Light
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"Visible light" redirects here. For light that cannot be seen with human eye,
see Electromagnetic radiation. For other uses, see Light (disambiguation) and Visible
light (disambiguation).
A triangular prism dispersing a beam of white light. The longer wavelengths (red) and the shorter wavelengths
(blue) are separated.
Modern physics
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Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation within the portion of
the electromagnetic spectrum that can be perceived by the human eye.[1] Visible light is
usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometers (nm), or
4.00 × 10−7 to 7.00 × 10−7 m, between the infrared (with longer wavelengths) and
the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths).[2][3] This wavelength means a frequency range
of roughly 430–750 terahertz (THz).
Beam of sun light inside the cavity of Rocca ill'Abissu at Fondachelli-Fantina, Sicily
The main source of light on Earth is the Sun. Sunlight provides the energy that green
plants use to create sugars mostly in the form of starches, which release energy into the
living things that digest them. This process of photosynthesis provides virtually all the
energy used by living things. Historically, another important source of light for humans
has been fire, from ancient campfires to modern kerosene lamps. With the development
of electric lights and power systems, electric lighting has effectively replaced firelight.
Some species of animals generate their own light, a process called bioluminescence.
For example, fireflies use light to locate mates, and vampire squids use it to hide
themselves from prey.
The primary properties of visible light are intensity, propagation direction, frequency or
wavelength spectrum, and polarization, while its speed in a vacuum, 299,792,458
meters per second, is one of the fundamental constants of nature. Visible light, as with
all types of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), is experimentally found to always move at
this speed in a vacuum.[4]
In physics, the term light sometimes refers to electromagnetic radiation of any
wavelength, whether visible or not.[5][6] In this sense, gamma rays, X-
rays, microwaves and radio waves are also light. Like all types of EM radiation, visible
light propagates as waves. However, the energy imparted by the waves is absorbed at
single locations the way particles are absorbed. The absorbed energy of the EM waves
is called a photon, and represents the quanta of light. When a wave of light is
transformed and absorbed as a photon, the energy of the wave instantly collapses to a
single location, and this location is where the photon "arrives." This is what is called
the wave function collapse. This dual wave-like and particle-like nature of light is known
as the wave–particle duality. The study of light, known as optics, is an important
research area in modern physics.
Contents
1Electromagnetic spectrum and visible light
2Speed of light
3Optics
o 3.1Refraction
4Light sources
5Units and measures
6Light pressure
7Historical theories about light, in chronological order
o 7.1Classical Greece and Hellenism
o 7.2Classical India
o 7.3Descartes
o 7.4Particle theory
o 7.5Wave theory
o 7.6Electromagnetic theory
o 7.7Quantum theory
8See also
9Notes
10References
11External links
Electromagnetic spectrum and visible light
The electromagnetic spectrum, with the visible portion highlighted
Main article: Electromagnetic spectrum
Generally, EM radiation (the designation "radiation" excludes static electric, magnetic,
and near fields), or EMR, is classified by wavelength into radio
waves, microwaves, infrared, the visible spectrum that we perceive as
light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.
The behavior of EMR depends on its wavelength. Higher frequencies have shorter
wavelengths, and lower frequencies have longer wavelengths. When EMR interacts
with single atoms and molecules, its behavior depends on the amount of energy per
quantum it carries.
EMR in the visible light region consists of quanta (called photons) that are at the lower
end of the energies that are capable of causing electronic excitation within molecules,
which leads to changes in the bonding or chemistry of the molecule. At the lower end of
the visible light spectrum, EMR becomes invisible to humans (infrared) because its
photons no longer have enough individual energy to cause a lasting molecular change
(a change in conformation) in the visual molecule retinal in the human retina, which
change triggers the sensation of vision.
There exist animals that are sensitive to various types of infrared, but not by means of
quantum-absorption. Infrared sensing in snakes depends on a kind of natural thermal
imaging, in which tiny packets of cellular water are raised in temperature by the infrared
radiation. EMR in this range causes molecular vibration and heating effects, which is
how these animals detect it.
Above the range of visible light, ultraviolet light becomes invisible to humans, mostly
because it is absorbed by the cornea below 360 nm and the internal lens below 400 nm.
Furthermore, the rods and cones located in the retina of the human eye cannot detect
the very short (below 360 nm) ultraviolet wavelengths and are in fact damaged by
ultraviolet. Many animals with eyes that do not require lenses (such as insects and
shrimp) are able to detect ultraviolet, by quantum photon-absorption mechanisms, in
much the same chemical way that humans detect visible light.
Various sources define visible light as narrowly as 420–680 nm[7][8] to as broadly as 380–
800 nm.[9][10] Under ideal laboratory conditions, people can see infrared up to at least
1050 nm;[11] children and young adults may perceive ultraviolet wavelengths down to
about 310–313 nm.[12][13][14]
Plant growth is also affected by the color spectrum of light, a process known
as photomorphogenesis.
