Light Of Sight
In this universe there are many thing that
we cannot explain. Among these many
things is light. Light, as far as we
know, come in different wavelengths and the
size of the wavelength determine
what type of light it is. The middle wavelength
lights are what gives us the
seven basic colors of red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo and violet.
Beside these visible lights there are the lights that
cannot be seen by the
human eye. These invisible lights can be grouped into two
other groups the
long waves and short waves. The first group of waves is the
longer wavelength
of light including infrared and radio waves. Radio waves, the
longest
wavelengths, alternate and can be volatile. Arthur C. Clarke said in
the
essay "The Light of Common Day" that since radio waves fluctuate
so
much no animal has ever been able to sense them. He goes on to say that if
you
had an eye big enough to see radio waves your eyes would be millions of
times
larger than a normal eye. The next longest wave is the infrared light
waves.
Infrared light is used nowadays to see in the night. Special
goggles are
designed to pick up infrared light making it possible to see at
night. The next
group of light waves are the shorter waves of ultraviolet and
x-rays.
Ultraviolet light, sometimes referred to as UV, is right next to
violet and is
just beyond sight. UV light is what causes sunburns and can be
very painful. In
Arthur C. Clarks essay it states that even though UV
light is not visible the
retina of the human eye reacts powerfully to it. He
compare the human eye to a
camera and says that a good camera need may types
of lenses made out of
different types of glass to take a good picture. The
human eye has only one lens
and cannot possible see UV light. The last type
of light is the x-ray. The x-ray
is the smallest wave and is used in the
medical field greatly to take pictures
through flesh of bones. Even though
x-rays are very useful they can be very
dangerous. They have been know to
disrupt radio waves and can poison a human
body to the point of death. In
summary, the invisible lights can be broken down
into large wavelength and
short wavelength groups. The large wavelength group
consists of radio waves
and infrared light. Radio waves are sometimes volatile
and infrared light is
use to see at night among other things. The other set of
invisible light, the
short wavelength, include ultraviolet light and x-rays.
Ultraviolet light
is not visible but affects the retina in the human eye. X-rays
are helpful in
hospitals but are lethal in large
quantities.