Re: [Phys-l] Physics Grammar

[Rick Tarara <rtarara@saintmarys.edu>]

I would think that the more common usage for 'light' includes infrared 
through ultraviolet radiation.  This certainly makes talking about the 
global greenhouse effect easier.  I would suggest that the extension of the 
term may well come from the fact that there is usually considerable 
radiation from any visible source in the infrared, ultraviolet, or both. 
OTOH, we do tend to cut off the use of 'light' when by the time we get to 
microwaves and x-rays, so the argument then rests on the simplicity of using 
a single word term for the EM radiation--- microwave, infrared, light, 
ultra-violet, x-rays  versus  microwave, infrared light, visible light, 
ultra-violet light, and x-rays.  I suspect that neither set of descriptors 
is likely to vanish soon!

Rick

***************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
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Free Physics Software
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www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Smith" <larry.smith@snow.edu>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 11:03 AM
Subject: [Phys-l] Physics Grammar


> The Physics Teacher, current issue (Feb 2008), page 74, has a couple of
> items relating to "physics grammar" that I would like the list's response
> to.
>
> ------begin quote------
>
> 1. Light is defined as that portion of the Electromagnetic Spectrum to
> which the human eye is sensitive.  So light is "visible Electromagnetic
> Radiation (EMR)."  Thus "visible light" is redundant because it would
> translate to "visible visible EMR."  The terms "infrared light" and
> "ultraviolet light" are also incorrect because "light" is the visible part
> of the EMR and infrared and ultraviolet radiation are not visible.
>
> ------end quote---------
>
> The author has a second grammar point too, but I'm more interested in the
> list's response to the first one.
>
> Cheers,
> Larry
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