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A diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum, showing various properties across the range of frequencies and wavelengths. The electromagnetic spectrum is the full range of electromagnetic radiation, organized by frequency or wavelength. The spectrum is divided into separate bands, with different names for the electromagnetic waves within each band.
where v is the speed of the wave (c in a vacuum or less in other media), f is the frequency and λ is the wavelength. As waves cross boundaries between different media, their speeds change but their frequencies remain constant. Electromagnetic waves in free space must be solutions of Maxwell's electromagnetic wave equation. Two main classes of ...
An overview of absorption of electromagnetic radiation.This example shows the general principle using visible light as a specific example. A white light source—emitting light of multiple wavelengths—is focused on a sample (the pairs of complementary colors are indicated by the yellow dotted lines).
X-rays are electromagnetic waves with a wavelength less than about 10 −9 m (greater than 3 × 10 17 Hz and 1240 eV). A smaller wavelength corresponds to a higher energy according to the equation E = h c/λ. (E is Energy; h is the Planck constant; c is the speed of light; λ is wavelength.) When an X-ray photon collides with an atom, the atom ...
The wavelength of a sine wave, λ, can be measured between any two points with the same phase, such as between crests (on top), or troughs (on bottom), or corresponding zero crossings as shown. In physics and mathematics, wavelength or spatial period of a wave or periodic function is the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.
Radio waves are more widely used for communication than other electromagnetic waves mainly because of their desirable propagation properties, stemming from their large wavelength. [12] Radio waves have the ability to pass through the atmosphere in any weather, foliage, and through most building materials. By diffraction, longer wavelengths can ...
[1] [2] Soon the term referred to a plot of light intensity or power as a function of frequency or wavelength, also known as a spectral density plot. Later it expanded to apply to other waves, such as sound waves and sea waves that could also be measured as a function of frequency (e.g., noise spectrum, sea wave spectrum).
Maxwell discovered that self-propagating electromagnetic waves would travel through space at a constant speed, which happened to be equal to the previously measured speed of light. From this, Maxwell concluded that light was a form of electromagnetic radiation: he first stated this result in 1862 in On Physical Lines of Force.