Wavelength is a measurement from any point on the path of a wave to the same point on its next oscillation. The measurement is made parallel to the centre-line of the wave.
- Wavelength can be measured from any point on a wave. To avoid confusion, it is best to measure wavelength from the top of a crest to the top of the next crest, or from the bottom of a trough to the bottom of the next trough so that the measurement is of the length of a single complete oscillation.
- The wavelength of an electromagnetic wave is measured in metres.
- The wavelength of visible light is measured in nanometres. There are 1,000,000,000 nanometres in a metre.
- Each type of electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves, visible light and gamma waves, forms a band of wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum.
- The greater the energy, the larger the frequency and the shorter (smaller) the wavelength. Given the relationship between wavelength and frequency — the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength — it follows that short wavelengths are more energetic than long wavelengths.
- The visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum is composed of a range of wavelengths that correspond with all the different colours we see in the world.
- Human beings don’t see wavelengths of visible light, but they do see the spectral colours that correspond with each wavelength and the other colours produced when different wavelengths are combined.
- The visible spectrum includes all the spectral colours between red and violet and each is produced by a single wavelength of light.
- The wavelength of visible light is measured in nanometres.
- The visible spectrum is often divided into named colours, though any division is somewhat arbitrary.
- Traditional colour names in English include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. But the visible spectrum is, in fact, continuous, and the human eye can distinguish many thousands of intermediary spectral colours.
- Wavelengths corresponding with the colours of the visible spectrum are usually measured in nanometres. There are therefore 300 different colours between 400 nanometres (violet) and 700 nanometres (red). But if picometres are used instead, then there are 300,000 different wavelengths each of which corresponds with a different colour.
- The perceived colour (hue) of a light stimulus depends on its wavelength.
- A colour produced by a single wavelength is called a pure spectral colour.
- Light is rarely of a single wavelength. Light is usually a mixture of several different wavelengths.
- The greater number of spectral colours associated with a light source, the lower the saturation, so light of mixed wavelengths produces duller more neutral colours.
Related diagrams
Each diagram below can be viewed on its own page with a full explanation.
References
Wavelength is a measurement from any point on the path of a wave to the same point on its next oscillation. The measurement is made parallel to the centre-line of the wave.
- The wavelength of an electromagnetic wave is measured in metres.
- Each type of electromagnetic radiation, such as radio waves, visible light and gamma waves, forms a band of wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum.
- The visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum is composed of the range of wavelengths that correspond with all the different colours we see in the world.
- Human beings don’t see wavelengths of visible light, but they do see the spectral colours that correspond with each wavelength and the other colours produced when different wavelengths are combined.
- The wavelength of visible light is measured in nanometres. There are 1,000,000,000 nanometres to a metre.