Tiger Ball Light and Color Review Questions
NORMAL ROUND
 What is studied in spectroscopy that is considered each elements’ “fingerprint”?
> Emission Spectrum
 What is a wave?
> A disturbance that transfers energy from place to place
 Define Apparent Brightness
>Apparent Brightness is how bright something APPEARS to look – changes with
DISTANCE (the farther you are from a light, the less apparent brightness it will have)
 Give 3 examples of indirect light
> Mirror
> Water Reflection
>Walls/Floors
>Metal, etc.
 We don’t see people or things we see….
>Light being reflected off of people/things
 Why do colors always separate in the specific ROYGBIV order?
> Each color has a different wavelength and they separate out in wavelength order
-Red = Longest Wavelength
-Violet = Shortest Wavelength
 What needs to happen for us to see light?
> It needs to interact with matter (colloids)
 What does light CHANGE to when it is absorbed? (Think of a black t-shirt)
>Heat
 What are the primary colors of light?
>Red, Blue, Green
 What is bioluminescence?
> When a living organism has the ability to produce its own light through a selfcontrolled chemical reaction. (Example: Angler Fish, Fireflies)
 Define frequency.
>The number of waves per second (measured in Hertz)
 Name two objects that use colored filters.
>Ski Goggles / Disco Balls / Stage Lights / Camera Lenses / Old TVs / Holiday Lights, etc.
 What is Absolute Brightness?
>How much energy a light is emitting each second – a 40 watt light bulb is always giving
off 40 watts of light
 What part of the electromagnetic spectrum has the longest wavelength and lowest frequency?
>Radio Waves
 What causes light to bend in a prism?
>White light entering the prism, SLOWS DOWN, and causes the light to BEND
 Why does this ball appear purple/green to us?
>That is the color that the surface is reflecting! (It is absorbing all of the other colors)
 What will happen to any element if it is heated up hot enough?
> It will glow and EMIT LIGHT
 What is a photon?
>A tiny particle of light that is released when electrons move from an excited state (high
energy level) back to their ground state (low energy level).
 How does a color filter work?
>A color filter will allow its own wavelength color to transmit (pass through) it. ALL other
colors will be ABSORBED.
 If you combine the light colors Green and Red you get the color?
>Yellow
 Why is grass green?
>Grass has the chemical chlorophyll in it, which reflects the color green and absorbs all
other colors.
 List at least two places where Microwaves are used.
>Microwave ovens
>Cell Phones
>Police Radar Speed Guns
 What color will a green object look when seen through a red filter?
>Black (Only red light is allowed to pass through, so there will be an absence of light in
that area – looks black)
TEAM WHITEBOARD – DEFINE / EXPLAIN (3 Minutes)
 What is the Tyndall Effect?
>Light beams hit suspended colloids/particles, which reflect the light, and make the
beam/path of light visible.
 Colloids
> Very small particles are distributed evenly throughout another substance – they
reflect light
 How do Spectroscopes work?
>Plastic lenses = Thousands of microscopic parallel lines are in the plastic lenses, which
the light hits. The light gets bent and then the colors separate out into their various
colored wavelengths.
>Glass lenses = the light slows at various speeds and separates out into their various
color wavelengths.
 Explain the Inverse Square Law AND the mathematical relationship associated with it.
>The inverse square law is a predictable relationship between apparent brightness and
distance from a light source and area of illumination. The mathematical relationship
states that when distance is doubled, area is multiplied by four, and apparent brightness
is divided by four.
 List as many things as possible that spectroscopy or emission spectrums can be used for.
> Determining the Composition of Stars
> Element Identification
>Star Temperature
>Star Speed
>Study the Ozone Layer
TEAM WHITEBOARD – DRAW AND EXPLAIN (4 Minutes)
 How light Interacts with Raindrops
>Sunlight enters. Light slows and bends.
>Sunlight travels through raindrop, hits the back and reflects.
>Sunlight exits raindrop, speeds up and bends into the ROYGBIV colors.
>ROYGBIV based on wavelength order.
 How electrons move in a glow stick
> Electrons start at ground state
>They get hit with energy from the chemical reaction, and move up energy levels to
their excited state.
>They don’t want to stay there because they are too unstable.
>They drop back to their normal energy level (ground state), but in order to do so they
release their excess energy, which we see as photons of light.