Physics: Electromagnetic Spectrum from Longest to Shortest Wavelength Practice
Ordering electromagnetic waves by wavelength and connecting wavelength to frequency and energy
Physics: Electromagnetic Spectrum from Longest to Shortest Wavelength Practice
Ordering electromagnetic waves by wavelength and connecting wavelength to frequency and energy
Physics - Grade 9-12
- 1
List the seven major regions of the electromagnetic spectrum from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength.
Start with the waves used for broadcasting and end with the highest-energy rays.
From longest wavelength to shortest wavelength, the order is radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. - 2
Put these waves in order from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength: ultraviolet, radio waves, infrared, gamma rays.
The correct order from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength is radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, and gamma rays. - 3
A student writes this order from longest to shortest wavelength: microwaves, radio waves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays. Identify the mistake and correct the order.
Radio waves have the longest wavelengths in the common electromagnetic spectrum list.
The mistake is that radio waves and microwaves are switched. Radio waves have longer wavelengths than microwaves, so the correct order is radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. - 4
Which has the shorter wavelength: visible light or X-rays? Explain your answer using the electromagnetic spectrum order.
X-rays have the shorter wavelength. In the electromagnetic spectrum, X-rays come after visible light when moving from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength. - 5
The visible light spectrum is usually ordered by wavelength from red to violet. Which color of visible light has the longest wavelength, and which has the shortest wavelength?
The visible light order from longest to shortest wavelength is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
Red light has the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum, and violet light has the shortest wavelength. - 6
Rank these from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength: blue light, red light, microwaves, ultraviolet.
The correct order from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength is microwaves, red light, blue light, and ultraviolet. - 7
Electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed in a vacuum. If wavelength decreases, what happens to frequency? Use this idea to explain why gamma rays have higher frequency than radio waves.
Use the relationship c = λf, where c is constant in a vacuum.
If wavelength decreases, frequency increases because wave speed equals wavelength times frequency. Gamma rays have much shorter wavelengths than radio waves, so gamma rays have much higher frequencies. - 8
Arrange these applications from longest wavelength radiation to shortest wavelength radiation: dental imaging, TV broadcasting, heat lamps, sterilizing equipment that uses ultraviolet light.
The correct order from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength is TV broadcasting, heat lamps, ultraviolet sterilizing equipment, and dental imaging. TV broadcasting uses radio waves, heat lamps use infrared, sterilizing equipment uses ultraviolet, and dental imaging uses X-rays. - 9
A diagram shows wavelength decreasing from left to right. Where should infrared be placed: between microwaves and visible light, between visible light and ultraviolet, or between X-rays and gamma rays?
Infrared means below red, so it is just outside the red end of visible light.
Infrared should be placed between microwaves and visible light. Infrared wavelengths are shorter than microwaves but longer than visible light. - 10
Two electromagnetic waves are compared. Wave A is ultraviolet radiation, and Wave B is infrared radiation. Which wave has the longer wavelength, and which has the higher energy?
Infrared radiation has the longer wavelength, and ultraviolet radiation has the higher energy. Shorter wavelength corresponds to higher frequency and higher photon energy. - 11
Correctly complete this sequence from longest wavelength to shortest wavelength: radio waves, microwaves, blank, visible light, blank, X-rays, gamma rays.
Infrared is just before visible light, and ultraviolet is just after visible light when wavelength decreases.
The completed sequence is radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. - 12
A science article says that gamma rays have the longest wavelength and lowest frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum. Explain why this statement is incorrect.
Wavelength and frequency are inversely related for electromagnetic waves in a vacuum.
The statement is incorrect because gamma rays have the shortest wavelengths and highest frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. Radio waves have the longest wavelengths and lowest frequencies.