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Feb 18, 2010 · Radio, microwaves, UV, visible light and gamma rays have completely different effects, but they're all exactly the same kind of thing: electromagnetic radiation (EMR). They're just waves of energy ...
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Apr 8, 2008 · The electromagnetic spectrum describes different types of radiation, from visible light to gamma rays and more. Energy travels throughout the universe at the speed of light as radiation. What that radiation is called depends on its energy level. At the really high-energy end of the spectrum are gamma rays. They’re close cousins to the X-rays ...
Quick Facts: Electromagnetic Spectrum. Also known as: Electromagnetic radiation. Type: Radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma ray. Size: We can describe light waves in terms of wavelength, or distance from one wave peak to the next. Each type of light has a different range of wavelengths.
- Light
- Waves
- Particles
- Matter
- Interactions Between Light and Matter
Gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet light, visible light (the visible rainbow), infrared light, microwaves, and radio waves are all forms of light, also called electromagnetic radiation. Together, they make up the electromagnetic spectrum. (That’s right, the radio waves that carry music from the station to your radio, the microwaves that heat up your f...
Light behaves like a wave. You are probably familiar with waves: water waves that ripple across a pond, sound waves that vibrate air and ear drums, and seismic (earthquake) waves that cause the ground to shake. These are all mechanical waves—energy that propagates through matter, causing it to move up and down, back and forth, or side to side. Ligh...
Light also behaves like a particle. A particle of light is called a photon. Each individual photon has a very specific amount of energy (no more, no less), which corresponds to its wavelength. Blue photons carry more energy than red photons. Ultraviolet photons carry more energy than infrared photons. Sometimes photons are described as “packets of ...
Matter is the scientific catch-all word for stuff—anything that has mass and takes up space. Matter is made of microscopic particles called atoms. Atoms are made of even smaller, or subatomic, particles known as protons, neutrons, andelectrons. Atoms can combine to formmolecules. Solids, liquids, and gases are all forms of matter. Planets, stars, n...
As you may have gathered, light and matter are intricately linked. Matter gives off light. Every object emits, or gives off, light of one sort or another simply because of its temperature. Glowing objects like stars, galaxies, light bulbs, and lava are all sources of visible light. Cooler objects like planets, dust grains, rocks, trees, animals, an...
Dec 4, 2022 · The electromagnetic spectrum—a closer look. Photo: Diagram of electromagnetic spectrum courtesy of NASA.. All the different kinds of electromagnetic radiation are essentially the same "stuff" as light: they're forms of energy that travel in straight lines, at the speed of light (300,000 km or 186,000 miles per second), when electrical and magnetic vibrations wiggle from side to side.
Light is a type of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the eye. It travels as a transverse wave. Unlike a sound waves, light waves do not need a medium to pass through, they can ...
The process which caused this to happen was electromagnetic – so it was then more-correctly called electromagnetic radiation. The only difference between the various types of electromagnetic radiation is the amount of energy found in the photons. The electromagnetic spectrum is subdivided into seven regions according to wavelength.
