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Questions tagged [wavelength]

The wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats, and the inverse of the spatial frequency or wavenumber. Determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests. Use for wavenumber, wavelength, frequency.

146 votes
8 answers
281k views

Why does a remote car key work when held to your head/body?

I was trying to unlock my car with a keyfob, but I was out of range. A friend of mine said that I have to hold the transmitter next to my head. It worked, so I tried the following later that day: ...
Yababaa's user avatar
  • 2,239
82 votes
11 answers
122k views

What determines color -- wavelength or frequency?

What determines the color of light -- is it the wavelength of the light or the frequency? (i.e. If you put light through a medium other than air, in order to keep its color the same, which one would ...
user541686's user avatar
  • 4,191
72 votes
2 answers
22k views

How to measure the wavelength of a laser pointer?

I'm working on something and I need to know the wavelength of the laser pointer that I'm using. Can you suggest me a way, using some optics formulae, or anything else to calculate the wavelength?
user avatar
68 votes
12 answers
34k views

Is it possible that there is a color our human eye can't see?

Is it possible that there's a color that our eye couldn't see? Like all of us are color blind to it. If there is, is it possible to detect/identify it?
MegaNairda's user avatar
55 votes
9 answers
110k views

Why does wavelength affect diffraction?

I have seen many questions of this type but I could nowhere find the answer to "why". I know this is a phenomenon which has been seen and discovered and we know it happens and how it happens. But my ...
rahulgarg12342's user avatar
54 votes
5 answers
9k views

Are there any theoretical limits on the energy of a photon?

Is there any lower or upper limit on the energy of a photon? i.e. does the mathematical framework we currently use to study photons blow up when a photon surpasses a certain upper limit of energy? (or ...
Hritik Narayan's user avatar
52 votes
4 answers
7k views

What wavelengths of light does a banana reflect?

I do know that there are at least two types of yellow light: a light of a single wavelength of ~580 nm and a combination of green light and red light. (Technically, there could be more yellow light.) ...
dkssud's user avatar
  • 723
47 votes
4 answers
12k views

Why are line spectra only seen in gases?

This might be a stupid question but I could not find the answer in my textbook or on the internet with a few searches. So I believe when an atomic electron moves down to a lower energy level it ...
IK-_-IK's user avatar
  • 1,043
41 votes
4 answers
191k views

Why does wavelength change as light enters a different medium?

When light waves enter a medium of higher refractive index than the previous, why is it that: Its wavelength decreases? The frequency of it has to stay the same?
ODP's user avatar
  • 4,607
40 votes
4 answers
13k views

Is there an infinite amount of wavelengths of light? Is the EM spectrum continuous?

The electromagnetic spectrum is a continuum of wavelengths of light, and we have labels for some ranges of these and numerical measurements for many. Question: Is the EM spectrum continuous such that ...
toothandsticks's user avatar
33 votes
7 answers
23k views

Radio antennas that are much shorter than the wavelength

From my limited experience with ham radio when I was a kid, I expect transmitting and receiving antennas to have lengths that are on the same order of magnitude as the wavelength, and in fact I recall ...
user avatar
32 votes
7 answers
7k views

Would visible light still be in a separate classification if we saw "colors" in a different wavelength? [duplicate]

Basically im asking if there's anything special about visible light other than the fact that we use it to see colors. If we saw in another wavelength, would it still be possible to see colors like we ...
eclair_1661's user avatar
32 votes
7 answers
11k views

Why do higher harmonics have a lower amplitude than the fundamental frequency?

When we pluck a string, it vibrates in all possible modes of vibrations. The lowest frequency possible is the fundamental frequency and it is the most significant part of sound. But why do the ...
Rahul R's user avatar
  • 1,027
32 votes
4 answers
5k views

$\lambda=\frac{2h}{p}$ instead of $\lambda=\frac{h}{p}$?

I am studying quantum physics and there is something I don't understand: I know that for any particle $E=hf$ (Einstein relation) and $v=\lambda f$ ($v$ is the speed of the particle). I also know ...
snickers's user avatar
  • 517
31 votes
12 answers
7k views

Why is everything not invisible if 99% space is empty?

If every object is $99$% empty space, how is reflection possible? Why doesn't light just pass through? Also light passes as a straight line, doesn't it? The wave nature doesn't say anything about its ...
Nirvana's user avatar
  • 435

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