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How to Calculate the Shortest Wavelength

Determination of wavelength is often required in physics and chemistry exercises. In fields such as spectroscopy, it is often required to determine which wavelength, from a prospective group of light, is the shortest or longest. This often aids in determining the physical properties of matter. In some cases, such as astronomy and astrophysics, it tells relative speeds between two objects when red and blue shifting is considered. There is a well-known formula for determining wavelength from the frequency of light given.

Instructions

- 1
  Divide the speed of light by the frequencies provided or determined through experiment. For reference, the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second.
- 2
  Cancel any units that appear in both the numerator and denominator. Specifically, the unit of seconds found in both frequency and speed of light cancel each other out.
- 3
  Convert the returned value to scientific notation. Though this step is optional in practice, written reports and research papers require it to ensure that significant figures were accounted for.
- 4
  Compare the wavelengths found. The smallest returned value is the shortest wavelength from those investigated.

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