Light Brainpop Summary

There are two types of light; natural light and artificial light. Artificial light is formed when matter gives off energy in the form of light rays. You can produce artificial light in two ways; 1) by heating something up e.g. the wick of a candle or 2) by running electricity through either a solid like a light bulb filaments or through a gas like neon, to produce light. The other type of light is natural light, and there a few different examples. The sun is a natural source of light, and is basically a ball of flame, which is again light in the form of heat. Some animals are also able to produce their own light through chemical reactions in their bodies. Light sources are emitted in a whole spectrum of radiation, called the electromagnetic spectrum, which is a spectrum of "all the possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation" (Electromagnetic Spectrum, Wikiedia.org). Light can be thought of in two ways, either in waves with electromagnetic field, or sometimes in discreet packets of energy called photons. Because light is an electromagnetic wave, it can travel through space and does not need a medium to travel through. Light travels at roughly 300 k/s, or 299,792,458 m/s. Light travels in straight lines, but when it hits an object it reflects off, and that is why we can see things.

Light Reflecting off a Mirror