It seems like other electromagnetic waves have some special properties. Microwave can heat the water molecules, infrared is basically “heat waves”. UV have enough energy to damage DNA and harm a living things. X-rays and Gamma radiation can penetrate a lot of material and also damage DNA. But the visible part is just visible, or it have some other properties?
In: Physics
In spectroscopy, electromagnetic wave ranges are categorized by how they interact with matter. For example infrared radiation, when absorbed, makes molecular vibrations stronger (which results in temperature going up); and the reverse is true – when those vibrations get weaker (matter cooling down), infrared light is emitted.
In this context, visible light is categorized together with UV light (together they are called UV-Vis) and when those rays get absorbed, electrons within atoms and molecules move to higher energy levels.
That being said, light types were established before the underlying mechanisms were known so there are a lot of range overlaps and some divisions aren’t very strict
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