Colorimetry
Fundamentals and Applications
Chapter One
Light, Vision and
Photometry
1.1 LIGHT
Light is radiation in the form of electromagnetic waves that make
vision possible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation can be
classified by its wavelength or frequency, as shown in Figure 1.1.
The wavelength of light is confined to a very narrow range limited
by a short-wavelength edge between 360 and 400nm (1nm =
[10.sup.-6] mm; see Appendix I) and a long-wavelength edge between 760
and 830 nm. Infrared radiation and ultraviolet radiation, which are
not visible to human eye, are sometimes included in the category of
light and referred to as infrared light and ultraviolet light. However,
it is better to call these categories infrared radiation and ultraviolet
radiation. When it is necessary to distinguish light from radiation
not visible to human eye, it is referred to as visible light or visible
radiation.
Newton (Figure 1.2) showed experimentally that ... read full excerpt from Colorimetry: Fundamentals and Applications ebook
