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The Visible and Non-visible Light Spectrum
As you can see from the illustration above, visible light is only a very small portion of all light waves. You may ask yourself why is it that we only see the "visible" portion of light? If you study the illustration above, you will see at the earth's surface almost all the wavelengths with any significant energy are visible (see the green peak). There are some very small amounts of ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths that are present. In some cases, insects and other animals have adapted to see with those wavelengths.
View Citation
Bibliographic details:
- Article: Light Spectrum
- Author(s): CJ Kazilek, Kim Cooper
- Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
- Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
- Date published: December 17, 2009
- Date accessed: April 17, 2024
- Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/spectrum-light
APA Style
CJ Kazilek, Kim Cooper. (2009, December 17). Light Spectrum . ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved April 17, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/spectrum-light
Chicago Manual of Style
CJ Kazilek, Kim Cooper. "Light Spectrum ". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 17 December, 2009. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/spectrum-light
CJ Kazilek, Kim Cooper. "Light Spectrum ". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 17 Dec 2009. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 17 Apr 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/spectrum-light
MLA 2017 Style
The visible light spectrum humans can see is only a small part of all light wavelengths.
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