Energy as Visible Light #4

Maliyha Richardson
Department of psychology, APUS
Psyc 304: Perception
Dr. Melissa Trevathan-Minnis
July 31, 2022
 Visible light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, which is transmitted in waves or

particles at different wavelengths and frequencies. This broad range of wavelengths is known as

the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is typically divided into seven

regions in order of decreasing wavelength and increasing energy and frequency. These regions

include radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.

Our eyes contain specialized cells, called cones, that act as receivers tuned to the wavelengths of

this narrow band of the EM spectrum. As the full spectrum of visible light travels through a

prism, the wavelengths separate into the colors of the rainbow because each color is a different

wavelength. Violet has the shortest wavelength, at around 380 nanometers, and red has the

longest wavelength, at around 700 nanometers. Thus, visible light has a wavelength of 740

nanometers to 380 nanometers. Humans see light at the lower end of the visible spectrum, having

a longer wavelength, about 740 nm, as red; we perceive light in the middle of the spectrum as

green; and see light at the upper end of the spectrum, with a wavelength of about 380 nm, as

violet. All other colors that we perceive are mixtures of these colors. For instance, yellow

contains light from both the red and green regions of the visible light spectrum; cyan is a mixture

of green and blue, and magenta is a blend of red and blue. White light contains all colors in

combination. Black is a total absence of light. Thus, as objects grow hotter, they radiate energy

dominated by shorter wavelengths, which we perceive as changing colors. For example, the Sun

produces more yellow light than any other color because its surface temperature is 5,500°C. If

the Sun's surface were cooler—say 3,000°C—it would look reddish.

 References

Lucus, J. (2022). “What is visible light?” https://www.livescience.com/50678-visible-light.html

Bolles, D. (2022).Visible Light.NASA science. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight