What is Light - Physics (Simple Explanation)

Summary

This engaging video delves into the fascinating phenomenon of light, exploring its many facets beyond the visible spectrum. Known as the electromagnetic spectrum, light is omnipresent, even in darkness, and is classified by varying wavelengths and energies. We learn about the speed of light, the energetic gamma rays, and less energetic radio waves. The video further explains how different types of light, such as infrared and x-rays, allow us to perceive things invisible to the naked eye. It touches on astronomical phenomena, such as the scattering of light in Earth’s atmosphere and the red shift due to the universe’s expansion, revealing the unseen marvels through various scientific instruments.

Highlights

• Light is the fast-moving hero of the universe, zipping at 300 million m/s! 🚀
• The electromagnetic spectrum is light's family, each with unique powers! 🌈
• Invisible light like infrared helps us see in the dark—like superhero vision! 👀
• Gamma rays are the universe's intense energy bursts, while radio waves take it easy. ⚡
• Telescopes like the great equatorial one let us peek into the distant universe! 🔭
• The color dance of the sky is due to the playful scattering of light! 🌌
• Red shift tells tales of galaxies far, far away as they move through space! 🌌
• Despite our tools, dark matter and black holes elude us—universe's little secrets! 🕵️‍♀️

Key Takeaways

• Light is more than what meets the eye—it's a spectrum of electromagnetic waves! 🌈
• Even in darkness, light is all around us, like a hidden companion. 🕵️‍♂️
• From energetic gamma rays to radio waves, light varies in energy! ⚡
• Light travels fantastically fast at 300 million meters per second! 🚀
• Infrared and x-rays let us see things our eyes normally can't perceive! 👀
• The sky's colors are the magic of scattered light waves! 🎨
• Our expanding universe stretches light, creating a cosmic red shift! 🪐
• Despite all we see, the universe still holds invisible mysteries! 💫

Overview

Light is a fascinating entity—much more than just what the eye can see. This video from The Real Physics explores light's exciting nature as part of the electromagnetic spectrum, showing us how light manifests in various wavelengths and energies. From high-energy gamma rays to lazy radio waves, light exhibits a dazzling variety that includes everything in between, even in the darkest of spaces.

The journey of light extends far beyond what we're used to seeing. The video introduces us to the invisible world detected through infrared and x-rays, revealing how these forms of light uncover the unseen. Ever wondered why our skies are blue or why sunsets crimson? It's the whimsical scattering of light in Earth's atmosphere! And thanks to telescopes, we're able to view breathtaking celestial phenomena spanning millions of kilometers.

With the universe's expansion stretching light and creating the cosmic red shift, we're given clues about the dynamics of galaxies and the universe’s history. Still, the video hints at secretive elements like dark matter and black holes that remain enigma, prompting curiosity and endless exploration!

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Light and Electromagnetic Spectrum The chapter titled 'Introduction to Light and Electromagnetic Spectrum' delves into the nature of light. It explains that light is not just confined to the visible spectrum that humans can see; it encompasses a variety of types collectively known as the electromagnetic spectrum. Even in the absence of visible light (darkness), other forms of light still exist around us. The chapter further describes how light is created: by causing an electron to oscillate, which then produces oscillating magnetic and electric fields, forming what is known as an electromagnetic wave, or simply light. Light is often represented as a wave for conceptual and visual understanding.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Properties of Light Waves Light waves, similar to water waves, have properties such as wavelength, frequency, and speed.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Detecting Light Beyond Human Vision The chapter discusses the concept of detecting light beyond the human visible spectrum, using the example of squirrels at the Royal Observatory. During the day, squirrels are visible as they reflect sunlight, but they become difficult to see at night. However, they emit infrared light, which would make them visible in the dark if humans could see in that spectrum. Additionally, when exposed to high-energy X-rays, the appearance of squirrels changes significantly. The chapter highlights that humans have developed various instruments to visualize what is not visible to the naked eye, such as the Great Equatorial Telescope, which captures information beyond our typical sight.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Light Interaction with Matter Light allows us to see objects that are extremely distant, measuring in tens of millions of trillions of kilometers.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Redshift and the Expansion of the Universe The chapter explains how the expansion of the universe affects the light from stars and galaxies. It introduces the concept of 'redshift,' where the light emitted by celestial bodies is stretched to longer wavelengths as they move away from us. This is due to the universe expanding. The effect of redshift is such that the light from some very distant galaxies is stretched from the visible spectrum into the infrared spectrum, allowing us to detect it even if dust in space absorbs visible light. Infrared light penetration helps astronomers see 'baby stars' hiding in nebulae.
• 02:30 - 03:00: The Unknowns of the Universe The chapter titled 'The Unknowns of the Universe' delves into the mysteries that remain in our understanding of the cosmos, highlighting the enigmatic presence of dark matter and black holes. Despite advancements in detecting various types of light, some phenomena in the universe continue to elude visibility and comprehension.

What is Light - Physics (Simple Explanation) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] light is a strange thing it isn't just what we can see light can be broken up into different types and we call the whole family the electromagnetic spectrum so even when it's dark light is still all around us light can be created by making an electron oscillate this creates an oscillating magnetic field and an oscillating electric field which we call an electromagnetic wave or light we often present light as a wave just
• 00:30 - 01:00 like water waves light has a wavelength a frequency and a speed the different colors of optical light have different wavelengths and so does the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum gamma rays are the most energetic whereas radio WS have the least energy even so light is the fastest thing in the universe in a vacuum all light waves even radio waves travel at an incredible speed of 300 million m/s [Music]
• 01:00 - 01:30 the Royal Observatory is overrun with squirrels they're hard to miss during the day because they reflect visible light from the Sun but at night it's more difficult however they do emit infrared light and if our eyes could detect it we would be able to see them in the dark if we pass high energy x-rays through them the squirrels look very different humankind has invented lots of different instruments to show us what our eyes can't see like our great equatorial telescope which captures huge
• 01:30 - 02:00 amounts of light and allows us to see objects that are tens of millions of trillions of kilometers away we can see matter interact with light and change it the gases in the Earth's atmosphere scatter blue wavelengths of sunlight giving us blue skies during the day and red skies at sunrise and sunset we can watch sunlight reflect off planets and the moon during a lunar eclipse red sunlight changes direction as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere and reaches the
• 02:00 - 02:30 moon and although visible light from Stars can be absorbed by Dust In Space we can detect the infrared light which gets through to see baby Stars hiding in nebuli light can even appear to stretch out since our universe is expanding and galaxies are moving away from each other the light they emit is stretched to longer wavelengths we call this red shift some galaxies are so far away that their light has shifted and stretched from visible to infrared so we can no
• 02:30 - 03:00 longer see them stranger still the universe has unknown amounts of dark matter and bizarre black holes so even if we can detect all the different types of light there are still some things in the universe that will remain invisible to us