##How Light Works Visible light has a wavelength in the range of about 380 nanometres (nm), or 380×10−9 m, to about 740 nanometres. Every color that we see corresponds to a different wavelength, from the very long (red to orange - 600-700nm) to short (violet to ultraviolet - 440-360 nm). Beyond that, you have the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum, stretching in each direction as far as the eye can see -- or can't see, as the case may be. Visible light makes up a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. [](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/001/741/original/EM_spectrum.svg.png) (courtesy of [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light)) All of the light we perceive falls within that tiny range. Beyond that, it's radio waves, microwaves, X-rays, and all manner of other radiation. One thing that's interesting here: you'll notice that white light doesn't show up on the image above! That's because white light isn't actually a color - it's all the colors mixed together (or rather, they appear to be mixed, because full spectrum light activates all three types of cone cells in your eye - red green and blue). It's called [additive mixing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Additive_mixing). Consequently, when you see white light, you are actually seeing the full color spectrum. Here is a picture of a pretty standard form of visible light -- the sun! [](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/001/739/original/THE_SUN.jpg) If you take a prism and scatter the light from the sun, you can see the individual colors that make up white light. You can actually use a second prism to reassemble the spectrum i.e. turn it back into white light. Alternatively, you can look at the spectrum to get a much more precise idea of what wavelengths are present in your light source. [](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/001/745/original/prism.png) (courtesy of [fdecomite](https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/8530626099/)) Viewed with a spectrometer, it should look something like this: [](https://i.publiclab.org/system/images/photos/000/001/756/original/sunlight_spectrum.png) ##Different kinds of white light