Aquila Children's Magazine AQUILA Magazine Best Bits | Page 8

IT’S NOT SIMPLE!
Light acts both as a wave and a
particle. We call this wave-
particle duality. A light particle
is called a photon, it has energy
and travels at the speed of light
(obviously) . Light can also be
described as travelling in waves,
rather like the waves of the sea.
These waves are part of the
electromagnetic spectrum,
we describe them as the visible
range because we can detect
these light waves with our eyes.
Sunlight that reaches Earth is called white light because it seems to be colourless.
However, if it passes through the right size of raindrop, the white light is broken apart
to reveal the colours of the visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo
and violet. We see a rainbow!
ha! ha!
A photon checks in at an
airport and is asked if it
has any luggage to check
in. The photon says: ‘No,
I’m travelling light.’
The rainbow is separated out in
order of wavelengths, this is the
distance between two peaks. At
one end there are the long
wavelengths of red and orange,
and at the other, the short
wavelengths of indigo and violet.