News tagged with visible light
Chemists harvest light to create 'green' tool for pharmaceuticals
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of University of Arkansas researchers, including an Honors College undergraduate student, has created a new, "green" method for developing medicines. The researchers used energy from ...
Feb 09, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
|
Building a better light bulb
Scientists study the movement of charge carriers to design an organic LED that is energy efficient and still casts a warm, natural glow.
Feb 01, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
4
Image: Closest Dione flyby
(PhysOrg.com) -- Flying past Saturn's moon Dione, Cassini captured this view which includes two smaller moons, Epimetheus and Prometheus, near the planet's rings.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 23, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
0
Researchers uncover transparency limits on transparent conducting oxides
Researchers in the Computational Materials Group at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) have uncovered the fundamental limits on optical transparency in the class of materials known as transparent ...
Jan 18, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
|
A breakthrough in superlens development: Cheap, simple lens to let us see a single virus
A superlens would let you see a virus in a drop of blood and open the door to better and cheaper electronics. It might, says Durdu Guney, make ultra-high-resolution microscopes as commonplace as cameras in ...
Jan 09, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (28) |
4
|
A single cell endoscope: Researchers use nanophotonics for optical look inside living cells
(PhysOrg.com) -- An endoscope that can provide high-resolution optical images of the interior of a single living cell, or precisely deliver genes, proteins, therapeutic drugs or other cargo without injuring ...
Dec 20, 2011 |
5 / 5 (10) |
1
|
Revolutionary new camera reveals the dark side of the Universe
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new camera that will revolutionise the field of submillimetre astronomy has been unveiled on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii SCUBA-2 is far more sensitive and powerful ...
Dec 06, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (16) |
17
Bow down to the light: Light-triggered microscale robotic arm makes bending and stretching motions
(PhysOrg.com) -- As miniaturization progresses, microrobots and nanomachines have moved beyond the realm of pure speculation. This technology requires tiny components that can respond to stimulation by undergoing ...
Nov 21, 2011 |
5 / 5 (2) |
1
|
Plasmonic device converts light into electricity
(PhysOrg.com) -- While the most common device for converting light into electricity may be photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, a variety of other devices can perform the same light-to-electricity conversion, such ...
Nov 09, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (13) |
3
|
Space Image: North American Nebula
This swirling landscape of stars is known as the North America Nebula. In visible light, the region resembles North America, but in this image infrared view from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the continent ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 19, 2011 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Hubble survey carries out a dark matter census
(PhysOrg.com) -- The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been used to make an image of galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847. The apparently distorted shapes of distant galaxies in the background is caused by an ...
Oct 13, 2011 |
4.2 / 5 (6) |
8
|
Researchers change the color and shape of a single photon
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers from the CNST and ITL has simultaneously changed the color and shape of a single photon, the smallest unit of light.
Oct 06, 2011 |
4.6 / 5 (5) |
4
|
'Darkest' world enlightens astronomers about mysterious light-gobbling planet
(PhysOrg.com) -- A giant Jupiter-like gas planet has been revealed to be the most light-thirsty object in the known universe -- a finding that may help astronomers better understand a mysterious characteristic ...
Sep 27, 2011 |
4.9 / 5 (18) |
53
|
Bimetallic nanoantenna separates colors of light
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have built a very simple nanoantenna that directs red and blue colours in opposite directions, even though the antenna is smaller than the wavelength of light. ...
Sep 23, 2011 |
4.7 / 5 (6) |
3
|
Saturn's moon Enceladus spreads its influence
(PhysOrg.com) -- Chalk up one more feat for Saturn's intriguing moon Enceladus. The small, dynamic moon spews out dramatic plumes of water vapor and ice -- first seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2005. ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 22, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (6) |
13
|
Visible spectrum
The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to (can be detected by) the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 380 to 750 nm. In terms of frequency, this corresponds to a band in the vicinity of 790–400 terahertz. A light-adapted eye generally has its maximum sensitivity at around 555 nm (540 THz), in the green region of the optical spectrum (see: luminosity function). The spectrum does not, however, contain all the colors that the human eyes and brain can distinguish. Unsaturated colors such as pink, and purple colors such as magenta are absent, for example, because they can only be made by a mix of multiple wavelengths.
Visible wavelengths also pass through the "optical window," the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that passes largely unattenuated through the Earth's atmosphere. (Blue light scatters more than red light, which is why the sky appears blue.) The human eye's response is defined by subjective testing (see CIE), but atmospheric windows are defined by physical measurement.
The "visible window" is so called because it overlaps the human visible response spectrum. The near infrared (NIR) windows lie just out of human response window, and the Medium Wavelength IR (MWIR) and Long Wavelength or Far Infrared (LWIR or FIR) are far beyond the human response region.
Many species can see wavelengths that fall outside the "visible spectrum". Bees and many other insects can see light in the ultraviolet, which helps them find nectar in flowers. Plant species that depend on insect pollination may owe reproductive success to their appearance in ultraviolet light, rather than how colorful they appear to us. Birds too can see into the ultraviolet (300-400 nm), and some have sex-dependent markings on their plumage, which are only visible in the ultraviolet range.
For more information about Visible spectrum, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
