CH110 Study Guide - Final Guide: James Clerk Maxwell, Diffraction, Electromagnetic Spectrum
One behavior of waves is Diffraction
As the width of the slit becomes larger than
the wavelength the wave is diffracted less.
Another behavior of waves is Interference
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
It was James Clerk Maxwell who showed in
the 1800s that light is an electromagnetic
wave that travels through space at the speed
of light. The frequency of light is related to
its wavelength according to
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
As the width of the slit becomes larger than the wavelength the wave is diffracted less. It was james clerk maxwell who showed in the 1800s that light is an electromagnetic wave that travels through space at the speed of light. The frequency of light is related to its wavelength according to. The light blue glow given off by mercury street lamps has a wavelength of = 436nm. The unit s-1 is so common when talking about waves that it was given the name. Thus, we would say that light with a wavelength of 436 nm corresponds to a frequency of 6. 88 . The region from 400-750 nm is visible to the human eye and is therefore called the visible region of the electromagnetic radiation. As we saw in the example above, blue light is near the high frequency limit of our eyes. 750 nm are at the low frequency limit of our eyes.
