Radiation wavelength

 

Radiation wavelength
The radiation (radios, visible light and nuclear blasts) is
all exactly the same thing, just different amounts of energy.

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Radiation

• energy that is given out by atoms at high speed is called radiation – two main forms; electromagnetic radiation and atomic particles
• electromagnetic radiation that either travels as waves or as tiny particles called photons (see light)
• radioactivity  –  atom decays (break down) to send out gamma rays and particles.

Photos of the abandoned towns around Chernobyl show time standing
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on Saturday 26 April 1986,
at the Number four nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant,
near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian.

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Nuclear Radiation

• nuclear radiation – generated by atomic bombs and nuclear power plant.

 

Nuclear Power Plant
Nuclear power plants heat water to produce steam.
Nuclear power plants use heat produced during nuclear fission to heat water. (In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy. Fission takes place inside the reactor of a nuclear power plant.)

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Electromagnetic Radiation

• electromagnetic radiation  –  electric and magnetic fields that move in tiny bursts of waves or photons.
• There are different kinds of electromagnetic radiation; each with different wavelengths.

Electromagnetic Radiation

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Wavelength

• gamma rays
  –  very short wave; energetic and dangerous form of electromagnetic radiation.
  -  Light with the shortest wavelengths and the highest energies and frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum; also called gamma radiation.
  -  produced by violent events such as supernova explosions.
  -  also produced by the decay of radioactive materials.
• visible light
  –  only part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be seen with the human eye.
  -  a form of electromagnetic (EM) radiation, as are radio waves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and microwaves.
  – generally, visible light is defined as the wavelengths that are visible to most human eyes.
  – this broad range of wavelengths is known as the electromagnetic spectrum.
• radio waves
  –  low energy radiation.
  -  radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light.
  -  radio waves have frequencies as high as 300 gigahertz to as low as 30 hertz.
  -  at 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm, and at 30 Hz is 10,000 km

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Gamma Rays

.Gamma Rays
very short wave; energetic and dangerous form
of electromagnetic radiation.

Gamma rays telescope discovers extremely luminous gamma-ray sources.

 

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Visible Light

• visible light  –  only part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be seen with the human eye.

 

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Radio Waves

• radio waves  –  low energy radiation.

Light, heat, radio, and similar types of energy are carried
by a variety of waves in the ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM.
Some energy waves need a medium, such as water or air, through which to travel.
The medium moves back and forth as waves carry energy through it,
but it does not actually travel along with the wave.

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Electromagnetic Spectrum

• in between gamma rays and radio waves are X-rays, ultraviolet rays, visible light, infrared rays and microwaves.
• together above these forms of electromagnetic radiation are called the electromagnetic spectrum.
• all electromagnetic rays move at the speed of light  –  186,282 miles per second!
• everything that can be detected in space is picked up by the radiation that it gives out.

The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies
of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.

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