Rainbows form when the wavelengths of sunlight are refracted (bent) through different angles. When sunlight passes through droplets of water, the shorter the wavelength of the light, the greater the angle through which its path is bent. Which color of light has the shorter wavelength, red light of frequency 4.3 * 10¹⁴ Hz or blue light of frequency 6.4 * 10¹⁴ Hz?

ANTICIPATE Because long-wavelength waves result in fewer oscillations as they pass a given point, long wavelength is associated with low frequency. Therefore, because red light has a lower frequency than blue light, you should expect it to have the longer wavelength.

PLAN Use Eq. 1 to convert from frequency to wavelength.

Transcribed Image Text:

wavelength X frequency X V = speed of light 7 (1)