouse cursor to drag the wave back and forth in the window to observe how it appears from different angles. The Filled slider can be employed to vary the density of vector lines appearing within the sine function, and the Amplitude slider increases or decreases vector amplitude. Placing a checkmark in the Show Wave Color check box changes to the wave simulate the color matching the current Wavelength slider value. This slider can be utilized to alter the wavelength of the virtual wave between a range of 300 nanometers (ultraviolet) to 800 nanometers (infrared). As the Wavelength slider is translated, the color corresponding to the current wavelength is acquired by the virtual electromagnetic wave (provided the Show Wave Color check box is active), and the name (red, yellow, green, etc.) also appears above the slider bar. An electromagnetic wave travels or propagates in a direction that is oriented at right angles to the vibrations of both the electric (E) and magnetic (B) oscillating field vectors, transporting energy from the radiation source to an undetermined final destination. The two oscillating energy fields are mutually perpendicular (illustrated in Figure 1) and vibrate in phase following the mathematical form of a sine wave. Electric and magnetic field vectors are not only perpendicular to each other, but are also perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. By convention, and to simplify illustrations, the vectors representing the electric and magnetic oscillating fields of electromagnetic waves are often omitted, although they are understood to still exist.

Whether taking the form of a signal transmitted to a radio from the broadcast station, heat radiating from a fireplace, the dentist's X-rays producing images of teeth, or the visible and ultraviolet light emanating from the sun, the various categories of electromagnetic radiation all share identical and fundamental wave-like properties. Every category of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, oscillates in a periodic fashion with peaks and valleys (or troughs), and displays a characteristic amplitude, wavelength, and frequency that together define the direction, energy, and intensity of the radiation. The classical schematic diagram of an electromagnetic wave presented in Figure 1 illustrates the sinusoidal nature of oscillating electric and magnetic component vectors as they propagate through space. As a matter of convenience, most illustrations depicting electromagnetic radiation purposely omit the magnetic component, instead representing only the electric field vector as a sine wave in a two-dimensional graphical plot having defined x and y coordinates. By convention, the y component of the sine wave indicates the amplitude of the electric (or magnetic field), while the x component represents time, the distance traveled, or the phase relationship with another sine wave. A standard measure of all electromagnetic radiation is the magnitude of the wavelength (in a vacuum), which is usually stated in units of nanometers (one-thousandth of a micrometer) for the visible light portion of the spectrum. The wavelength is defined as the distance between two successive peaks (or valleys) of the waveform (see Figure 1). The corresponding frequency of the radiated wave, which is the number of sinusoidal cycles (oscillations or complete wavelengths) that pass a given point per second, is proportional to the reciprocal of the wavelength. Thus, longer wavelengths correspond to lower frequency radiation and shorter wavelengths correspond to higher frequency radiation. Frequency is usually expressed in quantities of hertz (Hz) or cycles per second (cps).

