Visible Spectrum

White light is made up of the many colors of visible light- light we can see. A prism, raindrop, or other transparent object splits white light into these colors. It does this by bending the various colors of light at slightly different angles as they enter the object. This causes the colors to spread out, splitting them apart.

Color and Wavelength

Color can be explained as the way different wavelengths of light can be perceived. Red light has the longest wavelength and violet light has the shortest wavelength. Waves have wavelength, frequency, and amplitude.

Wavelength: The distance between two crests or two troughs. Crest: The top of a wave. Trough: The bottom of a wave. Amplitude: The distance from the midpoint of the wave to its crest or trough. Frequency: The number of waves that pass a certain point during a specific

time- usually one second. Measured in Hertz (Hz).

Label the following:

Crest TroughWavelength Amplitude

Wavelength and Frequency

When a wave has a long wavelength, it will have a low frequency. When a wave has a short wavelength, it will have a high frequency.