Editing Electromagnetic radiation (section)

=== Infrared ===
{{Main|Infrared}}
Like radio and microwave, infrared (IR) is reflected by metals (and also most EMR, well into the ultraviolet range). However, unlike lower-frequency radio and microwave radiation, infrared EMR commonly interacts with dipoles present in single molecules, which change as atoms vibrate at the ends of a single chemical bond. It is consequently absorbed by a wide range of substances, causing them to increase in temperature as the vibrations dissipate as heat. The same process, run in reverse, causes bulk substances to radiate in the infrared spontaneously (see [[thermal radiation]] section below).

Infrared radiation is divided into spectral subregions. While different subdivision schemes exist,<ref>{{cite web|last=Henderson |first=Roy |url=http://info.tuwien.ac.at/iflt/safety/section1/1_1_1.htm |title=Wavelength considerations |publisher=Instituts für Umform- und Hochleistungs |access-date=18 October 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071028072110/http://info.tuwien.ac.at/iflt/safety/section1/1_1_1.htm |archive-date = 28 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Outreach/Edu/Regions/irregions.html |title=Near, Mid and Far-Infrared |publisher=NASA IPAC |access-date=4 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120529/http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Outreach/Edu/Regions/irregions.html |archive-date=29 May 2012 }}</ref> the spectrum is commonly divided as near-infrared (0.75–1.4&nbsp;μm), short-wavelength infrared (1.4–3&nbsp;μm), mid-wavelength infrared (3–8&nbsp;μm), long-wavelength infrared (8–15&nbsp;μm) and [[far infrared]] (15–1000&nbsp;μm).<ref name="Byrnes">{{Cite book|last=Byrnes |first=James |title=Unexploded Ordnance Detection and Mitigation |url=https://archive.org/details/unexplodedordnan00abry |url-access=limited |publisher=Springer |year=2009 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/unexplodedordnan00abry/page/n29 21]–22 |isbn=978-1-4020-9252-7|bibcode=2009uodm.book.....B }}</ref>

Some animals, such as [[Infrared sensing in snakes|for snakes]], have thermo-sensitive membranes (pit organs) that can detect temperature differences, allowing them to sense infrared radiation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gracheva |first=Elena O. |last2=Ingolia |first2=Nicholas T. |last3=Kelly |first3=Yvonne M. |last4=Cordero-Morales |first4=Julio F. |last5=Hollopeter |first5=Gunther |last6=Chesler |first6=Alexander T. |last7=Sánchez |first7=Elda E. |last8=Perez |first8=John C. |last9=Weissman |first9=Jonathan S. |last10=Julius |first10=David |date=2010 |title=Molecular basis of infrared detection by snakes |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08943 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=464 |issue=7291 |pages=1006–1011 |doi=10.1038/nature08943 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=2855400 |pmid=20228791}}</ref>