PHYS 1600 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Electromagnetic Spectrum, Christiaan Huygens, Astronomical Unit
17 Apr 2017
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Document Summary
Newton disproved belief that white is the fundamental colour of light. Refraction: the change in direction as light travels from one medium into another resulting spread of colours is called a spectrum. Christiaan huygens proposed that light travels in the form of waves. Newton proposed that light is composed of tiny particles of energy: both these ideas are right. Thomas young demonstrated that light is indeed composed of waves: when two waves that are both moving up or both moving down meet, they would reinforce each other and create bright regions. Light waves are not like water waves light waves do not go through a medium while water waves do. James clerk maxell demonstrated that electric and magnetic effects should travel through space together in the from of coupled waves that have equal amplitudes this is now called electromagnetic radiation. Newton showed that sunlight is composed of all the colours of the rainbow.
