QUARTER 2 SCIENCE 10 ACTIVITIES 2. Use the pictures above as a clue.

The Colors of Rainbow 3. Answer the questions.

Name: ________________________ Score:___________
Section: ______________________ Date: ___________

Let Us Begin

What is a rainbow? You have probably noticed

that rainbows appear after a rain shower. But what is it
really?
Some say that rainbows are beautiful
representations of light. It is a meteorological
phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and What’s New
dispersion of sunlight in water droplets suspended in the
atmosphere after a rain shower. The tiny suspended water The Colors of Light are EM Waves
droplets act as tiny prisms that refract and disperse
sunlight (or white light). These rays get reflected Have you heard of the
internally and emerge out of the droplets forming a term electromagnetic waves or
spectrum of colors appearing in the sky. EM waves?
A rainbow shows up as a spectrum of light: a band We are surrounded by
of colors that includes red, orange, yellow, green, blue, various sources of
and violet. The different colors of a rainbow have electromagnetic waves. The
different wavelengths accordingly and all of them are colors of light that we see in a rainbow are also considered
considered electromagnetic waves. electromagnetic waves. Visible light, itself, is an
You will learn in this lesson the different regions electromagnetic wave. Since the colors of the rainbow are
of electromagnetic waves (EM waves) and their what consists the visible light, we refer to the band of
frequencies and energies. Also, you will be able to colors as the visible light spectrum. The visible light
compare and contrast these EM waves in terms of spectrum is just one of the members of the
frequency and energy which depend on their wavelengths. electromagnetic spectrum. But what are they? How come
we refer to sunlight as visible light? How do the members
of the electromagnetic spectrum differ from each other?

What is It
Mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves
are two important ways that energy is transported in the
world around us. Water waves and sound waves are
examples of mechanical waves. They require a medium,
such as solid, liquid, or gas, to propagate. Electromagnetic
waves, on the other hand, do not require a medium to
propagate. They can travel not only through air, but also
through the vacuum of space. The light that comes from
the sun and other distant stars is an example of an
electromagnetic wave.

Electromagnetic Waves
What’s In From your Grade 8 Science, you learned that
Before we proceed further, it is important to look waves, in general, have wave speed v, wavelength λ, and
back on your past lessons that are in some way related to frequency f.
this topic on different forms of electromagnetic waves. In a vacuum, all electromagnetic waves travel at
These lessons could be taken from your lower science the same speed known as c which is approximately equal
classes that find connection to this present topic. to 3 x 108 m/s.
From the equation, v = λf, when the wave speed
Activity 1: Unscramble Me is taken to be constant, we find that wavelength and wave
frequency have inverse relationship. This means that
Procedures: when the wave frequency is high, the wavelength is short.
1. Unscramble the letters below and write the words Electromagnetic waves exist with an enormous
formed on the space provided. range of frequencies. This also means that
electromagnetic waves have different wavelengths and
energy.
This continuous range of frequencies is known as
the electromagnetic spectrum. The entire range of the
spectrum is often broken into specific regions. The
subdividing of the entire spectrum into smaller spectra is
done mostly on the basis of how each region of
electromagnetic waves interacts with matter.
 To find the frequency, the following steps shall be
done:

Figure 1 depicts the electromagnetic spectrum

and its various regions, namely Radio wave, Microwaves, The frequency of the wave is 6.7 x 1010 Hz and
Infrared, Visible light, Ultraviolet rays, X rays, and based on the table, this EM wave is a microwave.
Gamma radiation. The longer wavelength, lower
frequency regions are located on the far left of the Activity 2: What’s my length?
spectrum and the shorter wavelength, higher frequency
regions are on the far right. Two very narrow regions Objective: Compare the relative wavelengths of different
within the spectrum are the visible light region and the X- forms of electromagnetic waves.
ray region.
Materials: Pen and Paper
Electromagnetic Wavelengths: Energy and Frequency
Procedure:
1. Using the table of electromagnetic spectrum,
determine the frequency and wavelength ranges
of each of the forms of electromagnetic waves.

Figure 2 shows the different types of

electromagnetic waves as defined by the amount of
energy carried by/possessed by the photons. From the EM
spectrum, the lowest energy/longest wavelength EM
waves are found at the rightmost while the highest
energy/shortest wavelength are found in the leftmost. This
also shows some examples and uses of the
electromagnetic waves.

Table 2 shows the relative wavelength, frequency,

and energy of each of the different types of
electromagnetic waves. The radio wave has the longest
wavelength among of all yet has the least frequency and
energy. While the gamma rays has the shortest Guide Questions:
wavelength among of all but it has the highest frequency 1. Describe the relationship between the following
and the amount of energy. Therefore, the longer the properties of the wave:
wavelength, the lesser the energy and lower the frequency a. Wavelength and frequency _____________________
of an electromagnetic wave. The shorter the wavelength b. Frequency and energy _____________________
the greater the amount of energy and frequency of c. Wavelength and energy _____________________
electromagnetic wave.
2. The Sun is a yellow star. It can warm our skin and give
Frequency – Wavelength Relationship us light so we can see. However, the Sun can also burn us.
It should be noted that frequency f and How do we explain these daily phenomena in terms of
wavelength λ have an inverse relationship as described EM spectrum and wavelength?
by the equation, _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
3. Compare the frequency and energy carried by UV
waves to that of visible light.
Suppose a certain EM wave has a wavelength of _____________________________________________
4.5 x 10-3 m. How do we find its frequency using the _____________________________________________
above equation? What EM wave has this wave frequency? _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________