How is visible light related to electromagnetic radiation?

Question

I don't get it. How can the two possibly be connected, in any way?

Answer 1

This question is odd.  It's like asking how apples could be a type fruit.

A lot of people get hung up on the word "radiation".  Radiation is something a lot of people think of as only causing cancer and coming from bombs and reactors and such.  In the physics sense of the word, radiation just describes how it moves--it radiates out from it's source.    Not all radiation is harmful.  The warm feeling you get from a campfire is radiation (infrared).

Check out Wiki's article on the electromagnetic spectrum:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagn...

Answer 2

Maxwell showed mathematically that all light is the product of electromagnetic waves. Einstein later showed that the electromagnetic waves that makeup light were not just waves but small particles he called quanta, today called photons. He proved this via the photo electric effect, for which he won the Nobel prize.

Answer 3

Visible light is a range of wave lengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is comprised of many different types of radiation ranging from radio waves all the way up to gamma rays. Visible light comes right after infrared and just before ultraviolet.

Answer 4

Visible light IS electromagnetic radiation, but there are many other kinds that you can't see. Your eyes are equipped to see only one small section of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The spectrum varies by amount of energy in each type of wave, and by frequency/wavelength of the wave. Visible light carries energy, and when it hits the back of your eyes, transfers the energy to specialized cells that interpret it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagn...