Light Part Four: The Colors of White

Hiding within a pure beam of white light, sits all the colors of the rainbow. As they are all mixed together, we see it as a white light. But if we were able to change the speeds of the individual colors, you would be able to see all of the different colors within this beam of light.

If we place a piece of matter in front of this beam of light it will cause the light to change speeds. This is called refraction, as you will remember.

The piece of matter we need is a special item, called a prism. A prism is a solid object that has the ability to bend light and allow all of the colors to separate into a rainbow.

When our beam of light strikes the prism, it changes speeds and the different colors begin to separate. This will display the visible spectrum. The visible spectrum is represented by all of the colors of the rainbow, and are all of the colors that we can see with our own eyes.

The visible spectrum is made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. You can remember them by the name Roy G. Biv. But the visible spectrum is a very tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The electromagnetic spectrum is represented by all the forms of light. All of these forms invisible light are also being produced by the sun at the same time with the visible light that we see in the visible spectrum. Visible Spectrum Infrared Radio Waves Ultraviolet Or U.V. Rays X-Ray Gamma-Ray Electromagnetic Spectrum

When white light hits an object the object actually absorbs all of the colors except for one. That one color is reflected back to us. So all of the colors that we see with our eyes are actually being reflected back to us from what ever it is that we are looking at.

So when the white light hits this red piece of paper, it absorbs all of the colors except the red. This color is reflected back to your eye.

The same is true for the color blue, and the rest of the colors.

But look at what happens with the color black. It absorbs all of the colors. So no light is being reflected back to our eyes. The color black is the absence of light, or color.

Just the opposite is true for the color white. It absorbs none of the colors, instead it reflects them all back to our eye in the form of white light.

Quiz Time 1-7) Name the seven colors of the Visible Spectrum. 8-10) Name any three of the five elements of the Electromagnetic spectrum, with the exception of the visible spectrum. I already gave you that one.

Visible Spectrum R OY G BI V Infrared Radio Waves Ultraviolet Or U.V. Rays X-Ray Gamma-Ray Electromagnetic Spectrum