Kids - We are blind in a sea of light

Steven asked me why there are rainbows around water. I told him it was a natural phenomena that displays the visible spectrum of light.

In high school my physics professor would tell us “We are Blind in a Sea of Light” when beginning to discuss electromagnetic radiation (light). We can only visually see a very small portion of light that exists in the Universe. We cannot see television, radio, cell phone, or internet signals all around us yet we are aware of their existence because we use devices which depend upon this light for information.

In the video below, visible light is represented by only 1 inch on an electromagnetic scale of over 2,000 miles.



The video below is a song about the electromagnetic spectrum which can be used to torture children. Actually an informative video from the Physics is Fun channel on You Tube. Given their singing they should not quit their day jobs. There are numerous physics experiments on the Physics is Fun channel.



[Credit to sparkleystitch for the scale video and “The Electromagnetic Spectrum Song” by Emerson & Wong Yann (Singapore) posted by phyisfun]