Monday, December 9, 2019

visible light - 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 you need to keep constant: the wavelength or the frequency?)



Answer



For almost all detectors, it is actually the energy of the photon that is the attribute that is detected and the energy is not changed by a refractive medium. So the "color" is unchanged by the medium...


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