The character of these waves is determined by the temperature of the object. Electromagnetic waves are found everywhere. Violet, having the highest frequency of all visible light, is at one end of the color spectrum, while red is at the other end and has the lowest frequency. White is the sum of all colors. The accompanying figure shows the electromagnetic spectrum and the common names used to identify different types of waves.
All objects emit electromagnetic waves.
The temperature of the object determines which frequencies dominate, and thus which colors you see when you look at an object. Cooler objects emit primarily low frequency wavelengths, while warmer objects emit waves with primarily higher frequencies. As the temperature of an object increases, the increasingly energetic vibrations of the atoms result in the emission of correspondingly higher frequency waves. Objects at higher temperatures emit waves of high enough frequency to be visible and we see these objects as being red. If the temperature of the object continues to rise, the emitted wavelengths become even higher in frequency, and the observed color becomes orange or yellow.