Electromagnetic Spectrum Crossword Puzzle

Press New puzzle for a grid of wave words, then solve it on screen or print it.

More options

Settings you change are kept in this browser for your next visit.

Name Date

Electromagnetic Spectrum Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

This grid is wider than a phone screen, so it scrolls sideways. It prints whole.

Tap a square, and its clue shows here.

Across

Down

Word bank

  • Gamma
  • Microwaves
  • Ozone
  • Radar
  • Radio
  • Rainbow
  • Spectrum
  • Sunburn
  • Thermography
  • Violet

Type in a square and the next one takes over. Tap the same square again, or press Space, to switch between Across and Down. Arrow keys move around the grid, Enter goes to the next clue, and a clue takes you to its squares.

Print gives 2 pages on Letter or A4: the puzzle with its clues, then the answer key. The squares print 8 mm wide. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

A share link holds the puzzle number and these settings, nothing you typed.

Answer key: Electromagnetic Spectrum Crossword

1RA2RADI3ODZ4GAM5MAORI6SUNBURNCPE7VREIOCOWTLA8RAINBOWEVU9THERMOGRAPHYS

Across 2 RADIO · 4 GAMMA · 6 SUNBURN · 8 RAINBOW · 9 THERMOGRAPHY

Down 1 RADAR · 3 OZONE · 5 MICROWAVES · 6 SPECTRUM · 7 VIOLET

Next step Next: astronomy questions, from redshift to telescopes

All 35 clues

Show all clues and answers

The Bands and Their Uses 18

  • Fluorescence Glow some materials give off under a black light
  • Gamma Band with the shortest waves and the most punch, given off by radioactive nuclei
  • Infrared Invisible band just beyond red light that we feel as heat
  • Ionizing Describes radiation strong enough to knock electrons off atoms
  • Microwaves Band between broadcast waves and heat rays, used in kitchen ovens to heat food
  • Ozone Gas high in the atmosphere that soaks up most short-wave UV
  • Radar System that bounces waves off planes and ships to find how far away they are
  • Radio Band of the longest waves, used for broadcasts and phone signals
  • Rainbow Arc of colors in the sky when sunlight passes through raindrops
  • Remote control Handheld TV gadget that usually sends coded pulses of heat radiation
  • Spectrum The full range of these waves, arranged from longest to shortest
  • Sunburn Red, sore skin from too long in strong sun
  • Thermography Imaging with a camera that sees heat, also called thermal imaging
  • Ultraviolet Band just beyond the purple end of light that tans skin
  • Violet Color at the short-wave end of the colors our eyes can see
  • Visible The only band human eyes can see
  • Vitamin D Nutrient our skin makes with the help of UVB
  • X-rays Band that passes through soft tissue and shows bones on film

Wave Words and Discoverers 17

  • Amplitude Height of a wave from its middle line to its top
  • Crest Highest point of a wave
  • Frequency How many waves pass a point each second
  • Herschel Astronomer who found heat rays beyond red with a thermometer in 1800
  • Hertz Unit of one cycle per second, named after a German physicist
  • Maxwell Scottish physicist whose equations joined electricity, magnetism and light
  • Newton English scientist who showed a glass wedge could split sunlight into colors
  • Opticks Isaac's book describing how white light splits into colors
  • Photon A single particle, or quantum, of light
  • Prism Wedge of glass that splits white light into its colors
  • Ritter German chemist who discovered the band beyond the purple end of light
  • Röntgen German who discovered bone-imaging rays in 1895 and won the first physics Nobel
  • Transverse Kind of wave that wiggles at right angles to the way it travels
  • Trough Lowest point of a wave
  • Vacuum Empty space, where these waves still travel at about 300,000 km each second
  • Villard French scientist who found the most energetic rays in 1900 while studying radium
  • Wavelength Distance from one peak of a wave to the next

How this list was compiled: 35 clues written for this site in two sets: the bands of the electromagnetic spectrum and what each is used for, and the words of waves with the people who found the bands. Facts were checked against Wikipedia's articles on the electromagnetic spectrum, each band and each person named. No clue was copied from a published puzzle. Licence: own work

How it works

This electromagnetic spectrum crossword puzzle draws from 35 clues: the seven bands from radio waves to gamma rays and what each is used for, then the words of waves and the scientists who found the bands.

Read the full guide

Two sets

The Bands and Their Uses runs from Radio and Microwaves through Infrared and Ultraviolet to Gamma, with Radar, Ozone and Fluorescence. Wave Words and Discoverers covers Wavelength, Frequency, Hertz, Crest and Trough, and Herschel, Ritter and Röntgen. All mixes both.

Print or solve

Print gives the puzzle with the answer key on the last sheet. On screen, tap a square and type. Turn off the word bank under More options for a harder grid.

  • Learn the bands in order of frequency: radio, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma.
  • Röntgen is typed without the dots, as RONTGEN; X-rays and Vitamin D go in without the dash and space.

Questions and answers

Is there an electromagnetic spectrum crossword with an answer key?

Yes. Every print ends with the answer key, and Show all clues and answers, under the puzzle, lists all 35 clues with their answers.

What are the seven parts of the electromagnetic spectrum?

From lowest to highest frequency: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Wavelength runs the other way, longest for radio and shortest for gamma.

Which grades is it for?

It suits a physical science unit on waves in grades 6 to 10. Younger pupils can start with The Bands and Their Uses and the word bank on. The grade band is our judgement, not a published standard.

More quizzes

Show 7 more

Browse Science Quizzes