{"id":3411,"date":"2021-06-03T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T22:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education.australiascience.tv\/?p=3411"},"modified":"2021-10-01T15:31:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T06:01:40","slug":"explainer-the-electromagnetic-spectrum","status":"publish","type":[8014,8019],"link":"https:\/\/education.australiascience.tv\/explainer-the-electromagnetic-spectrum\/","title":{"rendered":"Explainer: The Electromagnetic Spectrum"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”5\/6″][vc_separator color=”white”][vc_column_text]You think you might know light, but there’s way more to it than meets the eye. Find out all the flavours that make up the electromagnetic spectrum in this explainer article and video.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

This resource has a great explanation of how light works and the electromagnetic spectrum. The video suitable as an introduction to refraction for Year 5 students, and as a refresher and to illustrate the concept of wave models for Year 9. For more of an in-depth study, use the article with senior Physics students to learn about how we can explore space using light.<\/p>\n

The teacher resource at the bottom of the page includes a student research activity, an investigation planning task and questions for students.<\/p>\n

Word count \/ Video length: 2481 \/ 6:02 mins[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each image represents a 360\u00b0 false color view of the Milky Way within 10\u00b0 of the galactic plane. Credit: NASA<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]There is a family, or spectrum, of waves<\/strong> that all share one thing in common: they travel at 300,000,000 ms-1<\/sup> in a vacuum. This is because they are all light waves (or particles \u2013 but we won\u2019t get into that right now), just not as we know it.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]When we think of light, we usually think of what we can see being emitted by the Sun, lightbulbs or our phone torches. We think of the colours of the rainbow from red through to violet. But there are actually many other wavelengths of light that are undetectable by the human eye. These make up the electromagnetic spectrum.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]We can detect these in other ways – for example, with our skin or using special cameras and telescopes. By using technology, we have been able to understand the huge range of light being emitted, reflected and refracted across the Universe which has taught us so much including what distant stars are made of, how the Universe began, and we can even get images from inside the body and treat some cancers using light.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]So let\u2019s have a closer look at the electromagnetic spectrum.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\n

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