Instructional module focusing on light. Discussion includes historical development of particle versus wave theories and the scientific studies leading to the understanding of light waves today. Site also includes an interactive practice...

Students learn how the eye responds to visible light, and how that function ultimately allows us to see.

Students investigate an example of interference that provides further evidence in support of the wavelike behavior of light.

Where can we experience the phenomenon that light taking two paths from two locations to the same point in space can undergo constructive and destructive interference? There are several answers to these questions and they will be...

Explains single slit diffraction and models how to calculate different characteristics of the light waves.

To understand how bounded waves behave and how reflection of waves affects the wave components.

The dualistic nature of light is discussed. The photoelectric effect and the Davisson-Germer experiment are contrasted as empirical evidence supporting each of the two views - particle and wave - of the nature of light. The photoelectric...

Part of an anecdotal history of optics and the study of light. Extremely thorough treatment of how scientists came to believe in the wave nature of light. Includes a short biographical sketch and discusses the work of Thomas Young...

Acting as a subtopic of the General Chemistry Virtual Textbook's section on Atoms and the Periodic Table, this site discusses light in relation to particles and waves. The difference between particles and waves is addressed along with...

A very simple device to convert light into sound can be made by wiring a solar cell directly to headphones (or an earpiece). The solar cell converts light into electricity and the headphones convert electricity into sound. The limitation...

Learners will determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light. This lesson includes background information, guiding questions, directions, and a chart to record data.

Acting as part of an overview on quantum theory, this section of the site answers the question, what is light? In answering the question, specific discussion is directed toward light waves and theories of light.

Lesson plan should be used for intermediate students. Students work in pairs or groups to create a shoe box that will bend light.

With this article, students can learn about and understand the concept of wave motion.

Described is a simple low cost home-made device that converts the radio wave energy from a mobile phone signal into electricity to light an LED. No battery or complex circuitry is required. The device can form the basis of a range of...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students investigate diffraction of light and the interference patterns that are produced through constructive and destructive interference of the waves. Students...

Here is described a simple process to 'put a voice on a sunbeam' and transmit it over a distance. It is a fascinating example of amplitude modulation of light using sound vibrations. It then describes how the modulated light is detected...

Acting as a subtopic of the General Chemistry Virtual Textbook's section on Atoms and the Periodic Table, this site discusses light, waves, and particles. Part of the discussion involves a definition and working information on the...

Learn about the diffraction of light using the wave model and Huygen's principle.

Students learn about the properties of light as a photon and the wave-particle duality.

Students discover wave interference, the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling along the same medium.

One of the most amazing facts in physics is that everything in the universe, from light to electrons to atoms, behaves like both a particle and a wave at the same time. But how did physicists arrive at this mind-boggling conclusion? Chad...

Colm Kelleher describes the physics behind colors- why the colors we see are related to the period of motion and the frequency of waves. [3:09]

Most of us have seen the rainbow-hued breakdown of the composition of light. Light is of course a form of energy. A magnetic field changes the behavior of light- a phenomenon known as the Zeeman effect.