Photoacoustic spectroscopy Photoacoustic spectroscopy Photoacoustic spectroscopy is the measurement of the effect of absorbed electromagnetic energy (particularly of light) on matter by means of acoustic detection. The discovery of the photoacoustic effect dates to 1880 when Alexander Graham Bell showed that thin discs emitted sound when exposed to a beam of sunlight that was rapidly interrupted with a rotating slotted disk. The absorbed energy from the light causes local heating, generating a thermal expansion which creates a pressure wave or sound. Later Bell showed that materials exposed to the non-visible portions of the solar spectrum (i.e., the infrared and the ultraviolet) can
Ultraviolet communication in butterflies some species this distinction is not seen at all times, and UV patterns may vary visually depending on the position of reflecting light. This can be seen in the common brimstone, where males will exhibit male or female patterns of iridescence with different positions, distances, and angles of light - this is known as the "gynandromorphic" effect. The ultraviolet communication system employed by butterflies is also used an indicator of male sex to other rival males in the butterfly, "Colias eurytheme". In this species, only males are able to reflect ultraviolet light off the dorsal side of their wings, while