radio waves
Can you explain how a radio works?
The radio signal is sent using radio waves from a radio tower to your radio, which picks up on the signal and translates it into the sound you hear.
How does a remote control work?
It sends a signal to a sensor using infrared light.
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (basically purple)
Which kinds of light/radiation can give you cancer?
UV light, X-rays, gamma rays
Name a type of electromagnetic radiation
radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, gamma rays
why do we lose cell phone service out in the wilderness?
because we are too far away from a cell tower
How does a microwave oven heat food?
What color is made when all colors of light are combined? What color is made in the absence of all light?
white, black
How does UV light help us to be healthy?
Our skin can synthesize vitamin D when it exposed to UV light. Vitamin D helps your immune system, bones, muscles and brain to be healthy.
What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
how does cellular data provide internet to your phone when you are not connected with wifi?
The information on the internet is being broadcast to your device from a cell tower rather than from your phone.
infrared light
How do prisms make a rainbow? Where do we see this in nature?
Prisms take white light (which has all of the colors in it) and bend it so that the light splits into individual colors. Raindrops act as prisms making rainbows.
Why do we get sunburned?
We get sunburned because UV light from the sun damages our skin.
Is light a wave or a particle?
It is both! it behaves as a wave and a particle.
Can you explain how the signal from your cell phone is transmitted when you make a phone call?
Your phone takes the sound of your voice, sends a radio signal to your nearest cell tower, and that signal bounces from cell tower to cell tower until it reaches your friend's phone where it is translated back to your voice on your friend's phone
How does a computer or phone that is connected to wifi access the internet?
light passes through the clear sclera, the iris expands and contracts to let just the right amount of light in, the lens bends the light, and the retina has rods and cones that sense the light and send it to the brain to be processed into vision.
Why do we get tan in the sun?
We get tan because skin senses that it has been damaged by UV light and makes more melanin (the dark pigment in our skin) to protect us from damage.
Can you name the three types of radiation that are released from radioactive atoms?
alpha particles: (2 protons and 2 neutrons)
- not dangerous outside of the body, very dangerous if you eat or drink it (causes lung and bone cancers)
beta particles: free electrons
- can cause cataracts and cancer
gamma rays: SUPER high energy light
- dangerous outside of the body, causes radiation sickness and systemic cancers like leukemia (blood cancer).
How can satellite internet (like starlink) provide phone service/internet/cellular data anywhere in the world?
the signal is being sent not between your phone and a radio tower, but between your phone and a satellite orbiting the earth.
Can you explain the path that your mom's instagram post takes when she uploads a post from her phone to the internet and it is seen by someone in Ireland?
1. The data for the post is sent using microwave light to your wifi router.
2. the router is connected to the internet (a web of fiber optic cables connecting devices around the world)
3. the data for the post is sent as infrared light through the fiber optic cables (super fast at the speed of light)
4. it goes under the ocean on a cable, until it reaches the person in Ireland's router and is sent to their phone through wifi using microwaves.
Why do objects appear to be certain colors?
because they are absorbing all the other colors of light and reflecting back at you the color that you see.
Why does Utah consistently have the highest melanoma rates in the country?
- we have a lot of people with light skin and hair living here.
- we live at a high elevation (so there is more uv light exposure)
- people love to spend time outdoors!
How is light produced on an atomic level?
When an atom is excited by some outside source of energy, electrons can jump up to a higher orbital/energy level. Then the electrons jump back down to their base state. As they jump back down they release energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, or light.