White Light PDF

Name: ________________________ 19 Curriculum Connection C2.3 White Light Did you know that all of the colours we can see come from white light? White light is defined as the complete mixture of all of the wavelengths that are visible to us. Think about it, we can see many things in our environment b...

Name: ________________________ 19 Curriculum Connection C2.3 White Light Did you know that all of the colours we can see come from white light? White light is defined as the complete mixture of all of the wavelengths that are visible to us. Think about it, we can see many things in our environment because of the natural light coming from the sun. But why does sunlight allow us to see different colours? Sunlight is just white light. The reason is because that white light is made up of all the different colours mixed together. How Do We See Colour? When the sunlight shines on a tomato, the red part of the sunlight is reflected off the tomato, while all the other colours are absorbed or soaked into the tomato, which is why we don’t see them. The same goes for a brown book. Light from sunlight or lightbulbs begins its journey as white, but is reflected in different colours. So why is a tomato red and why is that book brown? It’s because of the atoms inside each object. A tomato is red because when the light shines on the tomato’s skin, the atoms inside the tomato get excited and produce photons. Photons are a form of energy that our eyes can see as light. Our eyes are complex devices that figure out what colour different photons are. That is why some people see different colours and why some people can’t see certain colours. It’s because some people’s eyes don’t process certain photons the same way other people do. © Super Simple Sheets