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visible spectrum of light Sun Pythagoras English Franciscan philosopher Roger Bacon Galileo: telescope René Descartes angle of incidence and angle of reflection reflection of light in a mirror diffuse reflection of light law of refraction
For Students
prism spreading light
light summary
Quizzes
Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950.
Physics and Natural Law
Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi at work in the wireless room of his yacht Electra, c. 1920.
All About Physics Quiz
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes
Related Questions
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Hot-air balloon against a sky (clouds, hot air ballooning, recreation)
Why Is the Sky Blue?
Light refraction image with a cube. Prism
How Is Light Both a Particle and a Wave?
Aerial view of Tokyo, Japan at dusk circa 2009. Tokyo Tower (right) located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Office buildings, architecture, skyscrapers, skyline.
Is Light Pollution Really Pollution?
Highway Night Traffic Portland, drive, driving, car, automobile.
What's the Difference Between Speed and Velocity?
July, 2006, Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-121. See attached for full caption information.
Will Light-Speed Space Travel Ever Be Possible?
Discover
Thanksgiving Turkey with all the sides
Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?
Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 9th Mechanized Division learning to operate and maintain M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks at Besmaya Combat Training Center, Baghdad, Iraq, 2011. Military training. Iraq war. U.S. Army
8 Deadliest Wars of the 21st Century
Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”
An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.
11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Thumbnail for flags that look alike quiz Russia, Slovenia, Iceland, Norway
Flags That Look Alike
Santa Claus flying in his sleigh, christmas, reindeer
Was Santa Claus a Real Person?
Woman tied to a ducking stool, a method of punishment by means of humiliation, beating, or death. (cucking stool)
8 Unusual Punishments Inflicted on Women Throughout History

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Videos

The discovery of light's wave-particle duality
Learn about Thomas Young's double-slit experiment that challenged Isaac Newton's...
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Understand how diffraction of light affects stellar images
Learn how diffraction affects stellar images.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Why do stars look pointy to humans?
Overview of the diffraction of starlight.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
What would traveling at light speed really look like?
Scientists simulating travel at the speed of light.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Understand the concept of teleportation and how quantum mechanics makes photon teleportation possible
How quantum mechanics makes photon teleportation possible.
Video: © World Science Festival (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
How color works: Hue, saturation, and pigment
Colors result from the electromagnetic radiation of a range of wavelengths visible...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
What determines a plant's color?
It's not easy being green.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Know about the common misconceptions in physics like how gravity affects light, the shape of the earth, and measuring velocity in special relativity
Learn about common physics misconceptions such as how light is affected by gravity...
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Understand the phenomenon of the yellow color sun and the blue sky
Why is the Sun yellow and the sky blue? Learn how light from the Sun and sky scatters...
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Know about Albert Einstein's idea on why light is a particle
Learn about Albert Einstein's 1905 paper on why light is a particle.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Understand how the polarization of the light from cosmic background radiation influenced the early development of the universe
How the polarization of light influenced the birth of the universe.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Discover why the sky is dark at night and why space appears dark
Learn how infrared energy from stars causes space and the night sky to appear dark.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Discover how a laser beam emits light
Learn how a laser beam emits light.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Are invisibility cloaks possible in reality?
Learn about researchers' attempts to create invisibility.
Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
The science behind the color black
Learn why the colour black appears the way it does and how researchers are creating...
Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Max Planck and the birth of quantum mechanics
Overview of Planck's constant, including its discovery by Max Planck.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Listen to Max Planck's light bulb experiment and the origin of quantum theory
Max Planck and the origin of quantum theory.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
See a demonstration explaining Serge Haroche's study on the quantum mechanical behavior of light
Serge Haroche won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics for his experiments that studied...
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Understand the science behind the formation of rainbows
Overview of rainbows, including a detailed discussion of how they form.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Uncover the science behind the pink wavelengths of light
Explanation of why there are no pink wavelengths of light.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Understand refraction and why the speed of light changes when it travels through glass
Learn about refraction and how the speed of light changes in glass.
Video: © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

