Electromagnetic Radiation Page 1

Electromagnetic Radiation
I INTRODUCTION

© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared
light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x rays, and gamma rays. Visible light,
which makes up only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, is the
only electromagnetic radiation that humans can perceive with their eyes.

Electromagnetic Radiation, energy waves produced by the oscillation or acceleration of an electric

charge. Electromagnetic waves have both electric and magnetic components. Electromagnetic
radiation can be arranged in a spectrum that extends from waves of extremely high frequency and
short wavelength to extremely low frequency and long wavelength (see Wave Motion). Visible light is
only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. In order of decreasing frequency, the
electromagnetic spectrum consists of gamma rays, hard and soft X rays, ultraviolet radiation, visible
light, infrared radiation, microwaves, and radio waves.

II PROPERTIES

There are three phenomena through which energy can be transmitted: electromagnetic radiation,
conduction, and convection (see Heat Transfer). Unlike conduction and convection, electromagnetic
waves need no material medium for transmission. Thus, light and radio waves can travel through
interplanetary and interstellar space from the sun and stars to the earth. Regardless of the frequency,
wavelength, or method of propagation, electromagnetic waves travel at a speed of 3 × 1010 cm
(186,272 mi) per second in a vacuum. All the components of the electromagnetic spectrum,
regardless of frequency, also have in common the typical properties of wave motion, including
diffraction and interference. The wavelengths range from millionths of a centimeter to many

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Electromagnetic Radiation Page 2

kilometers. The wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic waves are important in determining
heating effect, visibility, penetration, and other characteristics of the electromagnetic radiation.

III THEORY

© Microsoft Corporation. All

Rights Reserved.

Electromagnetic Waves

British physicist James Clerk Maxwell laid out the theory of electromagnetic waves in a series of
papers published in the 1860s. He analyzed mathematically the theory of electromagnetic fields and
predicted that visible light was an electromagnetic phenomenon.

Physicists had known since the early 19th century that light is propagated as a transverse wave (a
wave in which the vibrations move in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the advancing wave
front). They assumed, however, that the wave required some material medium for its transmission, so
they postulated an extremely diffuse substance, called ether, as the unobservable medium. Maxwell's
theory made such an assumption unnecessary, but the ether concept was not abandoned
immediately, because it fit in with the Newtonian concept of an absolute space-time frame for the
universe. A famous experiment conducted by the American physicist Albert Abraham Michelson and
the American chemist Edward Williams Morley in the late 19th century served to dispel the ether
concept and was important in the development of the theory of relativity. This work led to the
realization that the speed of electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum is an invariant.

IV QUANTA OF RADIATION

At the beginning of the 20th century, however, physicists found that the wave theory did not account
for all the properties of radiation. In 1900 the German physicist Max Planck demonstrated that the
emission and absorption of radiation occur in finite units of energy, known as quanta. In 1904,
German-born American physicist Albert Einstein was able to explain some puzzling experimental
results on the external photoelectric effect by postulating that electromagnetic radiation can behave
like a particle (see Quantum Theory).

Other phenomena, which occur in the interaction between radiation and matter, can also be explained

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Electromagnetic Radiation Page 3

only by the quantum theory. Thus, modern physicists were forced to recognize that electromagnetic
radiation can sometimes behave like a particle, and sometimes behave like a wave. The parallel
concept—that matter also exhibits the same duality of having particlelike and wavelike
characteristics—was developed in 1923 by the French physicist Louis Victor, Prince de Broglie.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.