Astronomy 1021 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Blueshift, Spectral Resolution, Redshift
11 May 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Smooth surface: mirror like reflection in a particular direction. Rough surface: scattering= reflection in a variety of directions. The light often bent in the process o. The sun appears distorted at sunset because of refection in earth"s atmosphere. An object that absorbs all light is opaque. An object that only partially absorbs is translucent. Light can act either like a wave or like a particle. Particles of light are called photons o o. It interferes like waves but have momentum like particles. Wave- a pattern of motion that can carry energy w/o carrying matter along with it: has 3 interconnected properties: Frequency- number of times per second that wave vibrates up and down. It interacts w/ charged particles through these electric and magnetic fields: does not need a medium to propagate through. Waves have 3 interconnected properties: o o o. Number of times per second that wave vibrates up and down.
