I chanced to open the newly-arrived Emergence Magazine #6 starting at the BACK, and found myself
TEXT from Emergence Magazine #6
Five Studies on Light
(Study 1) Diffusion & Scattering
Light rarely travels untouched. Scattered by particles or surfaces, its path is broken into many directions. The wave is sent astray. A clear beam becomes a soft glow. Blue skies and red sunsets are born this way. Diffusion is a more delicate scattering. On matte surfaces or through clouds, light is scattered evenly, erasing glare, softening shadows. The world becomes quieter, less defined, but more forgiving.
(Study 2) Diffraction
Light finds its way through the cracks. It bends around edges and slips through narrow openings. This is diffraction. The wave spreads, creating patterns of light and dark, ripples of energy beyond simple lines. It reveals light's true nature: a wave that cannot be confined. Diffraction is light's gentle bending, a reminder of its fluid form.
(Study 3) Transparency & Translucency
When light passes through a material, its path reveals the nature of what it meets. Transparent mediums—clear glass, still air, pure water—allow light to travel with little interference. The wave continues onwards sharp and undistorted; detail and direction are preserved. That which is translucent, however, scatters light. It enters, but its course is blurred—like the glow of mist hanging in the morning air, flower petals, the wing of an insect. Shapes lose their edges; the strength of light diffuses into softness, much like sunrays filtered through drifting clouds. Both let light through, but only one lets it through unchanged.
(Study 4) Reflection & Refraction
Light moves until it meets a boundary. Reflection turns the light back. A mirror sends the wave away at the same angle it arrived in—direction reversed but form intact. Reflection is light's echo—crisp and predictable. Refraction bends the wave. As light enters a new medium—air to water, glass to air—it changes speed, and with it, direction. The path curves. A straw in a glass appears broken; a setting sun shifts position. Reflection preserves the light's path. Refraction reshapes it.
(Study 5) Hue Spectrum
Light has no inherent color—hue is not a property of light, but a product of our perception. Light travels as a wave and variations in these wavelengths are what we see as hues, like the hidden color spectrum revealed when white light passes through a prism. As light enters our eyes, the mind assigns meaning to its rhythm. Longer wavelengths appear as red, while shorter ones shift towards violet. Color is not in the light but in the looking—the trace light leaves in us.