Radio waves:

Who:
Heinrich Hertz discovered radio waves, but he used and applied James Clerk
Maxwell's theories to the production of these waves.
Uses & Applications:
Uses: The main purpose of radio is to transport information from one place to
another through the intervening media (i.e., air, space, non-conducting
materials) without wires.
Medicine: Radio waves are used to transmit the pattern of a heartbeat through
a monitor at a patient's home to a hospital. They are also used to radio the
condition of a patient from an ambulance to a hospital.
Industry: Radios are also used in industry, mainly in the transportation
business. Radio waves can also be used to provide communication on
construction sites.
Science: Radio waves from outside the earth are detected using in radio
telescopes.
Consumer Goods: radios, television, Mobile phones, etc.
Applications:
Artificially generated radio waves are used for fixed and mobile radio
communication, broadcasting, radar and other navigation systems,
communications satellites, computer networks and innumerable other
applications.
Scientific Advances:

Mobile Phones, Radio, Televisions, Satellites.

Myths:
One myth that has really caught my attention, is that mobile phones are
said, that they possible transfer cancer.

Microwaves:
Who:
Percy Spencer invented the first microwave oven after World War II from radar
technology developed during the war. Named the "Radarange", it was first sold
in 1946.
Uses & Applications:
Microwaves are not just used for cooking food, but for many other things as
well. For example: medicine, industry, science, consumer goods, and
communication.
Medicine: Its used for medical purposes. For example, in a enlarged prostate,
instead of surgically removing the problematic organ, doctors can use
microwaves to heat op the enlarging tissue of the prostate and in turn

decreasing the size of the enlarged prostate.

Industry: Microwaves in this field are primarily used for clean up. They can be
used to decrease air pollutants, sanitize hospital waste, enhance dry cleaning
solvents, and clean up polluted soil.
Communication: Microwaves are also in cellular phones, telephones,
telegraphs, television, and satellites.
Science: Scientists use microwaves to make a special conductor made of
copper called chalcopyrite.
Myth:
Microwaving food is a danger to nutrients

Infrared Rays:
Who:
Sir Frederick William Herschel discovered infrared light in 1800. Herschel, born
in Hanover, Germany, decided to investigate the temperature of each color of
the spectrum produced when sunlight is passed through a prism.
Scientific Advances:
Uses:
Infrared radiation is used for industrial purposes, medical applications, scientific
applications and experiments, etc. Some of the most prominent and important
uses of Infrared radiation are:
-Used in night vision devices to observe animal or people using infrared
illumination
-Used in astronomy to observe objects that are blurred and hidden by
interstellar dust.
-Used in astronomical telescopes
-Used in infrared lamps, these lamps are used for drying paint
-Used in infrared lasers that produce beams that can be used to read
information on compact discs.
-Used in the infrared imaging devices
-Used in the chemical industry to determine molecular structure and
composition
-Used in the medical field to locate diseased tissues and injury
-Used for military purposes where infrared imaging devices are used to locate
enemy troops in the dark, hidden mines, arm caches, etc.
-Used to de-ice the wings of an aircraft
-Used in cooking and heating food
Applications:
-Infrared Heating
-Infrared lamps
-Infrared Thermography
-Tracking using Infrared
-Infrared in Health Care

-Photobiomodulation
-Communications using infrared
-Infrared Spectroscopy
-Infrared in Meteorology
-Infrared in Climatology
-Infrared Astronomy
-Infrared imaging cameras
Myths:
- Infrared energy can be harmful
- Infrared radiations is heat

Ultraviolet Waves:
Who:
UV radiation was discovered in 1801 when the German physicist Johann
Wilhelm Ritter observed that invisible rays just beyond the violet end of the
visible spectrum darkened silver chloride-soaked paper more quickly than violet
light itself.
Uses:
- Sun beds
- Security pens
- Fluorescent lights (coatings inside the tube or bulb absorb the ultraviolet
light and re-emit it as visible light)
- Uses for UV light include getting a sun tan, detecting forged bank notes
in shops, and hardening some types of dental filling.
- Ultraviolet rays can be used to kill microbes.
- Food and drug companies also use UV lamps to sterilise their products.
- Suitable doses of Ultraviolet rays cause the body to produce vitamin D
Applications:
- A bug zapper
- UV lamp for picking out counterfeit banknotes
- Disinfection of drinking water and sterilization of apparatus
Myths:
Myth 1: You can see and feel UV rays
Completely false! There are rays from the sun that can be seen (sunlight) and
felt (infrared) but UV rays cannot be seen or felt.
Myth 2: You are only exposed to UV rays when the sky is clear and you can
see the sun
Again, not true! Up to 90% of UV rays can get through light clouds so even on
cloudy Irish days you need to protect your skin for UV damage
Scientific Advances:
Scientists can study the formation of stars in ultraviolet since young stars shine

most of their light at these wavelengths

X-Ray:
Who:
In late 1895, a German physicist, W. C. Roentgen was working with a cathode ray tube in his laboratory.
He evacuated the tube of all air, filled it with a special gas, and passed a high electric voltage through it.
When he did this, the tube would produce a fluorescent glow. He realized that he had produced a
previously unknown "invisible light," or ray, that was being emitted from the tube. He named the new ray
X-ray
Uses:
- The main use of X-rays is in medicine. A comman application is in the
form of X-ray machines, which take photos of a patients body.
- X-rays can also be used to kill cancer cells, but also kill healthy cells, so
must be used with much care.
- Other uses are in industry, at airports to check customers and baggage
Applications:
-Radiography
-Fluoroscopy
Scientific Advancements:
X-rays transformed medicine a century ago by providing a noninvasive way to
detect internal structures in the body.
Myths:
-Ultrasound scans are only used for pregnant women
-A scan will always show what is wrong with you
-Scans can have serious side effects
Diffraction, Refraction, Reflection:
X-ray diffraction is also very important in spectroscopy and as a basis for X-ray
crystallography. The diffraction of X-rays by a crystal where the wavelength of
X-rays is comparable in size to the distances between atoms in most crystals is
used to disperse X-rays in a spectrometer and to determine the structure of
crystals or molecules.

Gamma Ray:
Who:
Paul Villard, a French chemist and physicist, discovered gamma radiation in
1900, while studying radiation emitted from radium.
Uses:
-To sterilise surgical instruments
-To kill harmful bacteria in food
-To kill cancer cells (note that lower doses of gamma radiation could lead to
cells becoming cancerous)

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-Like x rays, it is also used to sterilize medical instruments.

-It is used to detect brain and heart abnormalities.

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-Gamma rays are used by Engineers, since they can penetrate better
than X-rays, to look for cracks in pipes and aircraft parts..
-One of the destructive use is their important role in development of the
atomic bomb.
Applications:
-Radiotherapy
-Tracers
Scientific Advancement:
Gamma-Ray Bending Opens New Door for Optics