Images

visible spectrum of light
When white light is spread apart by a prism or a diffraction grating, the colours...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Sun
The Sun shining from behind clouds.
© Matthew Bowden/Fotolia
Pythagoras
Pythagoras, portrait bust.
© Photos.com/Getty Images
English Franciscan philosopher Roger Bacon
English Franciscan philosopher and educational reformer Roger Bacon in his observatory...
© Photos.com/Thinkstock
Galileo: telescope
Two of Galileo's first telescopes; in the Museo Galileo, Florence.
SuperStock
René Descartes
René Descartes.
National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland
angle of incidence and angle of reflection
For a smooth surface the angle of incidence (θ1) equals the angle of reflection...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
reflection of light in a mirror
According to the law of reflection, images are reflected from a smooth surface, such...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
diffuse reflection of light
When light strikes rough surfaces, it reflects at many angles. This diffuse reflection...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
law of refraction
The law of refraction, or Snell's law, predicts the angle at which a light ray will...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
double convex lens
A double convex lens, or converging lens, focuses the diverging, or blurred, light...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
total internal reflection
When a light ray strikes the interface between two mediums, it is refracted through...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
prism spreading light
A prism spreads white light into its various component wavelengths, or colours.
© Getty Images
rainbow
As sunlight enters water droplets in the atmosphere, its constituent colors (wavelengths)...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
harmonic waves
Snapshots of a harmonic wave can be taken at a fixed time to display the wave's variation...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
examples of interference
When two waves of identical wavelength (shown in blue and yellow) are in phase, they...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Young's double-slit experiment
When monochromatic light passing through two narrow slits illuminates a distant screen,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
single-slit diffraction
When monochromatic light passing through a single slit illuminates a screen, a characteristic...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
diffraction rings
Diffraction rings, called a glory, occur most commonly when the Sun shines on a cloud...
Harald Edens
visible light in the electromagnetic spectrum
The position of light in the electromagnetic spectrum. The narrow range of visible...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Armand Fizeau light experiment
In 1849 Armand Fizeau sent light pulses through a rotating toothed wheel. A distant...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Michelson interferometer
The Michelson interferometer consists of a half-transparent mirror oriented at a...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
double refraction
Double refraction (or birefringence), showing two rays emerging when a single light...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
electromagnetic wave
Electromagnetic wave, showing that electric field vector E and magnetic...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
polarized lenses
Polarized lenses selectively block light of horizontal orientation—resulting in a...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
polarizing filter
A polarizing filter has its molecules all aligned in the same direction. Light waves...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
emission of light
Modern theory explains the emission of light by matter in terms of electronic energy...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
refraction of light through a prism
White light entering a prism is bent, or refracted, and the light separates into...
© Matthias Kulka—The Image Bank/Getty Images
invariance of the speed of light
Arrows shot from a moving train (A) and from a stationary location (B)...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Photosynthesis
Diagram of photosynthesis showing how water, light, and carbon dioxide are absorbed...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
functions of a prism
(Right) The reversal of light by a prism. (Left) The dispersion of white light into...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
damped waves
Damped waves. (A) Amplitude, ξ(z), as a function of distance, z....
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
energy distribution in light from daylight
The energy distribution in light from daylight, an incandescent lamp, and a fluorescent...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Figure 7: The refraction and reflection of light. (Left) When light strikes the boundary...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Brewster's law
Brewster's law.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Figure 1: The electromagnetic spectrum.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
optical fibre
Light ray passing through an optical fibre.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Figure 22: Scattering of light from molecules (see text).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Figure 8: Two pinholes in an opaque sheet to illustrate mutual coherence between...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Diagram of the light reaction of photosynthesis
The light reaction of photosynthesis. The light reaction occurs in two photosystems...
© Merriam-Webster Inc.
Figure 23: Apparatus for measurement of light pressure (see text).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
reflection of light
In the reflection of light, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
refractive index
Diagram of a light ray being refracted.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Electromagnetic radiation
The electromagnetic spectrum, showing radio waves, microwaves, infrared rays, visible...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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