OPTI 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Black Body, Electromagnetic Spectrum, Electric Light

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Optical Sciences
• Course: OPTI 200
• Professor: ALL

Document Summary

Polarization is the direction in which an em wave"s field oscillates. Light"s frequency is related to its color. Amplitude generally corresponds to the brightness of a light. The full range of frequencies which em waves have is on the em spectrum. All waves act differently than one another due to the relationship between their frequencies and the resonance frequencies of the materials we deal with. The study of em waves in the visible region is called optics. The smaller the wavelength, the smaller structures with which they interact. At very high frequencies there is little interaction between the radiation in the system the radiation just passes through the system. One way to get radiation at intermediate frequencies is to make the material very hot. Black body is a body that absorbs all radiation that falls onto it.