Continue with Microsoft TeamsRead About Light and Energy
Vocabulary
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Ultraviolet light is short light waves produced by the sun that humans cannot see.
Visible light is light that we can see.
Light and Energy
Light is a form of energy. It comes from the Sun. Light that we can see is called visible light.
Light travels in waves from the Sun. Visible light is only one part of a family of waves that scientists call electromagnetic energy. Our eyes can see the waves of visible light, but cannot see the other waves of energy. They are invisible to our eyes. Below is a diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum that shows the different families of waves. You can see that visible light is a very small part of this spectrum.
Visible Light and Colour
Visible light from the Sun looks like white light. This light is made up of colours that mix together to make white light. White light can be split up to form a spectrum of its colours. A rainbow shows the spectrum of colours of visible light. The seven colours in visible light are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Whenever visible light is split, these colours appear in the same order. Some scientists think that indigo and violet are the same colour. They say there are only six colours in the spectrum.
People with normal vision can see all the colours of visible light in the spectrum. Some people have colour blindness. This means they have difficulty seeing certain colours such as red and green. Dogs, cats, mice, and rabbits have poor colour vision. They see mostly greys and some blues and yellows. Bees and butterflies have super colour vision. They can even see some ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
To learn more about visible light and colour, watch the video by Free School on Youtube.
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