Natural Science Center

Just some points to touch on from the lecture today, given by Rick Benton, at the Natural Science Center in Greensboro, NC.

Physics of Light and Color

• What is Light?

-electromagnetic radiation

-light is radiant energy

-only form of energy you can see

-other types of energy: x-rays, microwaves, radar, radio waves (all of which we cannot see)

• Sources of natural light?

-sun

-bioluminescence

-fire

-aurora borealis

-lightening

-stars

-lava

• How is light energy produced?

-by an atoms electrons

-electrons release a packet of energy to get back to its natural around the nucleus, which can create light.

• What are colors?

-light behaves both as a wave and a particle

-light rays come in different colors

-color is our minds way of distinguishing lightwaves

-violet the smallest wave

-red the largest wave

-reflection is the way we see color. come from white light.

-subtractive coloration-adding color is decreasing amount of color being reflected. like when overlaying crayon colors to get black.

-additive coloration-when you mix light and color. when you add a color, its get lighter and lighter

-three colors of light- red, green, & blue. just these three can give you white light