What is solar radiation?

What is solar radiation?

Bad thoughts usually come to mind when you think of the word 'radiation.' But solar radiation is actually a very beneficial thing-it's sunlight! Every living thing on Earth depends on sunlight for survival. It warms the planet, provides food for plants, and in general, just makes us feel pretty darn good. I don't know about you, but I think being outside on a sunny day soaking up all that energy is a really nice feeling!

Solar radiation is all of the light and energy that comes from the sun, and there are many different forms. The electromagnetic spectrum explains the different types of light waves that are emitted from the sun. Light waves are similar to waves you see on the ocean-they move up and down and travel from one place to another. The difference is that instead of the water vibrating up and down, light waves are vibrations of electromagnetic fields, hence the name the electromagnetic spectrum.

You can think of the spectrum like a piano keyboard. One end of the keyboard has low notes while the other has high notes. The same is true for the electromagnetic spectrum. One end has low frequencies and the other high frequencies. Low frequency waves are low-energy wave with a long wavelength. The length of the wave itself is very long for a given period of time. These are things like radar, TV and radio waves. High frequency waves are high-energy waves with a short wavelength. This means that the length of the wave itself is very short for a given period of time. These are thing like gamma rays, X-rays and ultraviolet rays.

You can think of it like this: Low frequency waves are like going up a hill that slowly rises in elevation, while high frequency waves are like going up a steep hill very quickly. The height of each hill is the same, but the elevation either slopes gently over a longer incline or slopes up quickly over a shorter incline. Visible light, which is the sunlight we and other animals can see with our eyes, falls in almost the middle of the spectrum.

We can't see any other waves on the spectrum (which are all just different forms of light), but that doesn't mean they aren't there. In face, insects see ultraviolet light but not our visible light. Flowers look very different to them than they do to us, and this helps them know which plants to visit and which ones to stay away from.