The Electromagnetic Spectrum - Revision history

Conrad: Make the Regents Exam Questions table scroll sideways on narrow screens instead of widening the page

2026-10-25T21:31:19Z

Make the Regents Exam Questions table scroll sideways on narrow screens instead of widening the page

Conrad: Link the physics version of the chart

2026-10-25T20:35:08Z

Link the physics version of the chart

Conrad: Chemistry reference tables (2025 Edition): new reference table page

2026-10-25T19:49:06Z

Chemistry reference tables (2025 Edition): new reference table page

New page

{{Chemreftable
|name=The Electromagnetic Spectrum
|prev=Periodic Table of the Elements
|next=Symbols Used in Nuclear Chemistry
|desc=The Electromagnetic Spectrum from the NYS Chemistry Reference Tables (2025 Edition): radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma radiation by wavelength in meters and frequency in hertz, with the visible colors from red to violet. Supports HS-PS4-4.
}}
'''The Electromagnetic Spectrum''' chart from the ''Reference Tables for Physical Science: Chemistry'' (2025 Edition) shows the regions of the electromagnetic spectrum by wavelength and by frequency, with the visible-light region expanded to show its colors. It primarily supports [[HS-PS4-4]].

[[File:The Electromagnetic Spectrum.png|800px|class=img-fluid|alt=The Electromagnetic Spectrum from the Chemistry Reference Tables (2025 Edition): wavelength in meters and frequency in hertz, with radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma bands and the visible colors from red to violet]]

== What the electromagnetic spectrum chart shows ==
Two parallel scales run across the chart: wavelength in a vacuum, in meters, from 104 m down to 10−13 m, and frequency, in hertz, from 105 Hz up to 1021 Hz. Radio, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma radiation are marked as bands between the two scales (radio and gamma run off the ends of the chart), with visible light as a narrow band between infrared and ultraviolet. A note in the corner says that spectral boundaries are not discrete and that the biological effects of adjacent forms of radiation overlap.

Visible light is expanded above the wavelength scale and below the frequency scale:

{| class="wikitable"
! Color !! Wavelength in a vacuum (m) !! Frequency (Hz)
|-
| Red || 7.00 × 10−7 to 6.25 × 10−7 || 4.28 × 1014 to 4.80 × 1014
|-
| Orange || 6.25 × 10−7 to 5.90 × 10−7 || 4.80 × 1014 to 5.08 × 1014
|-
| Yellow || 5.90 × 10−7 to 5.65 × 10−7 || 5.08 × 1014 to 5.31 × 1014
|-
| Green || 5.65 × 10−7 to 5.00 × 10−7 || 5.31 × 1014 to 6.00 × 1014
|-
| Blue/Violet || 5.00 × 10−7 to 4.00 × 10−7 || 6.00 × 1014 to 7.50 × 1014
|}

Wavelengths are in meters, while questions tend to give them in nanometers, so reading the chart usually also takes the nano- prefix from [[Selected Metric Prefixes]] (10−9). The chart gives no equation linking frequency to energy; that photons of higher frequency carry more energy is part of [[HS-PS4-4]] itself. The Earth and Space Sciences reference tables have their own [[Portion of Electromagnetic Spectrum Related to Earth and Space Sciences|version of this chart]], in nanometers.

== Regents Exam Questions ==
Released Regents questions that cannot be answered without this table, listed by exam. Each link opens the question with its answer key; the standard is the one the question assesses.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center"
! style="padding: 0.5em 1.5em;" | Exam
! style="padding: 0.5em 1.5em;" | Cluster
! style="padding: 0.5em 1.5em;" | Question
! style="padding: 0.5em 1.5em;" | Standard
|-
| rowspan="2" style="background-color:white;" | [[August 2026 Chemistry Exam|August 2026 Chemistry Regents]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:The Great American Solar Eclipse|The Great American Solar Eclipse]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:The Great American Solar Eclipse#q1|Question 10]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[HS-PS4-4]]
|-
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:The Great American Solar Eclipse|The Great American Solar Eclipse]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:The Great American Solar Eclipse#q2|Question 11]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[HS-PS4-4]]
|-
| style="background-color:white;" | [[June 2026 Chemistry Exam|June 2026 Chemistry Regents]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:Urban Heat Islands|Urban Heat Islands]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:Urban Heat Islands#q3|Question 21]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[HS-PS4-4]]
|-
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Chemistry sample question clusters|Chemistry sample clusters]] (spring 2025)
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:PSC Evaluating Gas Stoves|Evaluating Gas Stoves]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[Questions:PSC Evaluating Gas Stoves#q4|Question 4]]
| style="background-color:white;" | [[HS-PS4-4]]
|}

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 |}
-Wavelengths are in meters, while questions tend to give them in nanometers, so reading the chart usually also takes the nano- prefix from [[Selected Metric Prefixes]] (10<sup>−9</sup>). The chart gives no equation linking frequency to energy; that photons of higher frequency carry more energy is part of [[HS-PS4-4]] itself. The Earth and Space Sciences reference tables have their own [[Portion of Electromagnetic Spectrum Related to Earth and Space Sciences|version of this chart]], in nanometers.
+Wavelengths are in meters, while questions tend to give them in nanometers, so reading the chart usually also takes the nano- prefix from [[Selected Metric Prefixes]] (10<sup>−9</sup>). The chart gives no equation linking frequency to energy; that photons of higher frequency carry more energy is part of [[HS-PS4-4]] itself. The Earth and Space Sciences reference tables have their own [[Portion of Electromagnetic Spectrum Related to Earth and Space Sciences|version of this chart]], in nanometers, and the physics reference tables have [[The Electromagnetic Spectrum (Physics)|theirs]], by frequency only, with blue and violet as separate bands and the radio and WiFi bands marked.
 == Regents Exam Questions ==

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 Released Regents questions that cannot be answered without this table, listed by exam. Each link opens the question with its answer key; the standard is the one the question assesses.
 {| class="wikitable" style="width:100%; text-align:center"
 ! style="padding: 0.5em 1.5em;" | Exam
@@ Line 58: / Line 59: @@
 | style="background-color:white;" | [[HS-PS4-4]]
 |}