Electromagnetic

Spectrum
Waves… a review
 Most waves are either longitudinal or transverse.
 Sound waves are longitudinal.
 But all electromagnetic waves are transverse…
Properties of Waves
 One is its frequency, measured in hertz (Hz), which counts the
number of waves that pass by a point in one second.
 Another closely related property is wavelength: the distance from
the peak of one wave to the peak of the next.
 These two attributes are inversely related. The larger the frequency,
the smaller the wavelength – and vice versa.
Regions of EM Spectrum
 The EM spectrum is generally divided into seven regions, in order of
decreasing wavelength and increasing energy and frequency. The
common designations are: radio waves, microwaves, infrared (IR),
visible light, ultraviolet (UV), X-rays and gamma rays.
Regions of EM Spectrum
 Typically, lower-energy radiation, such as radio waves, is expressed
as frequency; microwaves, infrared, visible and UV light are usually
expressed as wavelength; and higher-energy radiation, such as X-rays
and gamma rays, is expressed in terms of energy per photon.
Calculating frequency and wavelength
Calculating frequency and energy

Electromagnetic waves
 Produced by the movement of electrically charged particles
 Can travel in a “vacuum” (they do NOT need a medium)
 Travel at the speed of light
 Also known as EM waves
Radio waves
Longest wavelength EM waves
Uses:
 TV broadcasting
 AM and FM broadcast radio
 Heart rate monitors
 Cell phone communication
 MRI (MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING)
-Uses Short wave radio waves with a magnet to create an image
 Radio waves Radio waves are at the lowest range of the EM
spectrum, with frequencies of up to about 30 billion hertz, or 30
gigahertz (GHz), and wavelengths greater than about 10 millimeters
(0.4 inches). Radio is used primarily for communications including
voice, data and entertainment media.
Microwaves
 Wavelengths from 1 mm- 1 m
Uses:
 Microwave ovens -GPS
 Bluetooth headsets
 Broadband Wireless Internet
 Radar
 Microwaves Microwaves fall in the range of the EM spectrum
between radio and IR. They have frequencies from about 3 GHz up to
about 30 trillion hertz, or 30 terahertz (THz), and wavelengths of
about 10 mm (0.4 inches) to 100 micrometers (μm), or 0.004 inches.
Microwaves are used for high-bandwidth communications, radar and
as a heat source for microwave ovens and industrial applications.
Infrared Radiation
 Wavelengths in between microwaves and visible light
Uses:
 Night vision goggles
 Remote controls
 Heat-seeking missiles
 Infrared Infrared is in the range of the EM spectrum between
microwaves and visible light. IR has frequencies from about 30 THz
up to about 400 THz and wavelengths of about 100 μm (0.004
inches) to 740 nanometers (nm), or 0.00003 inches. IR light is
invisible to human eyes, but we can feel it as heat if the intensity is
sufficient.
Visible light
 Only type of EM wave able to be detected by the human eye
 Violet is the highest frequency light
 Red light is the lowest frequency light
 Visible light is found in the middle of the EM spectrum, between IR
and UV. It has frequencies of about 400 THz to 800 THz and
wavelengths of about 740 nm (0.00003 inches) to 380 nm (.000015
inches). More generally, visible light is defined as the wavelengths
that are visible to most human eyes.
Ultraviolet
 Shorter wavelengths than visible light
Uses:
 Black lights
 Security images on money
 Harmful to living things
 Used to sterilize medical equipment
 Too much causes sun burn
 Extremely high exposure can cause skin cancer
 Ultraviolet light is in the range of the EM spectrum between visible
light and X rays. It has frequencies of about 8 × 1014 to 3 × 1016 Hz
and wavelengths of about 380 nm (.000015 inches) to about 10 nm
(0.0000004 inches). UV light is a component of sunlight; however, it
 is invisible to the human eye. It has numerous medical and industrial
applications, but it can damage living tissue.
X-rays
 Tiny wavelength, high energy waves
Uses:
 Medical imaging
 Airport security
 Moderate dose can damaging to cells
 X-rays are roughly classified into two types: soft X-rays and hard X-
rays. Soft X rays comprise the range of the EM spectrum between UV
and gamma rays. Soft X-rays have frequencies of about 3 × 1016 to
about 1018 Hz and wavelengths of about 10 nm (4 × 10−7 inches) to
about 100 picometers (pm), or 4 × 10−8 inches. Hard X-rays occupy
the same region of the EM spectrum as gamma rays. The only
difference between them is their source: X-rays are produced by
accelerating electrons, while gamma rays are produced by atomic
nuclei.
Gamma Rays
 Smallest wavelengths, highest energy EM waves
Uses:
 Sterilizes medical equipment
 Cancer treatment to kill cancer cells
 Kills nearly all living cells.
 spectrum above soft X-rays. Gamma-rays have frequencies greater
than about 1018 Hz and wavelengths of less than 100 pm (4 × 10−9
inches). Gamma radiation causes damage to living tissue, which
makes it useful for killing cancer cells when applied in carefully
measured doses to small regions. Uncontrolled exposure, though, is
extremely dangerous to humans.

Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic Waves…
 Do not need matter to transfer energy.
 Are made by vibrating electric charges and can travel through space
by transferring energy between vibrating electric and magnetic
fields.
How do moving charges create magnetic fields?
 Any moving electric charge is surrounded by an electric field and a
magnetic field.
What happens when electric and magnetic fields change?
 A changing magnetic field creates a changing electric field.
 One example of this is a transformer which transfers electric energy
from one circuit to another circuit.
 In the main coil changing electric current produces a changing
magnetic field
 Which then creates a changing electric field in another coil producing
an electric current
 The reverse is also true.
Making Electromagnetic Waves
 When an electric charge vibrates, the electric field around it changes
creating a changing magnetic field.
 The magnetic and electric fields create each other again and again.
 An EM wave travels in all directions. The figure only shows a wave
traveling in one direction.
 The electric and magnetic fields vibrate at right angles to the
direction the wave travels so it is a transverse wave.

Properties of EM Waves
 All matter contains charged particles that are always moving;
therefore, all objects emit EM waves.
 The wavelengths become shorter as the temperature of the material
increases.
 EM waves carry radiant energy.
What is the speed of EM waves?
 All EM waves travel 300,000 km/sec in space. (speed of light-nature’s
limit!)
 EM waves usually travel slowest in solids and fastest in gases.
What is the wavelength & frequency of an EM wave?
 Wavelength= distance from crest to crest.
 Frequency= number of wavelengths that pass a given point in 1 s.
 As frequency increases, wavelength becomes smaller.
Can a wave be a particle?
 In 1887, Heinrich Hertz discovered that shining light on a metal
caused electrons to be ejected.
 Whether or not electrons were ejected depended upon frequency
not the amplitude of the light! Remember energy depends on
amplitude.
 Years later, Albert Einstein explained Hertz’s discovery: EM waves
can behave as a particle called a photon whose energy depends on
the frequency of the waves.
Can a particle be a wave?
 Electrons fired at two slits actually form an interference pattern
similar to patterns made by waves
 Electrons fired at two slits actually form an interference pattern
similar to patterns made by waves


 Electromagnetic Waves
Chp. 12 Section 3 Radio Communication

Radio Transmission
 Radio stations change sound to EM waves & then your radio receiver
changes the EM waves back to sound waves again.
How does a radio receive different stations?
 Each station broadcasts at a certain frequency which you tune in by
choosing their frequency.
 Carrier wave- the frequency of the EM wave that a station uses
 Microphones convert sound waves to a changing electric current or
electronic signal containing the words & music.
 The modified carrier wave vibrates electrons in the station’s
antennae creating a radio wave that travels out in all directions at
the speed of light to your radio antennae.
 The vibrating electrons produce a changing electric current which
your radio separates the carrier wave from the signal to make the
speakers vibrate creating sound waves….
What is AM radio?
In AM amplitude changes but frequency does not. AM frequencies range
from 540,000 Hz to 1,600,000 Hz usually listed in kHz.
What is FM radio?
In FM radio stations transmit broadcast information by changing the
frequency of the carrier wave. The strength of FM waves is always the
same and is in megahertz. Mega=million.
Television
Uses radio waves to send electronic signals in a carrier wave.
Sound is sent by FM; color and brightness is sent at the same time by
AM signals.
What is a cathode-ray tube?
Many TVs and computer monitors display images on a CRT, a sealed
vacuum tube in which beams of electrons are produced.
Color TV produces 3 electron beams inside the CRT which strike the
inside of the screen that
What is a cathode-ray tube?
 There are 3 types of spots, red, green and blue. The electron beams
move back and forth across the screen.
 The signal from the TV station controls how bright each spot is.
Three spots together can form any color.
 You see a full color image on the TV.
Telephones
Sound waves🡪 microphone🡪 electric signal🡪 radio waves🡪 transmitted to
and from microwave tower 🡪 receiver🡪 electric signal 🡪 speaker🡪 sound
wave.

How do cordless phones work?

 Cell phones and cordless telephones are transceivers, device
that transmits one signal & receives another radio signal
from a base unit.
 You can talk and listen at the same time because the two
signals are at different frequencies.
How do pagers work?
 A pager is a small radio receiver with a phone number. A
caller leaves a message at a terminal with a call-back
number.
 At the terminal, the message is turned into an electronic
signal transmitted by radio waves.
 Newer pagers can send and receive messages.
Communications Satellites
 Thousands of satellites orbit Earth. A radistation sends
microwave
 signals to the satellite which amplifies the signal and sends it
back to a
 different place on Earth. Satellite uses dif freq to send &
receive.
Global Positioning System
GPS is a system of 24 satellites, ground monitoring stations and
portable receivers that determine your exact location on Earth.
GPS receiver measures the time it takes for radio waves to
travel from 4 different satellites to the receiver. The system is
owned and operated by the US Dept of Defense, but the
microwaves can be used by anyone.