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Light Color, Frequency and Wavelength Illustration

Published by ams on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 14:49

Beginning work on an illustration covering the relationship between the frequency* and wavelength* of electromagnetic energy. Below is an experiment in visualizing this relationship for visible light*. Wavelengths from blue (462 nm) to red (655 nm) are covered. Moving the slider changes the frequency and wavelength of the light. Color adjusts as the slider moves. The color shown is an approximation.

The relationship illustrated is: Speed of light = wavelength × frequency where:

  • The speed of light is 2.98 × 108m/s.
  • Frequency is shown in terahertz (THz). A terahertz is 1012 cycles per second.
  • Wavelength is shown in namometers (nm). A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.
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Comments

Jim - Tue, 03/20/2012 - 23:13

Very nice illustration.  Particularly the color change - great way to show the relationship between all three parameters in a dynamic fashion.

Would be cool to do something similar for the entire EM spectrum.  The range of wavelength*s and frequencies may make that impractical though.

ams - Wed, 03/21/2012 - 09:15

 

Jim - Thanks. I like that this animation scales accurately.  The frequency* of the blue light is roughly 1.5 times faster and its wavelength* 1.5 times shorter than the red light.   I am working on an illustration that explores the entire range of wavelengths of electromagnetic energy, and the relationship between wavelength, energy and frequency. The visualization between wavelength and frequency can't scale accurately over that range, but the illustration will highlight the relationships. I'll let you know when it is up.

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