Let’s get thEM…

Visible Light,
Ultraviolet, X-Ray,
Gamma Rays
Let’s recall!.

RADIO WAVES
Have the longest
wavelengths and
lowest
frequencies of
all the
electromagnetic
waves.
Let’s recall
Let’s recall!.

MICROWAVES

Have the
shortest
wavelengths and
the highest
frequency of
the radio
waves.
Let’s recall
 INFRARED RAYS

Infrared= below
red
Shorter
wavelength and
higher
frequency than
microwaves.
Let’s recall
 VISIBLE LIGHT
*Shorter wavelength and
higher frequency than
infrared rays.
*The only EM waves we
can see.
Longest wavelength= red light
Shortest wavelength= violet
(purple) light

red light violet light

 When light enters a new medium it bends
(refracts). Each wavelength bends a
different amount allowing white light to
separate into it’s various colors ROYGBIV.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications

1. Ability to see –
enables us to see our
surroundings and gives light in the screen of our devices.

The eye is an
organ. Behind Digital
its visible cameras and
portions are a their liquid
complicated crystal
array of displays (LCDs)
delicate enable instant
mechanisms reviews of
that work in photographs,
unison to which can be
transmit an reshot without
image to the wasting film.
brain.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications

2. Artificial lights –
are any light source that
produces light instead of natural light produced by the
stars like the sun.
Light-emitting diodes
American
inventor Thomas
(LEDs) are
Edison developed semiconductors that
this incandescent produce light when
lamp, or light current passes through
bulb, in 1879. them. They are used in
Edison was not many common devices,
the first person to such as the tuning
produce a light indicator on a radio. An
bulb, but his arrangement of seven
design proved LEDs in the shape of an
popular because ‘8’ can be used to
it gave off a display any number
moderate amount from 0 to 9. This
of light and arrangement is often
lasted a long
used on calculators
time.
and digital watches.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications

3. Optical Fibers – a branch of optics dealing with the

transmission of light through hair-thin, transparent fibers. Light
signals that enter at one end of a fiber travel through the fiber
with very low loss of light, even if the fiber is curved. A basic
fiber-optic system consists of a transmitting device (which
generates the light signal), an optical-fiber cable (which carries
the light), and a receiver (which accepts the transmitted light
signal and converts it to an electrical signal).

A strand of fiber-optic cable reflects

the light that passes through it back
into the fiber, so light cannot escape
the strand. Fiber-optic cables carry
more information, suffer less
interference, and require fewer
signal repeaters over long distances
than wires.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications

Application of Optical Fibers – When glass

fibers of core/cladding design were introduced in the early
1950s, the presence of impurities restricted their employment to
the short lengths sufficient for endoscopy – an examination of
internal body cavities using a specialized medical instrument
called an endoscope. Physicians use endoscopy to diagnose,
monitor, and surgically treat various medical problems.

Customizable to meet specific surgical

needs, endoscopes can be fitted with
scissors, knives, lasers, or cameras.
Here, the endoscope is fitted with a
small grasping tool to remove a toy
lodged in the esophagus of an infant.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications

Application of Optical Fibers – Use of fiber

optics in communications is growing. Fiber-optic
communications systems have key advantages over older types
of communication. They offer vastly increased bandwidths,
allowing tremendous amounts of information to be carried
quickly from place to place. They also allow signals to travel for
long distances without repeaters, which are needed to
compensate for reductions in signal strength.
- Developments in fiber optics also had a significant
effect on the deployment of undersea cable. From 1989 to 2001 a
total of 15 new transatlantic optical fiber cables were deployed,
along with a similar number of transpacific cables. Many other
short-segment undersea cables were deployed to connect
various countries within a continent. Since 1996 many of these
optical cables have employed erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and
wave division multiplexing, permitting the highest-quality data
transmission at very high rates.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications

4. LASER –a device that produces and amplifies light. The

word “LASER” is an acronym for Light Amplification by
Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Laser light is very pure in
color, can be extremely intense, and can be directed with great
accuracy. Lasers are used in many modern technological devices
including bar code readers, compact disc (CD) players, and laser
printers. Lasers can generate light beyond the range visible to
the human eye, from the infrared through the X-ray range. Masers
are similar devices that produce and amplify microwaves.

An argon laser is
used in eye
surgery to
correct this
woman’s vision
problem.
VISIBLE LIGHT
PRACTICAL Applications
Play the video.
 ULTRAVIOLET RAYS
Shorter
wavelength and
higher
frequency than
visible light
Carry more
energy than
visible light
ULTRAVIOLET
PRACTICAL Applications

1. Health purposes – Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation

in sunlight interact with protein (7-DHC) in the skin,
converting it into vitamin D3, the active form of vitamin D,
which is essential for maintaining healthy bones and
teeth.

