Electromagnetic Spectrum

Hello. You can’t see most of me, but I am all around you. I paint your world with colors, like the green on a leaf and the yellow of a friendly bumblebee. I also give you warm, sunny hugs that you can feel but can’t see. I help your family’s radio sing your favorite songs and warm up your snacks in the kitchen. I am a giant, invisible rainbow of energy, and my name is the Electromagnetic Spectrum. That's a big, fun word for a secret rainbow.

For a long, long time, people only knew about my colorful parts—the pretty rainbow you see in the sky. Around the year 1666, a curious man named Isaac Newton used a special glass triangle to play with sunlight. He showed everyone that bright sunlight is secretly filled with all the colors you see. Red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. Then, in the year 1800, another scientist named William Herschel was playing with thermometers and sunlight. He found one of my invisible parts. He discovered a warm spot just past the red part of the rainbow. We now call that part infrared, and it’s the part of me that feels like a warm hug from the sun.

Today, you use my different waves for so many things. My radio waves carry happy songs and stories right through the air to your car. My special X-ray waves help doctors see your bones inside your body to make sure they are healthy and strong. I am everywhere, helping you see, learn, and play. I am your secret helper, a powerful rainbow that makes so many amazing things happen every single day.