Re: [Phys-l] Physics Grammar

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

Visible light is redundant.  For those who insist IR and UV are light, I 
just say (write) the IR and the UV and let them fill in w/ whatever 
pleases them. 

bc's button has been pushed w/ great force.

Rick Tarara wrote:

> 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
>
>  
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