I really enjoyed the experiments with light that we conducted last week! I was surprised to learn that light exists as a particle (called photons) and as a wave, and that we actually were preview to only small part of the electromagnetic spectrum – the visible light spectrum that lies between 400 to 700 nanometers.
While conducting the experiments with gummy bears, it was really interesting to see how adding additional gummy bear in a line could change what we observed. For example, when we passed the red light through the green gummy bears, we expected the red light to be absorbed (as only green light was reflected). However, when we aimed the red laser through just one gummy bear, we were shocked to see that the gummy bear actually turned red! However, we then realized that the intensity of the red laser was too high and when we added additional gummy bears, we got the results that we had expected (no color change).
This experiment got me thinking about how changing the intensity of the light could effect what we view. I would be interested in learning more about this phenomenon – do changes in the intensity of light effect the energy level of the photon particles? Does this have any application in solar power?