Visible Light

Wavelike Behaviors of Light

An age-old debate that has persisted among scientists is related to the question, "Is light a wave or a stream of particles?" Very noteworthy and distinguished physicists have taken up each side of the argument, providing a wealth of evidence for each side. The fact is that light exhibits behaviors that are characteristic of both waves and particles. In this unit of The Physics Classroom Tutorial, the focus will be on the wavelike nature of light. Light exhibits certain behaviors that are characteristic of any wave and would be difficult to explain with a purely particle-view. Light reflects in the same manner that any wave would reflect. Light refracts in the same manner that any wave would refract. Light diffracts in the same manner that any wave would diffract. Light undergoes interference in the same manner that any wave would interfere. And light exhibits the Doppler effect just as any wave would exhibit the Doppler effect. Light behaves in a way that is consistent with our conceptual and mathematical understanding of waves. Since light behaves like a wave, one would have good reason to believe that it might be a wave. In Lesson 1, we will investigate the variety of behaviors, properties and characteristics of light that seem to support the wave model of light. On this page, we will focus on three specific behaviors - reflection, refraction and diffraction. A wave doesn't just stop when it reaches the end of the medium. Rather, a wave will undergo certain behaviors when it encounters the end of the medium. Specifically, there will be some reflection off the boundary and some transmission into the new medium. The transmitted wave undergoes refraction (or bending) if it approaches the boundary at an angle. If the boundary is merely an obstacle implanted within the medium, and if the dimensions of the obstacle are smaller than the wavelength of the wave, then there will be very noticeable diffraction of the wave around the object. Each one of these behaviors - reflection, refraction and diffraction - is characterized by specific conceptual principles and mathematical equations. The reflection, refraction, and diffraction of waves were first introduced in Unit 10 of The Physics Classroom Tutorial. In Unit 11 of The Physics Classroom Tutorial, the reflection, refraction, and diffraction of sound waves was discussed. Now we will see how light waves demonstrate their wave nature by reflection, refraction and diffraction. Reflection of Light Waves All waves are known to undergo reflection or the bouncing off of an obstacle. Most people are very accustomed to the fact that light waves also undergo reflection. The reflection of light waves off of a mirrored surface results in the formation of an image. One characteristic of wave reflection is that the angle at which the wave approaches a flat reflecting surface is equal to the angle at which the wave leaves the surface. This characteristic is observed for water waves and sound waves. It is also observed for light waves. Light, like any wave, follows the law of reflection when bouncing off surfaces. The reflection of light waves will be discussed in more detail in Unit 13 of The Physics Classroom. For now, it is enough to say that the reflective behavior of light provides evidence for the wavelike nature of light. Refraction of Light Waves All waves are known to undergo refraction when they pass from one medium to another medium. That is, when a wavefront crosses the boundary between two media, the direction that the wavefront is moving undergoes a sudden change; the path is "bent." This behavior of wave refraction can be described by both conceptual and mathematical principles. First, the direction of "bending" is dependent upon the relative speed of the two media. A wave will bend one way when it passes from a medium in which it travels slowly into a medium in which it travels fast; and if moving from a fast medium to a slow medium, the wavefront will bend in the opposite direction. Second, the amount of bending is dependent upon the actual speeds of the two media on each side of the boundary. The amount of bending is a measurable behavior that follows distinct mathematical equations. These equations are based upon the speeds of the wave in the two media and the angles at which the wave approaches and departs from the boundary. Light, like any wave, is known to refract as it passes from one medium into another medium. In fact, a study of the refraction of light reveals that its refractive behavior follows the same conceptual and mathematical rules that govern the refractive behavior of other waves such as water waves and sound waves. The refraction of light waves will be discussed in more detail in Unit 14 of The Physics Classroom Tutorial. For now, it is enough to say that the refractive behavior of light provides evidence for the wavelike nature of light. Diffraction of Light Waves Reflection involves a change in direction of waves when they bounce off a barrier. Refraction of waves involves a change in the direction of waves as they pass from one medium to another. And diffraction involves a change in direction of waves as they pass through an opening or around an obstacle in their path. Water waves have the ability to travel around corners, around obstacles and through openings. Sound

waves do the same. But what about light? Do light waves bend around obstacles and through openings? If they do, then it would provide still more evidence to support the belief that light behaves as a wave. When light encounters an obstacle in its path, the obstacle blocks the light and tends to cause the formation of a shadow in the region behind the obstacle. Light does not exhibit a very noticeable ability to bend around the obstacle and fill in the region behind it with light. Nonetheless, light does diffract around obstacles. In fact, if you observe a shadow carefully, you will notice that its edges are extremely fuzzy. Interference effects occur due to the diffraction of light around different sides of the object, causing the shadow of the object to be fuzzy. This is often demonstrated in a Physics classroom with a laser light and penny demonstration. Light diffracting around the right edge of a penny can constructively and destructively interfere with light diffracting around the left edge of the penny. The result is that an interference pattern is created; the pattern consists of alternating rings of light and darkness. Such a pattern is only noticeable if a narrow beam of monochromatic light (i.e., single wavelength light) is passed directed at the penny. The photograph at the right shows an interference pattern created in this manner. Since, light waves are diffracting around the edges of the penny, the waves are broken up into different wavefronts that converge at a point on a screen to produce the interference pattern shown in the photograph. Can you explain this phenomenon with a strictly particle-view of light? This amazing penny diffraction demonstration provides another reason why believing that light has a wavelike nature makes cents (I mean "sense"). These interference effects will be discussed in more detail later in this lesson.

