GEK1532 Light, light sources, color spectra

Thorsten Wohland Dep. Of Chemistry S8-03-06 Tel.: 6516 1248 E-mail: chmwt@nus.edu.sg

A good online book about color: http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/light/lighttoc.html

Course Pack
Last week: Introduction, Text by Nassau For next lecture, please read the text by David Lodge (Marys rose). I would like to discuss with you more on that issue during next lecture. For today lecture we will deal with Rossing (4th text in the course pack)

Revision: Color systems

Aristotle

3,4,6 or 7 colors???
Nassau, Fig. 1.1 Herings opponent system RED - GREEN YELLOW BLUE Cyan White Blue Red Green

Yellow

Magenta

Spectrum

Additive mixing

What you see

Spectrum

Subtractive mixing
Light source is needed

What you see

But what is this?

Its called Metamerism

Color mixing
To mix absolutely all colors possible we need to use all colors (hues) in the visible spectrum However, as shown by metamerism, a color can be produced by different spectra (different contents of wavelength). So what is the smallest number of colors (hues) we can use to produce almost all possible colors? The answer is 3.

3 primary colors (additive mixing)

Spectrum What you see

Additive and subtractive color mixing by three primary colors

Example

The connection between additive and subtractive mixing

To construct a color from nothing (black) we need three primary colors in additive mixing: red, blue and green. The primary colors in subtractive mixing are the colors of objects that just absorb one of the three colors red, blue and green: Absorbed Color seen

Red Blue Green

Cyan (Blue + Green) Yellow (Green + Red) Magenta (Blue + Red)

Ratio of mixtures
Up to now we have just talked about the very basic principle of color mixtures in terms of which colors do we have to use. However, we have not taken into account yet of How much do we have to mix? To solve this question we have to start now to look into the nature of light. Then we can define amount and can find a way to depict color mixtures in a more concise way (which we will call the spectral content of a color or simply the spectrum).

The electromagnetic spectrum

c0 =
400 nm | 700 nm

Rami Arieli, Fig 1.4

UV/IR vision
http://www.naturfotograf.com/UV_IR_rev00.html#top_page At NUS

http://besl.science.nus.edu.sg/matthew.htm

Ultraviolet (UV) Visible spectrum

Infrared (IR)

Light: What is it?

Light is an electromagnetic wave!
Periodically moving charges change the electric field periodically, thus creating an electromagnetic wave _

Light: What is it?

Light is an electromagnetic wave!

Waves: A wave at time t0 observed in space

A wave at location x0 observed over time T=

Rami Arieli, Fig 1.1 & 1.2

Interference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference

http://id.mind.net/~zona/mstm/physics/waves/interference/intrfrnc.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wmFAwqQB0g

What is the speed and direction of light?

The speed of light in vacuum is

c0 = c0 300,000 km / s

Straight!

What does this wave transport?

1. Energy If you put a black paper into sunlight it gets warm! The energy comes in small packets

c E = h = h

Plancks constant:

h = 6.63 10-34 Js

So what is the energy of 1 PHOTON (packet of energy) at 550 nm?

m 3 10 34 s = 3.61 1019 J E = 6.62 10 Js 550 109 m

8

What does this wave transport?

How many photons does a 20 W (=20J/s) light bulb emit? 90 % of the energy is lost as heat, 10 % is transformed into light:

2W = 2

J s
18

J 1 s = 5.5 1018 s 3.6 1019 J 2

1 5.5 10 = 5,500,000,000,000,000,000 s
For Natural Scientists: 2. Momentum Optical tweezers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCdnBmQZ6_s

Energy of light
At one fixed wavelength every photon has the same energy and intensity can be raised only by that amount of energy, i.e. by at least one photon. Example: 1 Photon at 550 nm has 3.6*10-19 J. 2 Photons will have 7.2*10-19 J etc.

