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Article: Electromagnetic Spectrum
- Article from:
- World of Earth Science
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Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses a continuous range of frequencies or wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, ranging from long wavelength, low energy radio waves, to short wavelength, high frequency, high-energy gamma rays. The electromagnetic spectrum is traditionally divided into regions of radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light,
ultraviolet rays
, x rays, and gamma rays.
Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell's (1831
–
1879) development of a set of equations that accurately described electromagnetic phenomena allowed the mathematical and theoretical unification of electrical and magnetic phenomena. When Maxwell's ...