Quarter 2 – Module 2

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

At the end of Module 2, the
learners should be able to answer
the following questions:

1. How do the regions in the electromagnetic

spectrum differ in terms of wavelength, frequency
and energy?

2. What is the relationship between the wavelength

and frequency of a wave?

3. What is the relationship between the wave’s energy

and wavelength?
Learning Competencies/
Objectives

1. Compare the relative wavelengths,

frequencies and energies of the different
regions of the electromagnetic radiation

2. Describe the electromagnetic spectrum

(i.e. radio waves, microwaves, infrared,
ultraviolet, gamma, visible light and x-
rays) in terms of frequency, wavelength
and energy.
What I Know

Pre-Test
Multiple Choice: Choose the letter
of the correct answer. Write the
letter on a separate sheet of paper.
2. In the visible spectrum, which
color has the longest wavelength?

A. Blue C. Red
B. Green D. Violet
3. Which property spells the difference
between infra-red and ultra-violet radiation?

A. Color
B. Energy
C. Speed in vacuum
D. Wavelength
4. Which of the following correctly lists EM Waves in
order from longest to shortest wavelength?

A. Gamma rays, ultraviolet, infrared, microwaves

B. Microwaves, ultraviolet, visible light, gamma
rays
C. Radio waves, infrared, gamma rays, ultraviolet
D. Radio waves, infrared, visible light, X-rays
5. Radio waves, visible light, and x-rays are
examples of electromagnetic waves that
always differ from each other in _________.

A. Amplitude
B. Intensity
C. Temperature
D. Wavelength
6. Ultraviolet light has a shorter wavelength than
visible light. Which of the following is another way
ultraviolet light can be compared to visible light?

A. Ultraviolet light travels faster than visible light.

B. Ultraviolet light travels slower than visible light.
C. Ultraviolet light has higher frequency than
visible light.
D. Ultraviolet light has a lower frequency than
visible light.
7. A wave with a low frequency would have
relatively ___________

A. low energy and a long wavelength

B. high energy and a long wavelength
C. high energy and a short wavelength
D. low energy and a short wavelength
8. The following are electromagnetic
waves EXCEPT

A. Infrared waves
B. Gamma waves
C. Radio waves
D. Sound waves
9. What color does the shortest
wavelength of visible light appear to the
human eye?

A. Orange C. Yellow
B. Red D. Violet
10. What is the frequency range of UV
radiation?

A. 3.5 x109 –3x 1011 Hz

B. 3.5 x 1011 – 3 x 1014 Hz
C. 7.5 x 1014 – 3 x 1016 Hz
D. 7.5 x 10 – 3 x 10 Hz
16 19
11. What electromagnetic wave is sometimes
called heat rays?

A. Gamma Rays
B. Infrared
C. Radio waves
D. Visible light
12. What type of electromagnetic waves
cause sunburns?

A. Infrared rays
B. Microwaves
C. Radio waves
D. Ultraviolet
13. If a portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum has a short wavelength it also has

A. Low energy
B. High frequency
C. Long wavelength
D. Low frequency
14. In visible light, which color has the
longest wavelength?

A. Green C. Violet
B. Red D. Yellow
15. Which electromagnetic wave can travel the
FARTHEST distances because it has a
wavelength range of greater than 1 x 10-1 m?

A. Gamma ray C. Radio wave

B. Microwave D. X-ray
What’s In

Directions:

Write TRUE if the

statement is correct and
FALSE if the statement is
incorrect. Write your
answer on your answer
sheet.
1. Electromagnetic waves can
travel through vacuum.

2. A wave is a disturbance that

transfers energy
3. Most EM waves are invisible and
undetectable.

4. Electromagnetic waves require a

medium to travel
5. The particles of the medium through which
electromagnetic wave travel vibrate
perpendicularly to the direction of the wave.

6. Electromagnetic waves have different

wavelength, speed and frequency in vacuum.
7. The electric and magnetic fields associated
with the electromagnetic waves are
perpendicular to each other and to the direction
of wave propagation.

8. All electromagnetic waves travel at the same

speed in a vacuum.
9. An electromagnetic wave consists of
oscillating electric and magnetic fields.

10. Electromagnetic radiation can travel

only short distances.
What’s New
 1.
IFRDERAN
 2.
RYSA - X
 3.
ISILEVB
GHTIL
 4.
ICRWVAEMO
 5.
ARIOD
WVEA
 6.

