Vocabulary
Name three opaque objects and explain why those objects are opaque.
Examples could be any objects that don't allow light to pass through them.
What makes a pencil look broken when it is placed in a cup of water?
Refraction
Why do you see lightning before you hear thunder?
Light travels faster than sound.
What color coat would help you feel warmer on a cold, sunny day?
Black
What tool can be used to separate white light into all colors of visible light?
A prism
Example: The sun shines when it rains. The rain droplets act like prisms and disperse the sun's light into the visible spectrum.
Give a real-life example of radiant energy being transformed into mechanical energy.
Answers may vary.
Explain why it feels cooler when you are sitting in the shade on a hot sunny day.
The sunlight does not hit you so you are not absorbing light energy.
An object that is _________ does not allow light to travel through it. It does not allow transmission of light.
What is the term for when light waves bend when passing from one medium to another?
Refraction
What is an example of light being fully absorbed? (Hint: Think of the color that absorbs all light waves.)
Example: When you see someone wearing black, that means all light waves are being absorbed and none are reflecting back to your eyes.
Explain why a shadow appears on the screen when I place my hand in front of it.
My hand blocks the sun from hitting the whiteboard
List the colors of the rainbow in order from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet
What characteristic would an object have if it allowed only some light to pass through it?
What type of energy is light?
radiant
What do eye glasses do to light? (Hint: Think about how the light travels through the lenses.)
The light is refracted through the lenses. The refraction is what makes the image clearer to the person wearing the glasses.
I shine a light through an object. The light scatters after being transmitted through the object. What type of object is it?
Translucent
You are looking at a banana. Explain which colors are being absorbed and reflected.
Yellow is reflected and ROGBIV are absorbed
Name an object that is transparent, but also allows light to be reflected off it.
glass, window, sunglasses, water, etc.
What is the term for the range of light waves we can detect with our eyes?
visible spectrum
How can radiant energy be used to help humans?
Examples: Radiant energy can be converted into electrical energy (solar panels.) It can also be used for x-rays, and listening to the radio.
A smooth surface does not scatter light as much as a rough surface, which is why the reflection is clearer. For example, a smooth pond surface would better reflect a sunset than a river. (The pond is still, and the river is moving.)
Explain why we can see some light waves but not others.
The frequencies of certain light waves, such as microwaves and gamma rays, are too high or too low for our eyes to recognize. We can see certain colors because their frequencies are detectable by our eyes.