How does light paint our colorful world?

Hello, curious minds! Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue and why rainbows appear after a rainy day as colorful surprises? What’s the deal with light, anyway? Imagine light as a bunch of tiny packets of energy called “photons” moving at the speed of, well, light! These photons are like party animals that can’t sit still and love to bounce off everything they encounter. When they reach our eyes, it is as if they are giving us a high-speed tour of the objects around us.

Now, let’s talk about colors, you know that when you look at a banana, it’s yellow, right? But why? Well, it’s about how the banana and the light play a game of colors. Imagine this: you’re in a trampoline park, jumping up and down, the harder you bounce, the higher you get. Objects, like our friend banana, have a similar party trick with light; they contain tiny particles called “atoms” that act as tiny springboards for light. Some atoms are super picky and only let certain colors of light bounce off them. Others are like wild party hosts and let all the colors bounce!

When we look at an object, such as a banana, it is absorbing certain colors and giving back to us the remains, the color we actually see, in the case of the banana, is absorbing all colors except yellow, which looks proud before our eyes. Well, get ready for a rainbow adventure! Have you ever seen a rainbow after a storm? It’s like nature’s way of saying, “Hey, look at my color collection!” Think of raindrops as little spherical disco balls. When sunlight hits these disco balls, it bends and spreads into a spectrum of colors, like when you use a prism to split the light. Each color has a different bending angle, so when all the colors come together, they create an amazing rainbow in the sky.

Do you know how music travels in waves and you can feel the rhythm? Well, light does the same thing, except it’s a cosmic dance party! Light travels in waves that have different lengths: some are short and lively (like pop music), while others are long and smooth (like smooth jazz). When these light waves reach your eyes, they shake hands with special cells called ‘cones’, these cones are like your personal color gorillas, helping you see the world in all its dazzling hues.

Light is like a dancing party animal, painting our world with colours. The colors we see are the result of a slight play of bounce and absorption and when raindrops and sunlight come together, they put on a spectacular rainbow show! The next time you see a rainbow or marvel at a colorful sunset, you’ll know it’s all thanks to the incredible dance of light and the colorful secrets it holds.