Ask Science

8621 readers

1 users here now

Ask a science question, get a science answer.

Community Rules

Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.

Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.

Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.

Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.

Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.

Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.

Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.

Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.

Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.

Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.

Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.

Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.

Rule 7: Report violations.

Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.

Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.

Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.

Rule 9: Source required for answers.

Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.

By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.

We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

sabbah@lemmy.world

AradFort@lemmy.world

ken_cleanairsystems@lemmy.sdf.org

count_of_monte_carlo@lemmy.world

Why are the graphs for the distribution of light from the Sun as a function of (a) frequency and (b) wavelength not exactly reversed? (www.wtamu.edu)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world to c/askscience@lemmy.world

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I thought that the frequency of light was directly inverse to the wavelength by a constant. In other words, I assumed that graphing the frequency of light as a function of wavelength would be a straight inverse line. Because of that, the graphs for the distribution of light from the sun as functions of frequency and wavelength would be exactly the same, but reversed. Yet, this is not what is reported in the linked article. Even more confusing to me is that the different functions peak at different light. When as a function of frequency, the light peaks at infrared. When as a function of wavelength, the light peaks at violet.

What am I misunderstanding? Is the frequency of light not directly proportional to it's wavelength? Or is this something to do with the way we are measuring the light from the Sun?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] GlowHuddy@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (3 children)

The frequency is not directly proportional to the wavelength - it's inversely proportional: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportionality_(mathematics)#Inverse_proportionality

Think of this as this: The wavelength is the distance that light travels during one wave i.e. cycle. Light propagates with the speed of light, so the smaller the wavelength, it means the frequency must increase. If the wavelength gets two times lower, the frequency increases two times. If wavelength approaches 0, then frequency starts growing very quickly, approaching infinity.

The plot is not a straight line but a hyperbola.

[–] BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Interesting. Sparked by your comment, I found this.

What's the maximun frequency of light?

Approximately 2 x 10^43 Hz is the "Planck frequency" (the inverse of the Planck time). At that frequency, individual photons (or any other particle with this much energy) would be black holes (their Compton wavelength would be smaller than their Schwartzchild radius), and so until someone comes up with a theory of light which includes virtual black-holes, photons with a frequency above this cannot be considered sensible.

[–] GlowHuddy@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

wow TIL sth as well I guess

load more comments (1 replies)