Types of Electromagnetic Waves
- Electromagnetic waves are TRANSVERSE waves that transfer energy from the SOURCE of a wave to an ABSORBER.
- They can travel through a VACUUM.
- They all travel at the SAME SPEED of 3x108m/s which is the SPEED OF LIGHT.
- There are SEVEN types of ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES and they form a CONTINUOUS SPECTRUM which groups each type in terms of their WAVELENGTH and their FREQUENCY.
On one end of the spectrum we have RADIO WAVES which have the HIGHEST WAVELENGTH and LOWEST FREQUENCY, and on the other end we have GAMMA RAYS which have the LOWEST WAVELENGTH and the HIGHEST FREQUENCY.
Visible Light
In the MIDDLE of the spectrum we have visible light. These represent the part of the ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM that we can detect with our EYES.
The different wavelengths of VISIBLE LIGHT appear as different COLOURS to us.
The colours are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet where RED has the HIGHEST WAVELENGTH and LOWEST FREQUENCY, and VIOLET has the LOWEST WAVELENGTH and HIGHEST FREQUENCY.