Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Light as Energy

Light as Energy

The energy required to carry out photosynthesis is light— typically electromagnetic radiation from the sun. The range of all possible wavelengths is known as the electromagnetic spectrum.
Photons
A photon is a discrete electromagnetic particle or bundle of energy. Photons are characterized by their frequency, wavelength, and amplitude, similar to the properties of a wave. Waves with higher frequencies transmit more energy and have shorter wavelengths than longer wavelengths that transmit...

Focusing of Light in the Eye

Focusing of Light in the Eye

Light rays enter the eye through the cornea, a transparent dome-shaped tissue that is the eye's outermost layer. The cornea bends or refracts, light rays traveling to the pupil. The shape of the cornea determines how much of the light is bent and whether the image will be focused correctly on the retina at the back of the eye. Once the light has passed through both refraction layers, it converges into a single focal point onto a small area. This is where photoreceptors start transforming...

Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light

Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light

Light plays a significant role in regulating the growth and development of plants. In addition to providing energy for photosynthesis, light provides other important cues to regulate a range of developmental and physiological responses in plants.

Light Acquisition

Light Acquisition

In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.

Photoelectric Effect

Photoelectric Effect

When light of a particular wavelength strikes a metal surface, electrons are emitted. This is called the photoelectric effect. The minimum frequency of light that can cause such emission of electrons is called the threshold frequency, which is specific to the metal. Light with a frequency lower than the threshold frequency, even if it is of high intensity, cannot initiate the emission of electrons. However, when the frequency is higher than the threshold value, the number of electrons ejected...

The Wave Nature of Light

The Wave Nature of Light

The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles traveling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Two-dimensional electronic spectra from trajectory-based dynamics: Pure-state Ehrenfest, spin-mapping, and mean classical path approaches.

The Journal of chemical physics·2025

Same author

Correction: Exciton dynamics from the mapping approach to surface hopping: comparison with Förster and Redfield theories.

Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP·2025

Same author

Nuclear quantum effects slow down the energy transfer in biological light-harvesting complexes.

Science advances·2025

Same author

Charge transport in organic semiconductors from the mapping approach to surface hopping.

The Journal of chemical physics·2024

Same author

Exciton dynamics from the mapping approach to surface hopping: comparison with Förster and Redfield theories.

Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP·2024

Same author

Fast Quasi-Centroid Molecular Dynamics for Water and Ice.

The journal of physical chemistry. B·2023

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 18, 2026

Major Components of the Light Microscope

Major Components of the Light Microscope

Published on: July 30, 2008

Editorial: Remembering John C. Light. II. Scientific contributions

David E Manolopoulos¹

¹Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Oxford University, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom.

The Journal of Chemical Physics

|July 9, 2016

Summary

No abstract available in PubMed .

More Related Videos

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

Published on: May 20, 2013

An Intra-Tissue Radiometry Microprobe for Measuring Radiance In Situ in Living Tissue

An Intra-Tissue Radiometry Microprobe for Measuring Radiance In Situ in Living Tissue

Published on: June 2, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 18, 2026

Major Components of the Light Microscope

Major Components of the Light Microscope

Published on: July 30, 2008

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

Published on: May 20, 2013

An Intra-Tissue Radiometry Microprobe for Measuring Radiance In Situ in Living Tissue

An Intra-Tissue Radiometry Microprobe for Measuring Radiance In Situ in Living Tissue

Published on: June 2, 2023