LEVUARTLOIT
 7.
AMAMG
 Did you get all seven (7) words in the
above activity? The words depicted in
the illustrations above are referred to as
the different forms of electromagnetic

What is it waves. These forms are arranged in

what is called the Electromagnetic
Spectrum. What is electromagnetic
spectrum? How are forms of EM waves
arranged in the electromagnetic
spectrum?
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum (Figure 1) is a continuum of
electromagnetic waves arranged according to frequency and wavelength. It
is a gradual progression from the waves of lowest frequencies to the waves
of highest frequencies. This means as you look from left to right on a
diagram of the spectrum, the wavelengths get smaller and the frequency
gets larger. There is an inverse relationship exists between size of the wave
and frequency. All EM waves are radiation. It is just that the longer
wavelengths do not carry enough energy in them to damage cells. Thus,
the higher the frequency, the more energy in the wave. According to
increasing frequency, the EM spectrum includes: RADIO WAVES,
MICROWAVES, INFRARED, VISIBLE LIGHT, ULTRAVIOLET, X-RAYS
and GAMMA RAYS. These waves do not have exact dividing region.
 The different types of
electromagnetic waves are defined by
the amount of energy carried and
by/possessed by the photons.
Photons are bundles of wave energy.
The energy of a photon is given by the
equation:
E=hf
where h is the Planck’s Constant and
f is the frequency of the EM wave. The
value of the Planck’s constant is
6.63x10-34 joules per second (J/sec).
 From among the EM waves,
the gamma rays have photons of
high energies while radio waves
have photons of with the lowest
energies.

With regards to wavelength,

radio waves can be likened to the
size of a football field while gamma
rays are as small as the nuclei of
an atom.
Figure 1 will give you a
deeper idea of the
characteristics of the
electromagnetic waves
as their sizes are
compared with visible
materials.
Table 1 shows the relative wavelengths, frequency and energy
of each of the different types of electromagnetic waves.
Radio Waves
Radio waves have the longest
wavelength in the EM spectrum. They
are produced by making electrons
vibrate in an antenna. They are used to
transmit sound and picture information
over long distances. Radio waves are EM
(Electromagnetic) waves that have
wavelengths between 1 millimeter and
100 kilometers (or 300 GHz and 3 kHz
in frequency).
Radio Waves
Radio waves have a very wide range
of wavelengths. The whole region of
the radio waves is divided into
smaller regions or wavebands. Each
waveband is allocated by law to a
specific radio service. The
wavelengths and frequencies of the
different wavebands and their uses
are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Radio
waves
Frequencies
Low frequency waves are suitable for communication over great distances.
But the curvature of the earth limits the range to about 80 kilometers. To
extend the range, a repeater is used. The repeater receives the signal and
re-transmits it to the receiving station.

High frequency waves can be reflected by the ionosphere. This enables the
waves to be transmitted over great distances.

Medium and high frequency waves are used for broadcasting by local radio
stations.
Microwaves
Microwaves are electromagnetic
waves with wavelengths ranging from as
long as one meter to as short as one
millimeter, or equivalently with frequencies
between 300 MHz (0.3 GHz) and 300 GHz.
The microwave region of the electromagnetic
(EM) spectrum is generally considered to
overlap with the highest frequency (shortest
wavelength) radio waves. As is the case for
all EM waves, microwaves travel in a
vacuum at the speed of light.
Microwaves
The prefix “micro-” in “microwave”
is not meant to suggest a wavelength in
the micrometer range. It indicates that
microwaves are “small” because have
shorter wavelengths as compared to
waves used in typical radio
broadcasting. The boundaries between
far infrared light, terahertz radiation,
microwaves, and ultra-high-frequency
radio waves are fairly arbitrary.
Infrared
Infrared radiation lies beyond the
red end of the visible light. It is emitted
by all objects. The amount and
wavelength of radiation depend on
temperature. Below 5000C, an object
emits only infrared radiation. Above
5000C, an object glows and emits both
infrared and some visible light.
Infrared

Our bodies radiate infrared and

under infrared camera or a night
vision google, our images appear in
variety of colors. The differences in
color determine the differences in
temperature. For example, shades of
blue and green indicate regions of
colder temperature; and red and
yellow indicate warmer temperature.
In Figure 2, the dog is
covered with thick coat
of fur that prevents the
heat generated by the
dog’s body from
escaping. Notice that
the dog’s nose is cold
(blue in actual color)
while the eyes and
mouth (red in actual
color) areas are warm.
Visible Light
When white light passes through a
prism, it is separated into its
constituent colors: the Red, Orange,
Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and
Violet (ROYGBIV) These colors do not
distinctly separate but they
continuously change from red to
violet. Red color has the longest
wavelength from among these colors
and violet has the shortest.
Visible Light
The portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum that is visible to the human
eye is known as the visible light
spectrum. Visible light range comes
under the range of electromagnetic
spectrum between infrared and
ultraviolet having a frequency of about
4x1014 to 8x1014 cycles per second and
wavelengths of about 740 nanometers
or 2.9x10-5 inches to 380 nm.
Visible Light
Our eyes are sensitive to
electromagnetic waves of
wavelengths that ranges from
4x10-7 m to 7x10-7 m. This is the
range of wavelengths of white
light. Thus, the spectrum of
white light is therefore called the
VISIBLE SPECTRUM.
Table 3 shows the wavelengths of the different colors that constitute the white light.
Ultraviolet
Radiation

