throughascientificlens: What Is Ultraviolet Radiation? The image above is of the sun taken in the ul
throughascientificlens: What Is Ultraviolet Radiation? The image above is of the sun taken in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum. When we think of light, we think the rainbow, ROYGBIV, etc. but light has a spectrum much large than the one we can see. (Image via effieboo.wordpress.com) This great diagram allows us to see this clearly. Around the 10-6 meters wavelength is the visible light that we can see. If we decrease the wavelength we go from red to organge to yellow, green, blue, purple and then we get to ultraviolet which we cannot see. Ultraviolet radiation isn’t inherently invisible, as one may think - it is merely that the suns main output of useful light is around the wavelength 10-6, which is why we see it. Some birds and bees have evolved to be able to see ultraviolet light, and thus some plants have evolved to show different patterns in ultraviolet light than in visible light. Ultraviolet light can be divided into many different sub-categories, but three are of interest: UVA, UVB, and UVC. UVA has medical applications in treatment of skin conditions. UVB can lead to direct DNA damage, sunburn and skin cancer. UVC is absorbed by ozone as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere, where it breaks the bonds of O3, which is positive for us as it can be a health hazard. Ultraviolet light has many many different uses, from food processing, fire detection, sterilization, checking electrical insulation, astronomy, forensics, lasers, sun tanning, and the list goes on. (Image via planetfacts.org) -- source link