![]() Infrared light, which lies beyond the longer red wavelengths of visible light, was the first "invisible" form of electromagnetic radiation to be discovered. The link between light, electricity, and magnetism was not immediately obvious to early scientists who were experimenting with the fundamental properties of light and matter. Visible light represents only a small portion of the entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiation (as categorized in Figure 1), which extends from high-frequency cosmic and gamma rays through X-rays, ultraviolet light, infrared radiation, and microwaves, down to very low frequency long-wavelength radio waves. The term electromagnetic radiation, coined by Sir James Clerk Maxwell, is derived from the characteristic electric and magnetic properties common to all forms of this wave-like energy, as manifested by the generation of both electrical and magnetic oscillating fields as the waves propagate through space. ![]() ![]() The mechanisms by which visible light is emitted or absorbed by substances, and how it predictably reacts under varying conditions as it travels through space and the atmosphere, form the basis of the existence of color in our universe. Electromagnetic radiation, the larger family of wave-like phenomena to which visible light belongs (also known as radiant energy), is the primary vehicle transporting energy through the vast reaches of the universe. Visible light is a complex phenomenon that is classically explained with a simple model based on propagating rays and wavefronts, a concept first proposed in the late 1600s by Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens.
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