What are special properties of the visible light spectrum except of being visible by us?

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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

13 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes. It is the color essentially all “normal” stars peak in. Some in the red, some in yellow-white or blue. Soon after the visible range the shorter wavelengths also reach ionizing energies, so they effect matter in ways visible light barely cannot.

So it is the most common light near stars and still barely below the point of being destructive to chemical bonds.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Visible light wavelengths also do some of the things you’re talking about. Light from the sun heats up water. It makes things visible through other materials with varying levels of emissivity. We just don’t use “sciency” terms to define that because these things have been obvious for thousands of years.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The big thing is that it has about the same energy as common chemical reactions. So visible light and chemicals can work together for things like photosynthesis and vision.

So not a coincidence at all: visible light is visible because it’s the kind chemical eyes like ours can detect.