History: infrared and ultraviolet

Source of version: 1 (current)

It's easy to talk about visible light, or about radio, or about the electromagnetic spectrum as a whole, but what about the other major regions of the spectrum? * infrared ** A first try: le me'i xunre se dirce or, by extension, mecyxunseldi'e -- ((RobinLeePowell)) *** Um. I translate that as "less red radiation". Not "less-than-red radiation", which would require the ''me'i'' to describe a property of ''xunre'' somehow - a red light that diminishes in brightness would emit ''le me'i xunre se dirce''. * ultraviolet * x-rays ** The name "x-ray" is purely conventional. I don't have any better idea than ''xy. zei gusni''. ''mi'e ((jezrax))'' (You really have to use ''boxna'' (pleeeeease no "red" or "violet" calques!): ''gusni xe boxna barda (cmalu) se dukse fi lenu viska narkakne'' or just ''gusxembonbra(cma)du'e'' for short... * Why is it a calque to say something involving "red" or "violet"? If I describe infrared as "beyond-red light" (bancu xunre gusni), isn't it correct? ** I like ''bacyxungu'i'' and ''bacyblagu'i''. They're a little vague but seem clear enough for everyday use. Scientists will definitely prefer ''boxna'' when being technical. ''mi'e ((jezrax))'' * Incidentally, your tanru doesn't work (''gusni xe boxna barda dukse'' is a kind of ''dukse'' - not something excessive, but the excess itself) and if you can come up with a seljvajvo place structure for ''gusxembonbradu'e'', more power to you. --((rab.spir)) ...but wouldn't it be a good use for our MEX notation if we were to specify the actual range of wavelengths that define these terms? e.g. * near UV ''boxna fu su'evo decmiktre'' * infrared ''boxna fu su'ozepivo decmiktre'' (though i am used to using Angstroms, it seems silly to talk about 4000 or 7400 of a ten-billionth of a meter in Lojban) ** So why do you talk about 7.4 of a ten-millionth of a meter rather than 740 billionths? I think using nm for wavelengths of light around the visible range is well established. (My real quibble is with the non-power-of-10^3 used here: 10^-7 seems like an illogical base when 10^-9 or 10^-6 will do -- and require only one prefix rather than two.) That would then become ''su'evonono navytre'' and ''su'ozevono navytre'', respectively. mi'e filip * Are you looking at the same ''((gimste))'' I am? Mine gives wavelength ''velbo'a'', frequency ''xelbo'a'', so you want ''fo'' not ''fu''. ''mi'e ((jezrax))''