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Grade 12General Physics

I know the light emitted from the sun has all the wavelengths, and the higher energy ones are blocked because they cannot pierce the atmosphere. But I know the Radio waves, Micro waves, and Ultra Violet come through, so why can't we feel them? And why is is that we can feel Infared energy and not radio waves?

Profile image of nitin singh
15 Years agoGrade 12
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Profile image of SAGAR SINGH - IIT DELHI
ApprovedApproved Tutor Answer15 Years ago

Dear nitin,

Lots of radio waves are too large wavelength to interact with us, additionally radio and microwaves from the sun don't carry that much energy (overall) to affect us (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbody_radiation. UV light causes sunburns and DNA damage (i.e. we do feel it) even though it is mostly blocked by the atmosphere, because they are much higher energy (and more flux is delivered in UV; again, see the black-body article).

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Sagar Singh

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