Why are the graphs for the distribution of light from the Sun as a function of (a) frequency and (b) wavelength not exactly reversed? ( www.wtamu.edu )

GlowHuddy , 6 months ago

The frequency is not directly proportional to the wavelength - it’s inversely proportional: en.wikipedia.org/…/Proportionality_(mathematics)#…

Think of this as this: The wavelength is the distance that light travels during one wave i.e. cycle. Light propagates with the speed of light, so the smaller the wavelength, it means the frequency must increase. If the wavelength gets two times lower, the frequency increases two times. If wavelength approaches 0, then frequency starts growing very quickly, approaching infinity.

The plot is not a straight line but a hyperbola.

BackOnMyBS OP , 6 months ago

Interesting. Sparked by your comment, I found this.

What’s the maximun frequency of light?

Approximately 2 x 10^43 Hz is the “Planck frequency” (the inverse of the Planck time). At that frequency, individual photons (or any other particle with this much energy) would be black holes (their Compton wavelength would be smaller than their Schwartzchild radius), and so until someone comes up with a theory of light which includes virtual black-holes, photons with a frequency above this cannot be considered sensible.

GlowHuddy , 6 months ago

wow TIL sth as well I guess

bitcrafter , 6 months ago

I think that answer is a touch misleading because it makes it sound like this is a fundamental physical limit, when really it’s just the scale where our current theories break down and give nonsense results, so we don’t really know what is going on at that scale yet.