• Question: How do you make colours out of thin air?

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      Asked by HeroNotch123 to Andrew, Jade, Jessica, Kevin on 24 Jun 2015.
      • Photo: Jess Wade

        Jess Wade answered on 24 Jun 2015:

        Hey heronotch, you asked this in the chat! When a colour is emitted from an atom or a molecule, the little electrons inside are all jumping about. We can heat a molecule up and cause the electrons to jump up to a different energy- just like if we jump high in the sky. When the electron gets there, it isn’t very comfortable, so he falls down really quickly. When it falls down it emits light of different colours. A big jump will emit blue light, which is super energetic (that’s why UV light from the sun is dangerous). A little jump will release infrared light !

      • Photo: Andrew Fensham-Smith

        Andrew Fensham-Smith answered on 24 Jun 2015:

        Colour is when your eyes detect a certain wavelength of light. You can get colour from either the air filtering colours out so that you only see one, or only emitting a single colour (from fluorescence or something like that). You could do that by having a coloured gas (like something like chlorine – which is green/yellow – or iodine – which is purple – but don’t breath them in!!!!) or by having a fluorescent gas. You can build something called a ‘gas-discharge’ lamp, which basically is a light bulb that turns the gas into a plasma and becomes bright. Look up – they’re on the ceiling!

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