All About Light

A Science A–Z Physical Series

Word Count: 389

All About Light

Written by Brian Roberts

Visit www.sciencea-z.com www.sciencea-z.com

 KEY ELEMENTS USED IN THIS BOOK
The Big Idea: Light is a form of electromagnetic energy that allows us
to see, which provides us with information about our surroundings. Light

All About Light
comes from many sources and moves in predictable ways as it interacts
with objects. Understanding the physical properties of light helps us
anticipate how light will behave as we use it and interact with it. Light
produces colors and shadows, adding to the beauty and complexity
of the world around us. It also keeps our planet warm enough for life
to survive and flourish.
Key words: block, bounce, brain, bright, color, dark, dull, eyes, heat, light, see,
shadow, shapes, shine, shiny, soak

Key comprehension skill: Identify facts

Other suitable comprehension skills: Compare and contrast; cause and effect;
classify information; elements of a genre; interpret graphs, charts, and diagrams

Key reading strategy: Visualize

Other suitable reading strategies: Ask and answer questions; connect to prior
knowledge; summarize; retell

Photo Credits:
Front cover: © iStockphoto.com/Alex Nikada; back cover: © Serban Enache/Dreamstime.com;
title page: Doug Tepper/© Learning A-Z; page 3: Casey Jones/© Learning A-Z; page 5 (top):
© iStockphoto.com/Laurent Dambies; page 5 (center left): © iStockphoto.com/Carmen Martínez
Banús; page 5 (center right): © iStockphoto.com/Jon Patton; page 5 (bottom): © Chris Fourie/123RF;
page 7 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Anettelinnea; page 7 (bottom): © Jupiterimages Corporation; page
8 (top): © Heide Benser/Corbis; page 8 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/Péter Gudella; page 9 (top):
© iStockphoto.com/Josef Friedhuber; page 9 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/Gene Chutka; page 10
(top to bottom): © Georgii Dolgykh/123RF, 2: © iStockphoto.com/Luminis, 3: © iStockphoto.com/
James Steidl, 4: © Jupiterimages Corporation; page 11: © iStockphoto.com/Marzanna Syncerz;
page 12: © iStockphoto.com/Kathryn8; page 14 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Julian Barkway; page 14
(center): © iStockphoto.com/photo75; page 14 (bottom): © Melinda Fawver/Dreamstime.com; page
15 (top): © Geotrac/Dreamstime.com; page 15 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/Cruz Puga; page 16:
© Tifonimages/Dreamstime.com

Illustration Credits:
pages 4 and 11 (bottom): Cende Hill/© Learning A-Z; Page 6: Sholto Ainslie; page 13: © Learning A-Z

Written by Brian Roberts

Reading Levels
All About Light
© Learning A–Z Learning A–Z F
Written by Brian Roberts Lexile 430L
www.sciencea-z.com
Correlations
All rights reserved.
Fountas and Pinnell* F
www.sciencea-z.com *Correlated independent reading level
Have you ever turned off all
the lights? Everything is dark.
You can’t touch light. But
you can see things when
light shines on them.
Your eyes see light. Then
your brain tells you what
you are seeing.

light shines
from Sun
brain knows
If you turn on the lights, light reflects what object is
off object
now you can see.

light
enters eyes
eyes send
signals to brain

3 4
 We get a lot Light goes right through
of light from some things. Other things
the Sun. Many only let some light through.
other things give Many things let no light
us light, too. through at all.

Almost all the light

goes through.

But most things

Some light goes through.
do not make their
own light. You
only see them
because light
No light goes through.
from somewhere
shines on them.
5 6
 Shiny and bright things
bounce a lot of light off.

When something blocks light,

it soaks up some of the light.
The rest bounces off. The light
that bounces off lets you see
the thing you are looking at.

Other things soak up most

The Moon does not of the light that
make light. Light from
the Sun bounces off hits them. They
the Moon. That is why look dark
you can see the Moon. or dull.
7 8
 How fast is light? Look at
this chart. It shows how far
different things can move
in one minute. Light is much
faster than the others!

How Far in One Minute?

Compare the speed of light to other things that move.
Light moves in straight lines. It
does not bend around things. Car 2 kilometers 1 mile

A tree trunk blocks light.

Light also moves Airplane 14 kilometers 9 miles

very fast. Click!

The lights are on. Spaceship 482 kilometers 300 miles

Click! Now they

are off. over 17,000,000
over
Light 11,000,000
kilometers!
miles!

9 10
 This toy is blocking some
light. So there is a shadow
on the other side. What
does the shadow look like?

On a sunny day, your skin lig

ht
feels warm. Things warm up
when light hits them. The more
light something takes in, the
warmer it gets.

Light turns to heat.

The Sun
sends light

If you turn off the light,

to Earth.

Earth warms up, too. Without sunlight,

our planet would be very cold. the shadow goes away.
11 12
 When light is above something,
the shadow is short. If the light Light is made
is lower, the shadow is longer. of many colors.
If light is near something, the
shadow is big. If the light is far Some things
away, the shadow is smaller. bounce all the
colors of light
off of them.
The light is high. The light is low.
These things
look white.

Other things soak up all the

The light is near. The light is far.
colors of light. They look black.

13 14
 Turn on the lights. The room
is full of shapes, colors, and
shadows. We need light, as
you can see.

A red apple soaks up most

colors of light, but not red.
This apple only bounces
red light back to your eyes,
so it looks red.

Why do plants
look green?

15 16