Vitamin D is sometimes called

the sunshine vitamin because it
is manufactured by the skin
after exposure to the
ultraviolet radiation in sunlight.
Ultraviolet radiation also
causes freckles.
ULTRAVIOLET
PRACTICAL Applications

2. Security markings– sensitive documents such

as credit cards, banknotes and passports include a UV
watermark that is only seen under UV emitting light.
ULTRAVIOLET
PRACTICAL Applications

3. Water sterilization in drinking fountains

–As a water treatment technique, UV is known to be an
effective disinfectant due to its strong germicidal
(inactivating) ability. UV disinfects water containing
bacteria and viruses and can be effective against
protozoans like, Giardia lamblia cysts or Cryptosporidium
oocysts.
ULTRAVIOLET
PRACTICAL Applications

4. Fluorescence –
Fluorescent Whitening
Agents, also called optical brighteners, are
fluorescent materials that can absorb UV light
and emit visible light . Thus, once deposited on
fabrics, they enhance the whiteness or
brightness appearance of white or lightly
colored fabrics. Although they are used at low
levels in detergents, their contribution to the
overall whiteness performance of laundry
detergents is not negligible, and they are used in
nearly all detergents.
 X- RAYS
Shorter
wavelength and
higher
frequency than
UV-rays
Carry a great
amount of
energy
Can penetrate
most matter.
X-RAY
PRACTICAL Applications

1. Diagnosing bone fractures – Since its

accidental discovery in 1896 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen,
the X ray has been an important diagnostic and
therapeutic tool. Produced by bombarding a target made
of tungsten with high-speed electrons, X rays are
absorbed by various tissues of the body in a predictable
manner. The rays are absorbed by dense bone, while they
easily pass through the soft tissue of internal organs. On
photographic film, bone appears white and soft tissues
appear gray. While diagnostic dental and medical X rays
are low-intensity beams, high-intensity X rays, capable of
destroying tissue, are used in the treatment of tumors.
Rapidly dividing cancerous cells are especially vulnerable
to X rays.
X-RAY
PRACTICAL Applications

1. Diagnosing bone fractures – Since its

accidental discovery in 1896 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the X
ray has been an important diagnostic and therapeutic tool.
Produced by bombarding a target made of tungsten with high-
speed electrons, X rays are absorbed by various tissues of the
body in a predictable manner. The rays are absorbed by dense
bone, while they easily pass through the soft tissue of internal
organs.

Long wavelength X-rays can

penetrate the flesh but not the
bones that’s why it is used in
diagnosing bone fractures.
X-RAY
PRACTICAL Applications

2. Airport security scanner – Airport security

machines use low energy x-rays to check luggage for dangerous
items. Unless x-rays encounter a metal object, they will pass
through the bag to a detector beneath the conveyor belt. An
image is formed by the x-rays hitting the detector. The image is
transmitted to a viewing screen where it is analyzed by security
personnel for potential risk.

Short wavelength X-
rays can penetrate
through metals.
 GAMMA RAYS

Shorter wavelength
and higher frequency
than X-rays
Carry the greatest
amount of energy
and penetrate the
most.
GAMMA RAY
PRACTICAL Applications

1. Treating tumors and cancers –

The discovery of gamma rays is generally
credited to French physicist Henri Becquerel
in 1896. Radiation therapy (also called
radiotherapy) is a cancer treatment that uses
high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells
and shrink tumors. Gamma rays ionize living
tissue, causing cancer by producing free
radicals. However, because gamma rays also
kill bacteria and cancer cells, they have been
used to kill certain types of cancer. In a
controlled procedure, gamma rays are
employed as a “gamma knife” consisting of
multiple concentrated beams of gamma rays
that are focused directly onto a tumor to kill
the cancer cells while leaving the
surrounding cells unharmed. Gamma rays are
also used to sterilize surgical instruments.
GAMMA RAY
PRACTICAL Applications

2. Industrial applications– Gamma rays are used

in an industrial setting to detect defects in metal castings and to
find weak spots in welded structures. In a process known as
industrial radiography, sections of structures are bombarded
with gamma rays which safely pass through the metal. The metal
is then observed by portable gamma cameras which show a
darkening of the weak points in the structure on a photographic
image.
GAMMA RAY
PRACTICAL Applications

3. Food industry applications– Gamma rays,

namely in the form of a radionuclide called cobalt 60, are used to
preserve food in the same way as they are used to sterilize
medical equipment in that they irradiate decay causing bacteria.
Cobalt 60 produces low amounts of gamma radiation, which
allows it to kill bacteria, insects, and yeast without causing a
lethal dose of radiation in humans. The process also prevents
sprouting and ripening of fruits and vegetables, while otherwise
causing no significant changes in the food’s content.