Light and Color (3 hr PD)
Input Your Username:

A new window will open for this Professional Development.

Light and Color (3 hr PD, PHY906)

Participants will investigate some basic principles about light and color. Four ways to produce color will be investigated. Some questions that will be addressed are: Why is the sky blue? Why do we see red sunsets? Why are leaves green and tomatoes red? Why are lakes blue? How do sodium lamps work? How does a breath-a-lizer work? How do we test for lead in our water? See the outline below.

  1. General Principles
    1. Monochromatic Light and our Eye
    2. Color Wheels
    3. Primary Colors
    4. Filters - Drawing Pictures

  2. Selective Emission
    1. Creating Monochromatic Light
    2. Atoms and Electrons
    3. Sodium Lights

  3. Selective Absorption
    1. Red Tomatoes!
    2. Green Leaves, Blue Lakes
    3. Filters
    4. Breath-a-lizer

  4. Selective Scattering
    1. Scattering Light
    2. Blue Sky
    3. Red Sunset
    4. Yellow Sun

  5. Selective Reflection
    1. Gold
    2. Monitor Applications