White light is a mixture of electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths. The human eye is sensitive to wavelengths between roughly 380 nanometres (nm) and 750 nm with its maximum sensitivity being at about 555 nm. Other species, such as certain insects, are sensitive to different wavelengths of light e.g. ultraviolet (a short video worth watching!) The …
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Series:Light
Fishing…
The school has an excellent stretch of the river Cherwell adjoining our fields and the North Oxford Angling Society, that runs our stretch of water, is very happy for us to fish there. It would not be game fishing (as there are relatively few trout on our stretch) but the earthier brand of angling known as coarse …
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Synchrotron…
The Large Hadron Collider is not the only particle accelerator worth talking about. In fact, there is one just 30 minutes south of us. The Diamond Synchrotron uses its electron beams to produce synchrotron light which is about 1 billion times brighter than the sun. The light is produced as synchrotron radiation (wavelengths adjustable between …
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Coloured Compounds….
Although I have written about chromatography, and how it can be used to separate mixtures of coloured compounds, it occurs to me that I have not really talked about why certain chemicals are a particular colour or even what colour really is. I shall try to address this omission here. Our experience of colour is …
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