wavelength

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

$refraction of light by a prism$

graphic representations of a sound wave

Read Next

Highway Night Traffic Portland, drive, driving, car, automobile.

What's the Difference Between Speed and Velocity?

$Light refraction image with a cube. Prism$

How Is Light Both a Particle and a Wave?

Above the clouds 130 nautical miles below, astronaut Mark C. Lee floats freely without tethers as he tests the new Simplified Aid for Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Spacewalk Rescue (SAFER) system, Sept. 16, 1994. Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-64

Gravity: From Apples to the Universe

Discover

Groups of depositors in front of the closed American Union Bank, New York City. April 26, 1932. Great Depression run on bank crowd

Causes of the Great Depression

Hemp (Cannabis sativa).

9 Mind-Altering Plants

Close up of books. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society

12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

Titanic infographic. The 30th anniversary of its discovery is September 1, 2015. SPOTLIGHT VERSION.

Timeline of the Titanic’s Final Hours

Entrants falling and tumbling over while chasing the cheese at the 2016 'Cheese Rolling' held at Cooper's Hill, in the Cotswolds, Brockworth England

7 of the World’s Most Dangerous Festivals

African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.

Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement

Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)

7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks

wavelength: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

$refraction of light by a prism$

graphic representations of a sound wave

See All Images →

Topics

How Does Sound Travel?Compton wavelength wavemeter interferometer wave radiation wave motion vibration phase absorption interference frequency scattering wavenumber period

Key People

Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn

Swedish physicist

Quiz

27 True-or-False Questions from Britannica’s Most Difficult Science Quizzes