Superfact 94: Light is electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic spectrum we deal with goes from long wave radiation at a frequency of 0.3 Giga Hertz to gamma rays at 30,000,000,000 Giga Hertz, and far beyond. Light that is visible to humans goes from around 428,000 Giga Hertz to 750,000 Giga Hertz. This is a very thin sliver in the electromagnetic spectrum. In addition, many animals can see beyond the spectrum visible to humans.
Esther’s writing prompt: April 8 : Vision
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If you consider wavelength instead of frequency, the electromagnetic spectrum goes from gamma rays at a wavelength of 0.00000000001 meters to long waves at a wavelength of 1,000 meters. Visible light has a wavelength of 0.0000004 meters to 0.0000007 meters. Again, human vision corresponds to only a thin sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum.
It should be noted that the spectra above go from long waves to gamma rays because that’s the range of the spectra we typically deal with. However, the electromagnetic spectrum continues far beyond that.
I consider “Human Vision Only Detects a Sliver of the EM Spectrum” a super fact because it is a well-known fact among those who have studied physics, and it is an important fact, and yet I believe it is a surprise to many.
The Spectrum Visible to Animals
A lot of animals can see beyond the spectrum visible to humans. For example, animals that can see UV light including reindeer, scorpions, butterflies, bees, salmon, hedgehogs, many birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Humans cannot see UV light. You can read about various animals that can see UV light here, here, and here.
It appears that dogs and cats can see UV light as well. The color vision of dogs is in general poor, at least on the red side of the visible spectrum. However, dog vision includes UV light that we cannot see.
Many animals can also see or detect infrared radiation. A famous example are snakes. However, many other animals can detect infrared radiation including mosquitos, beetles, and other insects, some bats, bullfrogs, wolves, foxes, and some fish.
My Other Responses to Esther’s Prompts
- Prompt : Small : Small Microscopic Subatomic and Strings
- Prompt : Kind : Leonbergers Are Kind Dogs
- Prompt : Charge : Electric Charge is not the only type of Fundamental Charge
- Prompt : Promises : Promises To My Dog
- Prompt : Shade : A Total Solar Eclipse the Ultimate Moon Shade
- Prompt : Money : Ten Money Facts
- Prompt : Edge : The Edge of the Observable Universe is 46.5 billion Light Years Away
- Prompt : Fish : Ten Amazing Fish Facts
- Prompt : Promise : I Promise Not to Post AI Generated Comments
- Prompt : Respect : Respect your Dog
- Prompt : Giving : Leonbergers Giving Gifts to Pugs
- Prompt : Family : Dogs Are Family
- Prompt : Snow : Snow and Ice in Norrland
- Prompt : Red : The Universe has a Redshift and its Increasing
- Prompt: Shapes : Conic Sections are the Shapes that Shape Our World
- Prompt: Flying : 10 Wind Blowing Facts About Birds
- Prompt: Drive : Letting Your Dog Drive the Car
- Prompt: Memories: False Memories Strange Memories Unpleasant Memories and Amnesia
- Prompt: Magic: Magic In New Orleans a Travel Overview
To see the Other Super Facts click here
Super Facts 
I’m glad my dog can see better than I can, especially now that she’s deaf.
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So cool that snakes and some other animals can detect infrared radiation – I’ll need to tell my son about that, he’ll be fascinated!
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This is an interesting post, Thomas. I do know about the UV vision many animals have. They are so lucky.
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