Color electromagnetic spectrum

The electromagnetic spectrum showing the colors of the visible spectrum. 

The so-called peak power delivered by a pulsed laser is often far greater than that for a continuous one. Whereas many substances absorb radiation in the ultraviolet and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, relatively few substances are colored. Therefore, a laser that emits only visible light will not be as generally useful as one that emits in the ultraviolet or infrared ends of the spectrum. Further, witli a visible-band laser, colored substances absorb more or less energy depending on the color. Thus two identical polymer samples, one dyed red and one blue, would desorb and ionize with very different efficiencies. 

The radiation from a blackbody is conhnuous over the electromagnetic spectrum. The use of the term black in blackbody, which implies a particular color, is quite misleading, as a number of nonblack maferials approach blackbodies in behavior. The sun behaves almost like a blackbody snow radiates in the infrared nearly as a blackbody. At some wavelengths, water... 

Azo-coupled products are widely used as dyes for textiles because their extended conjugated tt electron system causes them to absorb in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum (Section 14.9). / -(Dimethylamino)azobenzene, for instance, is a bright yellow compound that was at one time used as a coloring agent in margarine. 

In the preceding section, we presented principles of spectroscopy over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The most important spectroscopic methods are those in the visible spectral region where food colorants can be perceived by the human eye. Human perception and the physical analysis of food colorants operate differently. The human perception with which we shall deal in Section 1.5 is difficult to normalize. However, the intention to standardize human color perception based on the abilities of most individuals led to a variety of protocols that regulate in detail how, with physical methods, human color perception can be simulated. In any case, a sophisticated instrumental set up is required. We present certain details related to optical spectroscopy here. For practical purposes, one must discriminate between measurements in the absorbance mode and those in the reflection mode. The latter mode is more important for direct measurement of colorants in food samples. To characterize pure or extracted food colorants the absorption mode should be used. 

Introduction of an ethylene bridge between the maso-carbon atom and one of the diaminophenyl groups of a triarylmethane-type phthalide results in a considerable bathochromic shift, thus producing color formers exhibiting absorption in the near infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Of course, not all dissolved ions produce colored solutions, and therefore not all ions in solution can be quantified by colorimetry. Noncolored solutions can sometimes, however, be converted to colored solutions by introducing chromophore species which complex with (i.e., attach themselves to) the target ion to produce a colored solution, which may then be measured by UV/visible colorimetry. An important archaeological example of this is the determination of phosphorus in solution (which is colorless) by com-plexation with a molybdenum compound, which gives a blue solution (see below). The term colorimetry applies strictly only to analytical techniques which use the visible region of the spectrum, whereas spectrophotometry may be applied over a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

The use of ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy for on-line analysis is a relatively recent development. Previously, on-line analysis in the UV-visible (UV-vis) region of the electromagnetic spectrum was limited to visible light applications such as color measurement, or chemical concentration measurements made with filter photometers. Three advances of the past two decades have propelled UV spectroscopy into the realm of on-line measurement and opened up a variety of new applications for both on-line UV and visible spectroscopy. These advances are high-quality UV-grade optical fiber, sensitive and affordable array detectors, and chemometrics. 

Figure 23-1 A part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The letters Vy By G, Y, O, R over the visible part of the spectrum refer to the colors of the light. The position marked "Ka line of Cu" is the wavelength of X-rays and most widely employed in X-ray diffraction studies of proteins and other organic materials.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum activity (eChapter 5.2) allows you to determine the frequency and wavelength of any color of visible light. 

Students will use a prism to see the colors of the waves present in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

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