PCS 181 Lecture Notes - Electromagnetic Spectrum, Performance Per Watt, Nanometre
Document Summary
The scientific method: observation, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion, reproducibility. Starlight tells us the stars temperature, chemical composition, motion, pressure, magnetic fields, etc. Light: mutually perpendicular oscillating electric and magnetic fields. Light: moves in wavelike pattern at a speed of c = 3 x 108 m/s. Tachyons: theoretical faster than light particles. 1 nanometer = 1nm = 1m = 1 x 10-9 m = 10-9 m. Lamda red = 700 nm = 700 x 10-9 m = 7 x 10-7 m. Lamda violet = 400 nm = 400 x 10-9 m = 4 x 10-7 m. Visible colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Photons: bundles of energy light as a particle. Takes white light into the prism to form the colour spectrum. Vice versa for colour spectrum to form white light. Short - wave lengths: gamma rays, x rays, ultra violet = dangerous to eyeballs.