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Comment on Can you have an infinitely long wavelength of light? Or is there some maximum?

MartianSands@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Light is a subset of the electromagnetic spectrum

No, it’s not. In physics, we call the entire spectrum “light”, because it’s all fundamentally the same thing.

We can talk about “visible light”, but that’s a subset of light in general. Microwaves, radio waves, x-rays, gamma radiation, and any other section of the spectrum you can think of are all light

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Saleh@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light

Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye.[1] Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahertz. The visible band sits adjacent to the infrared (with longer wavelengths and lower frequencies) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths and higher frequencies), called collectively optical radiation.[2][3]

In physics, the term “light” may refer more broadly to electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, whether visible or not.[4][5] In this sense, gamma rays, X-rays, microwaves and radio waves are also light. The primary properties of light are intensity, propagation direction, frequency or wavelength spectrum, and polarization. Its speed in vacuum, 299792458 m/s, is one of the fundamental constants of nature.

I didn’t know that some physicists choose such confusing terminology. Electromagnetic radiation is the more clear term and i have learned it as such in school, e.g. light being a part of the electromagnetic spectrum and generally speaking of electromagnetic radiation rather than light.

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- LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Cause things get named CENTURIES before we understand them, and as we learn more, sometimes it makes sense to rename them, sometimes it is so engrained in daily life nobody would use the new names.
  
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