In this course we will be most interested in understanding and using the properties of absorbance, transmission, reflectance, and refraction, but to really understand light and how it interacts with matter it will be useful to look at all of these properties. Ideally, we would like to develop a coherent theory that would explain explain all the different properties that comprise the behavior of light.
Visible light is one type of electromagnetic radiation.
These waves of radiation span a continuum called the Electromagnetic Spectrum from high energy or low energy. Thus radiation with a short wavelength has more energy than long wavelength radiation. Greek philosophers believed that light rays eminated from the eye of the person doing the viewing.