Rainbows can teach us about the visible light spectrum. Learners observe multiple items that clearly display a rainbow to develop better connections. The lesson then explains wavelength using a rope to make waves.

How many of your pupils play an instrument? A musical science lesson will help all of them understand how string instruments work. Young scientists construct a string-and-pulley system to test frequency and pitch. The lesson...

Which sports drink provides the best pick-me-up after the big game or grueling workout? It may not be the one you'd think! Food science is the focus in a surprising lab activity. Pupils use colorimetry to determine the amount of protein,...

Why do soybean plants that are planted weeks apart in the spring mature simultaneously in the fall? Four independent activities cover the history of phytochrome research, scientist collaboration, the electromagnetic spectrum, and...

What is a prism? A place for light waves that commit minor refractions! The thorough resource includes three hands-on investigations covering light reflection and refraction; mirrors, lenses, and images; and optical systems. Subject...

Radioactive pollutants can enter the body through ingestion, inhalation, absorption, or injection. The last lesson in a series of 36 introduces pupils to radioactive pollution. They study its sources, both natural and man-made, its...

Describes the characteristics of light, presents two formulas for calculating its wavelength, and provides a table of the different wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Explains where visible light fits into the electromagnetic spectrum and the wavelengths for the different colors we see.

Read about the visible light spectrum and learn the frequencies and wavelengths for each of the primary and secondary colors.

Visible light waves are the only electromagnetic waves we can see. We see these waves as the colors of the rainbow. Each color has a different wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest wavelength. When all...

Two wave graphs depicting a sine wave and relating the various characteristics (wavelength, amplitude, frequency, and period) of a wave to each other. The site includes an interactive JavaScript form in which the visitor enters one...

Online physics text that illustrates and explains the various characteristics of waves such as amplitude, period, frequency, wavelength, and speed. Includes interactive exercises.

This site from Georgia State University discusses the location of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum. Includes the wavelength values for various colors of light within the visible light spectrum.

Find out how energy, frequency, and wavelength are related in terms of the electromagnetic spectrum.

From a course titled "Structure and Interpretation of Signals and Systems." A discussion of the entire radio spectrum, listing wavelength and frequency values for its various parts. The uses of each region of the radio spectrum is...

This site from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia provides an overview of the life of scientist Henry Moseley. This open-source encyclopedia site discusses his contribution to science and how he found a systematic relation between wavelength and...

Learn about light properties through practice with formulas. This resource shows the relationship between the speed of light, its wavelength, and its frequency. A fairly simple, but important relationship.

From the Yerkes Observatory Virtual Tour web site. Compares and contrasts reflecting and refracting telescopes. A link from the page leads to a second page which explains why most modern research telescopes are reflecting telescopes.

Explains what spectrophotometry is, the types of spectrophotometers, and what they are used for.

Simulation of the blackbody radiation curves of Planck demonstrating the effect of changing the frequency or the wavelength.

Comprehensive and sophisticated overview of light refraction includes an historical overview of the subject and explanations of the mathematics that underpin refractive indexes, the relative index of refraction, Snell's law, and light...

In addition to overviewing Compton's (1892-1962 CE) studies in x-rays, this article includes information on Compton's published works, his education, and personal life.

Provides a long list of physics formulas for easy reference.

Infrared light lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared light has a range of wavelengths, just like visible light has wavelengths that range from red light to violet.