SCIENCE REPORT
GROUP 4
VISIBLE SPECTRUM
Questions needed to be answer:
> what is visible spectrum?
>when does visible spectrum known?
>what are the colors that under the
visible spectrum?
>how lasers and fiber optics have
improved telecommunication?
The visible spectrum is the portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to
thehuman eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this
range of wavelengths is called visible light or
simply light. A typical human eye will respond to
wavelengths from about 380 to 740nanometers.[1]
In terms of frequency, this corresponds to a band
in the vicinity of 430–770 THz.
The spectrum does not contain all the
colorsthat the human eyes and brain can
distinguish. Unsaturated colors such as pink,
or purple variations like magenta, for
example, are absent because they can only be
made from a mix of multiple wavelengths.
Colors containing only one wavelength are
also called pure colors or spectral
colors.
In the 17th century, Isaac Newton discovered
that prisms could disassemble and reassemble
white light, and described the phenomenon in
his book Opticks. He was the first to use the
word spectrum (Latin
for;appearance&apparition) in this sense in
print in 1671 in describing his experiments
inoptics. Newton observed that, when a
narrow beam of sunlight strikes the face of a
glassprism at an angle, some is reflected and
some of the beam passes into and through the
glass, emerging as different-colored bands.
Newton hypothesized light to be made up of
(particles) of different colors, with the
different colors of light moving at different
speeds in transparent matter, red light
moving more quickly than violet in glass. The
result is that red light is bent (refracted) less
sharply than violet as it passes through the
prism, creating a spectrum of colors.
Newton originally divided the spectrum into six
named colors: red, orange, yellow, green,blue,
and violet. He later added indigo as the seventh
color since he believed that seven was a perfect
number as derived from the ancient Greek
sophists, of there being a connection between
the colors, the musical notes, the known objects
in the solar system, and the days of the week.[3]
The human eye is relatively insensitive to
indigo's frequencies, and some people
who have otherwise-good vision cannot
distinguish indigo from blue and violet.
YOU WANT TO KNOW SOME
TRIVIA?
Yes
please!
Many species can see light within frequencies outside
the human & visible spectrum. Bees and many other
insects can detect ultraviolet light, which helps them
find nectar in flowers. Plant species that depend on
insect pollination may owe reproductive success to their
appearance in ultraviolet light rather than how colorful
they appear to humans. Birds, too, can see into the
ultraviolet (300–400 nm), and some have sex-dependent
markings on their plumage that are visible only in the
ultraviolet range.Many animals that can see into the
ultraviolet range cannot see red light or any other
reddish wavelengths.
Bees visible spectrum ends at about 590 nm, just before the orange
wavelengths start.Birds can see some red wavelengths, although not
as far into the light spectrum as humans.The popular belief that the
common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infrared and
ultraviolet light is incorrect, because goldfish cannot see infrared
light. Similarly, dogs are often thought to be color blind but they
have been shown to be sensitive to colors, though not as many as
humans.Some snakes can radiant heat atwavelengths between 5
and 30 μm to a degree of accuracy such that a blindrattlesnake can
target vulnerable body parts of the prey at which it strikes, and
other snakes with the organ may detect warm bodies from a meter
away. It may also be used in thermoregulation and
predatordetection.
Spectroscopy is the study of objects based on the spectrum
of color they emit, absorb or reflect. Spectroscopy is an
important investigative tool in astronomy, where scientists
use it to analyze the properties of distant objects. Typically,
astronomical spectroscopy uses high-dispersion diffraction
gratings to observe spectra at very high spectral
resolutions. Helium was first detected by analysis of the
spectrum of thesun. Chemical elements can be detected in
astronomical objects by emission lines andabsorption lines.
HOW DOES FIBER OPTICS HAVE
IMPROVED TELECOMMUNICATIONS?
Fiber-optic communication is a method of
transmitting information from one place to
another by sending pulses of light through an
optical fiber. The light forms an
electromagnetic carrier wave that
ismodulated to carry information. Fiber
ispreferred over electrical cabling when
highbandwidth, long distance, or immunity
toelectromagnetic interference are required.
WHAT S OPTICAL FIBER?
Optical fiber is used by many
telecommunications companies to
transmit telephone signals, Internet
communication, and cable television
signals. Researchers atBell Labs have
reached internet speeds of over 100
petabit×kilometer per second using
fiber-optic communication.
The most commonly used optical transmitters are
semiconductor devices such as light-emitting
diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes. The difference
between LEDs and laser diodes is that LEDs
produce incoherent light, while laser diodes
produce coherent light. For use in optical
communications, semiconductor optical
transmitters must be designed to be compact,
efficient and reliable, while operating in an
optimal wavelength range and directly modulated
at high frequencies.
Fiber technology can be used for voice, (phones) and
data (Internet and TV). It provides the following
advantages over copper wire based communications;
Lower attenuation – the loss of intensity of any kind of
physical property through a medium. (For example,
the signal strength over the optical fiber).
Less interference – electromagnetic interference
effects an electrical circuit. This may interrupt,
obstruct, degrade or limit a circuit’s performance.
Theseeffects may range from data limitation to total
loss of data.
WHAT IS LASERS?
Laser diodes are the most common type of lasers
produced, with a wide range of uses that include
fiber optic communications, barcode readers,
laser pointers, CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc
reading/recording, laser printing, laser scanning
and light beam illumination. With the use of a
phosphor like that found on whiteLEDs, Laser
diodes can be used for general illumination.
VISIBLE
SPECTRUM
Our eyes are sensitive to electromagnetic
waves of wavelengths that ranges from 4x10-7
m to 7x10-7 m. This is the range of
wavelengths of white light. Thus, the spectrum
of white light is therefore called the visible
spectrum.
Table 3 shows the wavelengths of the different
colors that constitute the white
light._x0000_
COLOR Wavelength (nm)
Violet - Indigo 390 to 455
Blue 455 to 492
Green 492 to 577
Yellow 577 to 597
Orange 597 to 622
Red 622 to 700
WHAT ARE THE PROPERTIES OF
VISIBLE LIGHT?
The primary properties of visible light are intensity,
propagation direction, frequency or wavelength
spectrum, and polarization, while its speed in a vacuum,
299,792,458 metres per second, is one of the
fundamental constants of nature. Visible light, as with
all types of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), is
experimentally found to always move at this speed in a
vacuum.
INTENSITY
Frequency is the
the measurable
number of
amount of a
occurrences of a
property, such as
repeating event per
force, brightness,
unit of time.
or a magnetic field.
Propagation of light Polarization (also
refers to the manner in polarisation) is a
which an property applying to
electromagnetic wave transverse waves that
transfer it’s energy from specifies the
one point to another. geometrical orientation
of the oscillations.
DISADVANTAGES
If there is too much exposure to visible
light it mayncause blindness or eye
damage. It can also hurt your retina and
even damage it.
DIFFERENCE OF ULTRAVIOLET RAYS
FROM VISIBLE LIGHT
Ultraviolet rays have wavelengths that are
too short to see. They are electromagnetic
waves with wavelengths just shorter than
those visible ligjt.
