Visible light refers to which of the following?

Visible light refers to which of the following?

• A. Electromagnetic waves that are visible to the human eye
• B. Waves with frequencies lower than radio waves
• C. Only infrared waves
• D. Waves not detectable by instruments

Answer: (A)

Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can detect. It consists of waves with wavelengths roughly from 400 to 700 nanometers, spanning colors from violet to red. This is what we perceive when we “see” the world, and our retina’s photoreceptors (cones) interpret these wavelengths as color. The other statements don’t fit: waves with frequencies lower than radio waves are much longer than visible light, infrared waves lie just beyond red and are not the same as visible, and waves in this range are detectable by our eyes and common instruments, so they aren’t “not detectable.”

Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can detect. It consists of waves with wavelengths roughly from 400 to 700 nanometers, spanning colors from violet to red. This is what we perceive when we “see” the world, and our retina’s photoreceptors (cones) interpret these wavelengths as color. The other statements don’t fit: waves with frequencies lower than radio waves are much longer than visible light, infrared waves lie just beyond red and are not the same as visible, and waves in this range are detectable by our eyes and common instruments, so they aren’t “not detectable.”