Which color of visible light has the highest energy

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Wavelength:As the wavelength decreases, so does the frequency, and as E= hf, where h is constant (Planck's constant), so does the energy carried by the waves.Short-wavelength waves have the most energy.Red waves have a relatively long wavelength (around 700nm), whereas violet waves have a much shorter wavelength (roughly half that).Violet waves carry the most energy because they have the shortest wavelength and the highest frequency in the visible light spectrum.
Visible Light Spectrum FAQ
Which color of visible light is the highest energy?
What light is the highest in energy?

Which color light has the highest frequency?

Solution

Wavelength:As the wavelength decreases, so does the frequency, and as E= hf, where h is constant (Planck's constant), so does the energy carried by the waves.Short-wavelength waves have the most energy.Red waves have a relatively long wavelength (around 700nm), whereas violet waves have a much shorter wavelength (roughly half that).Violet waves carry the most energy because they have the shortest wavelength and the highest frequency in the visible light spectrum.

Answer

Verified

Hint: You must have seen red lights are always used in places where caution is needed such as construction sites, traffic lights, etc. Have you wondered what makes it the most suitable color for this?

Complete answer:
Energy can also be used to measure visible light. Frequency is an important property of all waves and the amount of energy contained in each wave is related in proportion to its frequency. The higher the frequency of the wave, the more energy a wave has and vice versa. In our case of visible light, the highest frequency color, which is violet, which means it will have the highest energy. Similarly, red has the lowest frequency, so it will have the least energy.
Mathematically,
\[c=\nu \lambda \]
where, c = speed of light in a vacuum.
\[\nu \] = frequency
\[\lambda \] = wavelength
Now on rearranging,
\[\nu =\dfrac{c}{\lambda }\]
We can see that wavelength is indirectly proportional frequency i.e. as wavelength decreases, frequency increases. Energy (E) can be written as,
\[E=\hbar \nu \]
Where,\[\hbar \] = Planck's constant.
We can conclude that as the wavelength decreases, frequency increases which leads to increase in energy.
Looking at our option, wavelength of each spectrum is:
Violet = 380-450 nm
Green = 495-570 nm
Yellow = 570-590 nm
Orange = 590-620 nm
Red = 620-750 nm

Therefore, the correct option is (a).

Note:
As we can see red light has the highest wavelength, it scatters the least, which is why it can travel longer distances through rain, fog or dust and reach our eyes effectively.

Light can move as waves or as particles, but the light you can see is best explained in terms of waves. Waves come in varying sizes, and the sizes are measured in wavelengths. A wavelength is the distance from one point to a corresponding point on a subsequent wave, like from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next, or from a trough to a trough. The only wavelengths that you can see fall between 400 and 700 billionths of a meter. All of the colors that you can perceive fall within that range. Despite this, waves can be much larger, like radio waves, and much smaller, like gamma rays. The visible light spectrum is just a small part of the overall spectrum of waves.

Light waves are also measured according to their frequency, which is how many waves can pass a given point in a given amount of time. Frequency is measured in Hertz, or Hz for short. When it comes to visible light, your eyes can pick up anything from 430 trillion Hz -- which you understand as red -- to 750 trillion Hz -- which you see as violet. There are other, higher frequencies that you can't see, and there are lower ones that you can't see either.

Visible light can also be measured by its energy. All waves are made of traveling energy, and the amount of energy contained in each wave is related in proportion to its frequency. The more energy a wave has, the higher its frequency, and vice versa. When it comes to visible light, the highest frequency color, which is violet, also has the most energy. The lowest frequency of visible light, which is red, has the least energy.

Originally Published: Jul 26, 2011

Visible Light Spectrum FAQ

What is the frequency of visible light?

Visible light has a frequency ranging from 7.5×10^14 Hz (blue) to 4.3×10^14 Hz (red).

What is the wavelength of visible spectrum?

The spectrum of wavelengths we can see (visible light) ranges from 380 nm (blue) to 700 nm (red). Below this spectrum is ultraviolet, after which we have blue and at the top of the spectrum of visible light is red, after which we have infrared.

What color is 400 nm?

At 400 nm, we see a color between violet and blue named indigo. Nm stands for "nanometers," or one billionth of a meter.

What is the visible light spectrum in order?

To remember the seven colors of the visible light spectrum, try memorizing the abbreviation ROY G BIV. The abbreviation represents red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Which color of visible light is the highest energy?

Violet - shortest wavelength, around 400-420 nanometers with highest frequency. They carry the most energy.

What light is the highest in energy?

A collaboration of Chinese and Japanese astrophysicists has reported the highest energy photons ever seen: gamma rays with energies up to 450 trillion electron volts (TeV).