If we look at one single photon we can have all ranges of energies only depending on the wavelength/frequency which can be varied continuously. Example: 1 Photon at 550 nm has 3.61*10-19 J 1 Photon at 551 nm has 3.60*10-19 J

Intensity
Many photons come in a short time The same number of photons come over a long period of time The photons pass through a small area The photons pass through a large area High intensity High intensity

Low intensity

Low intensity

Intensity: is determined by the number of photons that pass a certain area per second or the energy that passes a certain area per second

There is one more property of light: The polarization

As polarization we define the direction of the electric field. Remember the moving charges? The direction of the movement of the charge is then the polarization.

Polarization of EM Waves: Plane polarized light

http://www.enzim.hu/~szia/cddemo/edemo1.htm

Polarization of EM Waves: Combination of plane polarized light with equal phase

http://www.enzim.hu/~szia/cddemo/edemo1.htm

Polarization: Example

How LCDs work

http://www.brantacan.co.uk/polarizing.htm

http://www.sharpsma.com

Polarization: Example
Without polarization filter With polarization filter

http://www.physics.uc.edu/~sitko/LightColor/16-Polarization/polarization.htm

A short summary
Light is an electromagnetic wave Light has a wavelength ( ), frequency ( ), and a polarization. It propagates in straight lines with a maximum speed of c0 Its energy depends on the frequency (E=h ) and comes in small packets The color we perceive depends on the wavelength (or rather the energy of the photons)

Spectra of light sources

Intensity

Wavelength

Spectra of light sources

Intensity

Wavelength

Spectra of light sources

Intensity

Wavelength

Spectra of light sources

Intensity

Wavelength

The spectrum of sunlight

The spectrum of the sun at noon is defined for us as white light.

http://www.crslight.com/pages/lightingcharts.htm Now that we know the spectrum of sunlight, how is it changed by objects so that they appear in another color.

Spectra of colors

Now we have seen how the spectra of LIGHT SOURCES look like. But how do the light sources now interact with objects to change the spectrum so that objects have different colors despite being illuminated by the same light source

Absorption and Transmission

Absorption Transmission (transparent) or reflection (nontransparent)

Absorption and transmission are closely related. In principal the absorption is just the inverted graph of the transmission (for transparent object) or reflection (for non-transparent objects).

Absorption and Transmission

Absorption: everything but blue is absorbed. Blue is reflected or transmiited.

Transmission/Reflection: Only blue is reflected/transmitted

Absorption and Transmission

Absorption: everything but blue is absorbed. Blue is reflected or transmiited.

Transmission/Reflection: Only blue is reflected/transmitted

Transmission, absorption, color spectrum

So we have three ways to depict a color: 1) The absorption spectrum: Showing the wavelength of light which are absorbed and to which extent they are absorbed (0 100%). 2) The transmission or reflection spectrum: Showing the wavelength of light which are will be reflected and transmitted and thus will be seen. The actual color seen of that object is now as well dependent on the light source. Assuming white light, we can give 3) The spectrum of a color which is the spectrum that results when the color is seen under white light illumination.

Example: Transmission Curves

CalColor 30 Cyan 63% Transm.

CalColor 60 Cyan 50% Transm.

The spectrum or the wavelength composition of a color

Intensity

(assuming white light as light source)

Intensity

Intensity

Intensity

How to produce more colors by additive mixing?

400 nm 500 nm 600 nm 700 nm

Intensity

Intensity

How to produce colors by subtractive mixing mixing?

Intensity

Absorption

Intensity

red

Absorption Intensity

Intensity

blue

Intensity

Metamerism

relative intensity

http://www.crslight.com/pages/lightingcharts.htm

wavelength

Mixture of monochromatic yellow (580 nm) and monochromatic blue (480 nm) looks like white light to us.

Metamerism
Perceived as equal Color mixed from at least two different wavelength or wavelength ranges

Color of one single wavelength

400 nm

500 nm

600 nm

700 nm

Question for you: Is there a possibility to test whether two colors are really the same or are metamers?

Color under different illumination

What happens if we illuminate an object with non-white light?
Intensity

Absorption Intensity

Intensity

Absorption

Intensity

Intensity

Summary
Light (wavelength, frequency, speed, polarization) Additive and subtractive color mixing Absorption Metamerism