Electromagnetic Radiation

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. 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. 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.
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Microscope Resource Center - Electromagnetic Radiation

Electromagnetic Radiation

Explore this tutorial of an electromagnetic wave as a sine function which enables the visitor to vary amplitude and wavelength to demonstrate how this function appears in three dimensions.

Basic Electromagnetic Wave Properties

Discover the relationship between frequency, wavelength, and energy, and enables the visitor to adjust the intensity of the radiation and to set the wave into motion in this interactive tutorial.

Electron Excitation and Emission

Examine how photon energy is absorbed by an electron to elevate it into a higher energy level and how the energy can be released, in the form of a lower energy photon, when the electron falls back to the original ground state.

Jablonski Diagram

Discover how electrons in fluorophores are excited from the ground state into higher electronic energy states and the events that occur as these excited molecules emit photons and fall back into lower energy states.

Tuning a Radio Wave Receiver

Examine and learn more about how a variable capacitor is coupled to a simple antenna transformer circuit to tune a radiofrequency spectrum in this featured interactive java tutorial.

Contributing Authors

Mortimer Abramowitz - Olympus America, Inc., Two Corporate Center Drive., Melville, New York, 11747.
Matthew Parry-Hill, Thomas J. Fellers, and Michael W. Davidson - National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, 1800 East Paul Dirac Dr., The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32310.