We recently completed a unit in science class with Mrs.Klausen:) It was pretty interesting and I definitely learned a lot about light. At some points it got kind of confusing and at others it was super interesting and I was intrigued but in the end I definitely had a better understanding on light and really how important it is.
Characteristics of Light
Anyway lets just get right into it and learn about light. The first thing I will cover is light as a particle and as a wave. How can it be both? Light can be both a particle and a wave as it has characteristics of both. It has properties that particles have, but particles have mass, which light doesnât. Which is why it isnât only a particle as it lacks a few characteristics from both, making it also a wave. This argument goes way back and scienctists have finally figured out that light is both a particle and a wave!
Roles of Light
Now that we know the basics of light what exactly are the roles of light? And whoâs uses, and why? Without the world would be⊠well⊠a darker place. It would make everyday things harder as you wouldnât be able to see as well. I guess overtime we would get better at seeing and adapt but if we didnât have the main source of light we NEED to survive (the sun) well we would die as the pants need sun to survive and plants produce oxygen and we need oxygen to survive sooooâŠ. Anyway light is also used to illuminate a room, which makes seeing easier, and say there was no light at all then we wouldnât be able to see at all.
Why are we so Drawn Towards Light?
After learning about the necessities of light there was a few more things to learn about. Why are humans so drawn to light? How do we celebrate light culturally through art, storytelling? Why is light good and evil dark, despite the necessity of darkness? As humans I feel we are drawn to light as we can see things and it may be scarier to walk down a pitch black path rather then a light path. There is things light the festival of light, etc which has became part of cultures, and is used to tell stories. Light is also usually associated with good and darkness is associated with evil or bad. This is probably similar too why people are attracted to light. As we are scared of the unknown and if we cant see whatâs in front of us it may be scary.
Life that Glows
But humans are not the only ones that use light.. animals like fireflies and even jellyfish have a slight glow. Fireflies use their light for many things, one example is for mating, the female will call the male over using a light pattern showing him she wants to mate. Jellyfish donât only produce light they use it to see as they cant see shapes they use light to detect where the sun is etc. We actually watched a very interesting documentary âLife that glowsâ which I definitely recommend as I learned A LOT and it was super cool to watch.
Anyway that just about sums up our unit on light, it was VERY interesting and this was a pretty cool thing to learn about.
â Paisley