TOPIC: ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
DISPERSION OF LIGHT
Dispersion of light is the splitting up of a light beam into its component colours.
The colours produced are:
V- Violet
I- Indigo
B- Blue
G- Green
Y- Yellow
O- Orange
R- Red
The main features of dispersion of light through a prism are:
• The colour range produced is called spectrum
• The red light is deviated least and violet light is deviated most.
• The deviation for each colour is always towards base of the prism
• Each colour travel with speed of light
• The wavelength increases from violet towards red colour.
i.e. shortest wavelength = violet colour
longest wavelength = red colour
• The frequency increases from red towards violet colour
i.e. least frequency = red colour
Maximun frequency = violet colour
REASON FOR DISPERSION OF LIGHT:
The white light consist of seven radiation each having different wavelength. The speed
of light through the glass prism is different for different wavelengths. Due to difference in
speed, each wavelength bends differently passing through a glass prism and spectrum
of colours is produced.
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
There are seven main types of EM waves:
Basic concept:
• Visible Light is a small portion of the EM spectrum.
• EM waves are transverse waves comprising of electric and magnetic field
oscillating at right angle (90°) to each other.
• Radio waves have highest wavelength (lowest frequency) while gamma rays
have lowest wavelength (highest frequency).
• Energy of EM wave depends upon the frequency of the wave. The higher the
frequency the higher the energy.
Common characteristics of electromagnetic waves:
• They are all transverse.
• They can all travel through a vacuum
• They all travel at the speed of light i.e. 3x108 ms-1
• They do not carry any charge.
• They are not affected by electric and magnetic fields.
• They transfer energy from one place to another.
• They obey laws of reflection and refraction.