The Electromagnetic Spectrum: Beyond Visible Light
Light is just the part you can see
Light is just the part you can see
Click on any band to learn about it. The rainbow in the middle is ALL the light your eyes can detect. Everything else is invisible.
Click any band on the spectrum to learn about it.
Drag the slider to travel across the spectrum. Watch the wavelength shrink and frequency grow. Speed stays constant: all EM waves travel at the speed of light.
Each part of the spectrum has unique properties that make it useful for specific applications.
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV, cell phones, GPS, radar, and microwave ovens. Radio waves pass through walls. Microwaves heat water molecules.
TV remotes, thermal cameras, night vision. Everything warm emits infrared. Your body glows in IR even in total darkness.
Sunburn, black lights, water purification, forensics. UV kills bacteria, which is why hospitals use UV sterilizers.
Medical imaging, airport security, cancer treatment, astronomy. These penetrate matter but can damage cells. Lead blocks them.
Mantis shrimp can see 16 types of color receptors (humans have 3). They can detect UV and polarized light. If they could talk, they would pity our limited vision.
You've explored the full electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves longer than buildings to gamma rays smaller than atoms. Visible light is just a tiny sliver of what is out there.
Radio, microwaves, visible light, X-rays: they are all the same thing (electromagnetic waves) at different frequencies.
Higher frequency = shorter wavelength = more energy. Radio waves are harmless. Gamma rays can break DNA.
Visible light spans 400-700 nanometers. The full EM spectrum spans wavelengths from kilometers to picometers. We see less than 0.0001%.
Radio for communication, microwave for cooking, infrared for heat vision, UV for sterilization, X-ray for medicine, gamma for cancer treatment.
Put your new knowledge into practice!