Light is something we experience every day. For most people, "light" refers to what humans can detect with our eyes. It is illumination, what ignites our visual sense, the yin to the yang of dark. However, the type of light humans can detect with our eyes is just a small fraction that exists, and the true nature of light is much more expansive.
In many ways, light behaves like a wave and this is the key to understanding its amazing capabilities. How tightly packed — or far apart — the waves are dictates light's properties. For example, the longer the wave, the less energy the light typically carries, and vice versa. Each type of light has its own "super powers" both in their natural forms and in ways sculpted by science and technology.
Picture a piano keyboard. The popular definition of light would inhabit a few keys around middle C, while the rest of the piano represents the full breadth of light and its many forms. On one end of the piano of light, there are radio waves. As you move up through the octaves, there are other forms of light including microwaves, infrared, "visible" light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.
