The Light and Life

Duration: 4 hours

Target Audience: Anyone who is interested in science, life, joy, nature and the cosmos

Brief:

Light is produced by a burning star. The nearest star to us, our Sun produces light that sustains all life on Earth. Light is a very narrow band of radiant energy that pervades the universe. From gamma rays, which may be only one ten-billionth of a centimeter long, the wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation stretch through the enormous range of 1016--10,000 million million times--up to radio waves, which may be miles in length. The proportion of this spectrum that is visible to man s mainly contained between the wavelengths 380 to 700 nanometers. This narrow band provides not only vision but also food (by photosynthesis) to all animals. If this light should disappear, all life will be extinct. Light brings many more miracles. All plants grow towards light. Mysteriously, white light consists of seven colors. These colors show us what beauty is! Natures paints pictures that are far more beautiful than human paintings. Seven colors provide a tapestry of beauty. There are places and depths on the earth where light cannot penetrate. But many organisms live there. To those organisms that thrive in darkness nature gave the gift of organic lights.

Outline of Lecture

This lecture will cover:
(1) Photosynthesis,
(2) Phototropism,
(3) Vision,
(4) Bioluminescence,
(5) Color, and
(6) Modern technologies based on light.