Electromagnetic radiation
![Shows the relative wavelengths of the electromagnetic waves of three different colours of light (blue, green, and red) with a distance scale in micrometers along the x-axis.](/Images/godic/202502/02/VisibleEmrWavelengths.svg1820.png")
![In electromagnetic radiation (such as microwaves from an antenna, shown here) the term applies only to the parts of the electromagnetic field that radiate into infinite space and decrease in intensity by an inverse-square law of power, so that the total radiation energy that crosses through an imaginary spherical surface is the same, no matter how far away from the antenna the spherical surface is drawn. Electromagnetic radiation thus includes the far field part of the electromagnetic field around a transmitter. A part of the](/Images/godic/202502/02/FarNearFields-USP-4998112-1.svg1820.png")
![Electromagnetic waves can be imagined as a self-propagating transverse oscillating wave of electric and magnetic fields. This 3D animation shows a plane linearly polarized wave propagating from left to right. Note that the electric and magnetic fields in such a wave are in-phase with each other, reaching minima and maxima together](/Images/godic/202502/02/Electromagneticwave3Dfromside1821.gif")
![An alternate view of the wave shown above.](/Images/godic/202502/02/Electromagneticwave3D1821.gif")
Electromagnetic radiation (EM radiation or EMR) is the radiant energy released by certain electromagnetic processes. Visible light is one type of electromagnetic radiation; other familiar forms are invisible to the human eye, such as radio waves, infrared light and X-rays.