How are spectra and color related?

The mix of photon colors that reach our eyes determines what colors we see. We'll learn how to follow a source of light along its path to our eyes and consider how its spectrum relates to the color we see.

Light Behaviors

We now reveal the sources of light for the spectra you predicted the colors of in the previous section.

Spectrum Tool.

  1. Use the dropdown menu to view the spectrum and image for each object.

Spectrum Notebook.

  1. For each object, describe the path of the light from the source to your eyes (or the spectroscope) that allows you to see the color you predicted. Consider the behaviors of light: emission, absorption, transmission, and reflection.
Source:
A: Jellyfish
Brightness
Full-intensity spectrum backgroundTransparency increases or decreases based on chart intensity, hiding or revealing the background
Left axis ticks
Spectrum intensity vs wavelength chart
Bottom axis ticks
Wavelength (Microns)
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