Light behaves as a wave - it undergoes reflection, refraction, and diffraction just like any wave would. Yet there is still more reason to believe in the wavelike nature of light. Continue with Lesson 1 to learn about more behaviors that could never be explained by a strictly particle-view of light.

Color Addition
Color perception, like sound perception, is a complex subject involving the disciplines of psychology, physiology, biology, chemistry and physics. When you look at an object and perceive a distinct color, you are not necessarily seeing a single frequency of light. Consider for instance that you are looking at a shirt and it appears purple to your eye. In such an instance, there may be several frequencies of light striking your eye with varying degrees of intensity. Yet your eye-brain system interprets the frequencies that strike your eye and the shirt is decoded by your brain as being purple. The subject of color perception can be simplified if we think in terms of primary colors of light. We have already learned that white is not a color at all, but rather the presence of all the frequencies of visible light. When we speak of white light, we are referring to ROYGBIV - the presence of the entire spectrum of visible light. But combining the range of frequencies in the visible light spectrum is not the only means of producing white light. White light can also be produced by combining only three distinct frequencies of light, provided that they are widely separated on the visible light spectrum. Any three colors (or frequencies) of light that produce white light when combined with the correct intensity are called primary colors of light. There are a variety of sets of primary colors. The most common set of primary colors is red (R), green (G) and blue (B). When red, green and blue light are mixed or added together with the proper intensity, white (W) light is obtained. This is often represented by the equation below:

R+G+B=W
In fact, the mixing together (or addition) of two or three of these three primary colors of light with varying degrees of intensity can produce a wide range of other colors. For this reason, many television sets and computer monitors produce the range of colors on the monitor by the use of red, green and blue lightemitting phosphors. The addition of the primary colors of light can be demonstrated using a light box. The light box illuminates a screen with the three primary colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B). The lights are often the shape of circles. The result of adding two primary colors of light is easily seen by viewing the overlap of the two or more circles of primary light. The different combinations of colors produced by red, green and blue are shown in the graphic below. (CAUTION: Because of the way that different monitors and different web browsers render the colors on the computer monitor, there may be slight variations from the intended colors.)

These demonstrations with the color box illustrate that red light and green light add together to produce yellow (Y) light. Red light and blue light add together to produce magenta (M) light. Green light and blue light add together to produce cyan (C) light. And finally, red light and green light and blue light add together to produce white light. This is sometimes demonstrated by the following color equations and graphic:

R+G=Y R+B=M G+B=C

Yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) are sometimes referred to as secondary colors of light since they are produced by the addition of equal intensities of two primary colors of light. The addition of these three primary colors of light with varying degrees of intensity will result in the countless other colors that we are familiar (or unfamiliar) with.

Fluorescence and Phosphorescence

Fluorescence and Phosphorescence

The Main Idea

If you are indoors and reading this document on paper, then the page may be lit by a fluorescent light bulb. The gases inside the bulb absorb high-energy electrons, and then fluoresce, or re-radiate that absorbed energy at a different frequency. The particular gases in common fluorescent bulbs are chosen to be efficient at reradiating this energy in the visible wavelengths. If you are reading this on-line, then you may be reading it on a cathode-ray tube (CRT). The face of the CRT is lined with phosphors, which absorb the high-energy electrons directed at them, and gradually release that energy over time in the visible band. The two phenomena of fluorescence and phosphorescence are not as common as simple reflection and transmission, but do have an important part to play in the complete description of macroscopic physical behavior that should be modeled by image synthesis programs. This paper presents a mathematical model for global energy balancing which includes these phenomena.

Result s

Let's look first at phosphorescence. Here we see a set of three watches. The hands are painted with a phosphorescent ink, which absorbs light when illuminated and then radiates that light back out (note that gamma setting on your monitor may make these pictures darker than they should be). On the far left we see the watch illuminated at 1:00:00, just before the lights are turned off. One second later, at 1:00:01, the hands are glowing brightly enough to see the watch hands and some of the hour markers pretty well. The third picture shows the watch 640 seconds after the lights were turned off: it's 1:10:40, and the hands are much harder to read. At around 2:34 (not shown), about 5700 seconds after the lights are turned off, the hands are giving back only 0.003 percent of the illumination they absorbed.