Material Covered on Wednesday, March 17th

Please look at the previous post for the electromagnetic spectrum chart that you need to print. The material covered today is listed below.

1. The dual nature of light. How light can have both wave and particle properties.
2. The particle nature of light has a momentum like quality. Therefore, when light particles (photons) strike a photovoltaic cell, the light can displace the electrons in the cell and cause an electric current.
3. Two demonstration were performed. The first was using a photovoltaic cell, three LED lights (orange, green, and blue) and a volt meter. Each light was projected on the photovoltaic cell and the voltage produced from the cell was measured. The correlation between voltage and energy is direct. Therefore, a larger voltage produced by a color of light means a larger energy is associated with that frequency of light. The demonstration confirmed the relationship between frequency of electromagnetic radiation and energy.
4. The second demonstration was the heating of a steel rod in a flame from a Fischer burner. The black body (steel rod) began to emit visible light after a certain amount of energy was absorbed. Once again, the visible light seen correlated to ROYGBIV with more energy absorbed resulting in a higher frequency light emitted.
5. The discussion was begun on the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom. The premise is that specific frequencies of light are emitted from a hydrogen atom when electrons are excited and then "fall" back to the ground state. The farther the "fall", the higher the frequency of light emitted.

*As a side note, Evan S. and Eric B. missed the one week that I addressed a number of their far out and obscure theoretical physics questions. Evan and Eric, see me when you get back, I have a lot to show you.