Why are the wavelengths from the visable spectrum called ultraviolet and infrared?

Question

Why are the wavelengths from the visable spectrum called ultraviolet and infrared?

Answer 1

the vivisble spectrum have the following colors (ROYGBIV): Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Voilet.

Ultraviolet because its wavelength is just over the voilet one.so it means above violet

infrared because its wavelength comes just before the red wavelength, so it means before red

so we have infrared ... Visible .... Ultraviolet

and off coarse there are the microwaves, x rays ... etc

Answer 2

Ultra means higher, infra means lower in terms of frequency that the human eye can detect.

Answer 3

ultraviolet and infrared are beyond the human visual spectrum ultraviolet is beyond violet wavelengths and infrared is beyond red wavelengths at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Answer 4

If you're just asking about the etymology of the word (where it comes from), then you're asking about the Latin words 'ulta' and 'infra'.  

Remember R O Y G B I V (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), and those colors are going from less energetic on the left to most energetic on the right.

The first poster is correct that ultraviolet is "above" visible light on the EM spectrum, since it is more energetic, and the last color in visible light is violet.  'Ultra' in latin means something like 'beyond' or 'further away', so 'ultraviolet' is what's beyond violet.  Make sense?  Same deal with infrared.  'Infra' means 'below' or 'underneath of', so since infrared is less energetic than the first color of visible light, red, it's called 'infrared'.  

Hope that helps.