Ultraviolet radiation lies just

beyond the violet end of the
visible spectrum. Ultraviolet
waves have shorter wavelengths
than the visible light and carry
more energy.
Ultraviolet Radiation
Ultraviolet (UV) light is
electromagnetic radiation with a
wavelength shorter than that of visible light
in the range 10 nm to 400 nm. It is so-
named because the spectrum consists of
electromagnetic waves with frequencies
higher than those that humans identify as
the color violet. These frequencies are
invisible to humans, but visible to a
number of insects and birds.
Although ultraviolet radiation is invisible to the human eye, most people
are aware of the effects of UV on the skin, called suntan and sunburn. In
addition to short wave UV blocked by oxygen, a great deal (>97%) of mid-
range ultraviolet (almost all UV above 280 nm and most up to 315 nm) is
blocked by the ozone layer, and like ionizing short wave UV, would cause
much damage to living organisms if it penetrated the atmosphere. After
atmospheric filtering, only about 3% of the total energy of sunlight at the
zenith is ultraviolet, and this fraction decreases at other sun angles. Much
of it is near-ultraviolet that does not cause sunburn but is still capable of
causing long term skin damage and cancer. An even smaller fraction of
ultraviolet that reaches the ground is responsible for sunburn and also the
formation of vitamin D (peak production occurring between 295 and 297
nm) in all organisms that make this vitamin (including humans). The UV
spectrum thus has many effects, both beneficial and damaging, to human
health.
Subcategories of UV Light
Solar UV radiation is commonly subdivided into three regions:
UV-A (320–400 nm), UV-B (290–320 nm), and UV-C (220–290
nm), ranked from long to shorter wavelengths (from smaller to
larger energies). Most UV-B and all UV-C is absorbed by ozone
(O3) molecules in the upper atmosphere. Consequently, 99% of
the solar UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is UV-A.

There are other schemes for dividing UV into different

categories, another common one is: near-ultraviolet (NUV –
300-400 nm), middle ultraviolet (MUV – 200-300 nm), far
ultraviolet (FUV – 200-122 nm), and extreme ultraviolet (EUV-
121-10 nm).
X-rays
X-rays are electromagnetic waves
with wavelengths in the range of 0.01 to 10
nanometers, corresponding to frequencies
in the range 3×1016 Hz to 3×1019 Hz. X-rays
come just after the ultraviolet rays. They are
of shorter wavelengths but carries higher
energy than the ultraviolet. They are
produced using an X-ray tube. They are
emitted when fast moving electrons hit a
metal target. X-rays were discovered by
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895.
 Long wavelength X-rays can penetrate the flesh but not the
bones. They are used in X-ray photograph to help doctors look inside
the body. They are useful in diagnosing bone fractures and tumors.

Short wavelength X-rays can penetrate even through metals.

They are used in industry to inspect welded joints for faults.

All X-rays are dangerous because they can damage healthy

living cells of the body. This is the reason why frequent exposure to
X-rays should be avoided. Too much exposure to X-rays can damage
body tissues and can cause cancer.
Gamma Rays
Gamma rays lie at the other
end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
They are shortest in wavelength and
highest in frequency. They carry the
highest amount of energy, thus, they
are more dangerous. Gamma rays
are emitted by stars and some
radioactive substances. They can
only be blocked with lead and thick
concrete.
Gamma rays are ionizing radiation and are thus
biologically hazardous. They are classically
produced by the decay from high energy states of
atomic nuclei, a process called gamma decay, but
are also created by other processes. Paul Villard, a
French chemist and physicist, discovered gamma
radiation in 1900, while studying radiation emitted
from radium during its gamma decay. Villard’s
radiation was named “gamma rays” by Ernest
Rutherford in 1903.
What’s More

A. Direction:
Copy and circle the correct
answer in your answer sheet.
1. Which has a longer wavelength? Microwaves or Infrared

2. Which has a lower frequency? X-rays or Gamma rays

3. Which has a higher frequency? Visible or Ultraviolet

4. Which has more energy? Red lightorGreen light

5. Which has more energy? Radio/TV or Infrared

6. Which has a higher frequency? Orange light or Blue light

7. Which has a shorter wavelength? Ultraviolet or X-rays

B. Copy and fill in the
blanks underneath the
wave spectrum below
to indicate the relative
positions of each type
of electromagnetic
radiation from the
given word bank.
 GENERALIZATION

What I Have Now, let us sum up the concepts

you have learned in this module.
Learned

➢ Most EM waves are invisible to

the eye but detectable. Only the
visible light is seen by humans.
➢ Waves in the EM spectrum include the following from the longest wavelength to the shortest wavelength.

► Radio waves

► Microwaves

► Infrared waves

► Visible light

► Ultraviolet

► X-rays

► Gamma rays
The order also shows the increasing frequency and energy of the EM
waves.

The waves in the various regions in the EM spectrum share similar

properties but differ in wavelength, frequency, energy, and method of
production.
What I Can DO

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
COMPARISON DATA TABLE

Instruction: Complete the data table

below comparing the different types of
EM waves. Copy the table and answer in
your answer sheet. Refer to the diagram
below.
Instruction: Complete the data table below comparing the different types of EM waves.
Copy the table and answer in your answer sheet. Refer to the diagram below.