The Electromagnetic Spectrum.

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Electromagnetic Waves
The heat produced by the Sun travels from the Sun to the Earth via waves known as
electromagnetic waves. These waves can vary greatly in their wavelength. Have you
ever thrown a rock into a lake? What happens when you throw a small pebble into the
water? The resulting ripples are small, and each wave is close to the next wave; they
have a short wavelength. Now, consider what would happen if you threw a large boulder
into the water. Instead of small ripples, you get large waves. These larger waves are
spaced further apart from one another. Thus, they have a large wavelength.

Because the electromagnetic waves traveling to the Earth from the Sun come in a
variety of lengths, scientists consider them to be a spectrum. Thus, we refer collectively
to all these waves as the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is a
big word that simply refers to all the different sized waves of energy traveling outward
from the Sun, as well as from many other objects in the Universe.

To better understand the electromagnetic spectrum, scientists break it into three

separate categories or divisions. The shortest waves are called ultraviolet waves. The
medium sized waves are called visible light waves, and the longest waves are called
infrared waves. Even longer waves also are categorised into radio waves, microwaves,
and so forth.

Ultraviolet Waves
Waves measuring under 0.4 micrometers are referred to as ultraviolet. These short
waves are extremely dangerous to living organisms. Long term exposure to ultraviolet
radiation would seriously hurt and even kill most lifeforms on Earth, including humans.

The Sun produces a significant amount of ultraviolet waves. Fortunately, most of these
waves never reach the surface of the Earth. They are either absorbed, or reflected and
bounced away by molecules in the upper atmosphere.

Visible Light Waves

Waves with a length of between 0.4 and 0.7
micrometers can be detected by the human
eye. For this reason we call these waves
visible light. As you look around the room,
everything you see has these waves bouncing
off of them. If they didnt, you would not be
able to see them. What your eyes pick up and
turn into a picture in your brain are these visible light waves.

Shorter visible light wavelengths are bluer in color, while longer visible light wavelengths
are redder in color. The wavelengths detectible by the human eye represent only about
3% of the total electromagnetic spectrum.
Infrared Waves.
Infrared waves are commonly referred to as
heat rays. Heat is in fact infrared radiation.
Hold your hand next to a hot stove. Do you feel
the heat radiating off of the stove and traveling
towards your hand? If our eyes could see

infrared radiation, what would it look like? You would see anything that produces heat,
including plants and animals, no matter how dark it was. On average, the Sun produces
very little infrared radiation compared to the amount of ultraviolet radiation and visible
light that it creates.
Shortwave and Longwave Radiation
Visible light and ultraviolet radiation are commonly called shortwave radiation, while
infrared radiation is referred to as longwave radiation. The Sun radiates energy mainly in
the form of visible light, with small amounts of ultraviolet and infrared radiation. For this
reason, solar radiation is usually considered shortwave radiation. The Earth produces
virtually no visible light, or ultraviolet radiation. Almost all of the natural radiation
created by the Earth is infrared, or heat. Thus, we refer to the terrestrial radiation as
longwave radiation.