are gamma rays light?
The term gamma ray is used to denote electromagnetic radiation from the nucleus as a part of a radioactive process. The energy of nuclear radiation is extremely high because such radiation is born in the intense conflict between the nuclear strong force and the electromagnetic force, the two strongest basic forces. The sequence from longest wavelength (radio waves) to shortest wavelength (gamma rays) is also a sequence in energy from lowest energy to highest energy. Remember that waves transport energy from place to place. The energy carried by a radio wave is low, while the energy carried by a gamma ray is high. Gamma rays, X-rays, visible light, and radio waves are all forms of electromagnetic radiation. The only difference is the frequency and hence the energy of those photons. Gamma rays are generally the most energetic of these, although a broad overlap with X-ray energies occurs. Alpha rays bounce right off, beta rays went a little farther, and gamma rays went the farthest. Today we know alpha rays are the same thing as helium nuclei (two protons and two neutrons), beta rays are either electrons or positrons (their antimatter versions), and gamma rays are a kind of light. Gamma rays are the most energetic type of light, packing a punch strong enough to pierce through metal or concrete barriers. More energetic than X-rays, they are born in the chaos of exploding stars, the annihilation of electrons and the decay of radioactive atoms. Radio Waves to Gamma-rays. When I use the term light, you are used to thinking of the light emitted by a bulb that you can sense with your eyes, which we now know consists of many wavelengths (colors) of light from red to blue. When this happens, one byproduct is gamma rays. The energy of the gamma rays keeps the sun’s core hot. Some of those gamma rays also escape into the sun's outer layers, where they collide with electrons and protons and lose energy. As they lose energy, they change into ultraviolet, infrared and visible light. Gamma rays are emitted during nuclear fission in nuclear explosions. Gamma ray (also called gamma radiation), denoted by the lower-case Greek letter gamma (γ or γ {\displaystyle \gamma } ), is penetrating electromagnetic radiation of a kind arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of photons in the highest observed range of photon energy. Gamma rays are high-energy electromagnetic radiation emitted in the deexcitation. of the atomic nucleus. Electromagnetic radiation includes such diverse phenomena. as radio, television, microwaves, infrared radation, light, ultraviolet radiation, x rays, and gamma rays. These ti]ations all propagate througli vacuum with the speed of. light. Visible Light. The narrow visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum corresponds to the wavelengths near the maximum of the Sun's radiation curve. In interactions with matter, visible light primarily acts to elevate electrons to higher energy levels. White light may be separated into its spectral colors by dispersion in a prism.
Yes, it is light.