Electromagnetic Radiation Basic Level Questions

First, answer the following four questions to ensure your basic understanding of important electromagnetic radiation concepts.  You may need to do a little research on your own, so explore our Global Resources page or perform your own web search as necessary!

1. Check out Making Electromagnetic Waves.  Make waves of different energies, and measure their resulting wavelengths and frequencies.  Answer the two simple questions at the bottom of this page.  Take webshots of your work, if you can, or simply record your measurements and answers in your eFolio.
2. Electromagnetic radiation is sometimes categorized as "thermal radiation" and "non-thermal radiation".  Explain these categories. 
3. Thermal radiation is sometimes categorized as "solar" and "terrestrial" radiation.  Explain these terms.
4.  How are "electromagnetic waves" and "photons" related?

1. Humans are nearly blind to most wavelengths of light. If you lost your ability to see visible light, but could choose another wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum, what would you choose? Describe how you would see the world around you.
2. The water molecules in our atmosphere stop (absorb) infrared rays that come from the Sun and other stars. If you built a telescope on the ground to study infrared light coming from distant stars, where would you locate it and why?
3. The Sun puts out most of its light at visible wavelengths. As creatures on earth evolved, they developed eyes that respond to the short wavelengths of visible light. Imagine that you are a being on a planet whose Sun puts out most of its light at radio wavelengths, and you don't see the wavelengths of light visible to us on Earth. Do you think you would see the "colors" of radio light?
4. Snakes' eyes are sensitive to infrared radiation. This makes them good hunters at night in the dark. Why?