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Separate Physics · Paper 2 · Foundation + Higher · P6

Visible light and the colours of objects

Key ideas1 of 3

Colours are wavelength bands

Visible light contains a range of wavelengths and frequencies. Each colour corresponds to a narrow band rather than one exact wavelength. Red light has a longer wavelength and lower frequency than violet light. White light contains the colours across the visible spectrum. An object’s appearance depends both on the wavelengths arriving from the light source and on what the object does to those wavelengths.

The visible colours are arranged along increasing wavelength and decreasing frequency.

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Practice, downloads and sources

Daily 5 · Exam practice · Revision sheet ↓

Foundation + Higher · P6. Use alongside the shared P6 lessons.

AQA GCSE Physics 8463 · 4.6.2.6. Original notes, questions and diagrams. Models are simplified; teaching data are illustrative.