Electromagnetic Radiation

What is electromagnetic radiation ? Transverse waves that transfer energy by radiation Examples: Gamma Rays, Visible Light, Infrared, Ultraviolet, Radio Waves, X-rays and Microwaves

How to Interpret the ElectroMagnetic Spectrum As the wavelength increases the frequency decreases Increased frequency means more energy

Radio Waves Electromagnetic radiation which has the lowest frequency, the longest wavelength, and is produced by charged particles moving back and forth; the atmosphere of the Earth is transparent to radio waves with wavelengths from a few millimeters to about twenty meters.

Microwaves Electromagnetic radiation which has a longer wavelength (between 1 mm and 30 cm) than visible light. Microwaves can be used to study the Universe, communicate with satellites in Earth orbit, and cook popcorn.

Infrared We often think of this as being the same thing as 'heat', because it makes our skin feel warm. In space, IR light maps the dust between stars. http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/video-audio/668-ssc2003-06v3-Messier-81

Visible Light Electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths which the human eye can see. We perceive this radiation as colors ranging from red (longer wavelengths; ~ 700 nanometers) to violet (shorter wavelengths; ~400 nanometers.)

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Ultraviolet or UV Electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths shorter than the violet end of visible light; the atmosphere of the Earth effectively blocks the transmission of most ultraviolet light.

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X-Ray Electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength and very high-energy; X-rays have shorter wavelengths than ultraviolet light but longer wavelengths than gamma rays. http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2005/gctr_bin/animations.html

Gamma Rays The highest energy, shortest wavelength electromagnetic radiations. Usually, they are thought of as any photons having energies greater than about 100 keV. (It's "gamma-ray" when used as an adjective.)