These Amazing Facts About How Light Actually Works Will Blow Your Mind!

In physics, "light" refers to electromagnetic radiation. When we talk about "light" in our day-to-day lives we are referring to only the visible spectrum (The part of the electromagnetic spectrum the human eye can see).

LED lights are so efficient because while incandescent bulbs emit the full spectrum of light, the LED bulbs only emit the "visible spectrum".

Fireflies emit "cold light" through their internal chemical reactions with almost 100% efficiency! Scientists are trying to mimic them to make LED lights even more efficient.

Sunlight can reach a depth of around 80 metres (262 feet) in the ocean. The different wavelengths of light have different colors, and the blue wavelength pierces furthest through water. That is why deep pools of clean, clear ocean water (and some tropical waters) normally appear blue!

Some animals can see parts of the spectrum we humans cannot. For instance bees & some spiders can see ultraviolet light. Rattlesnakes can see infrared which allows them to see heat, like the cute mouse above.

We think of black holes as being giant "dark spots" in space, but that is only because we can't see past their event horizon. They are actually the brightest objects in the universe, capable of generating more energy than the galaxies in which they exist!

Light has momentum! Researchers are trying to use this to create light sails or "solar sails" to power space travel. Perhaps one day we will literally be "sailing the stars".

Light travels at what is commonly reffered to as "light speed", or 186,000 miles per second. That's 670 Million MPH! It only moves that fast in a vacuum though, which brings us to our next point...

Light travels slower through different mediums like glass, air, and water. These things are given a "refractive index" which indicates how much they slow the movement of light. For instance when passing through a diamond light is slowed to about 77,500 miles per second!

Light carries energy in waves, as well as in packets called "photons" which are fired off in quick succession. Scientists used to argue about whether light was a wave or a particle, but now they understand it can behave as either depending on the situation.

Under normal circumstances light travels in a straight line, or beam, and never bends or goes around corners. This beam is referred to as a "light ray".

Light sources generate their own light by emitting energy as light rays, and are known as "luminous" or light-emitting. Other objects appear bright because they reflect the light from a light source, such as the moon reflecting the light of the sun.

Some organisms create their own light and this is known as bioluminescence. Humans actually generate bioluminescence from our metabolic reactions, but our "glow" is approx. 1,000 times weaker than our eyes are able to detect.

Plants appear green because they reflect green light while absorbing the other colors for photosynthesis. If you were to put a plant under nothing but green lights it would die even with plenty of water!

Double Rainbows appear when light is reflected twice inside each water droplet. The colors of the two rainbows appear in reverse order!