MICA PU COLLEGE, Mysuru Kiran Rao G

Electromagnetic waves
Ampere’s circuital law:

The integral value of the magnetic field around any closed conductor is equal to times the net current in
the conductor.

∮ ⃗ ⃗⃗⃗

Conduction current (IC):

The current carried by conductors due to flow of charges is called conduction current.

Mention the inconsistency of Ampere’s circuital law:

Ampere’s circuital law is used to determine the magnetic field produced by the conduction current. But fails
to determine magnetic field produced by displacement current which is due to time varying electric field.
This is inconsistency of Ampere’s circuital law.

Modification of Ampere’s circuital law made by Maxwell:

Maxwell added the displacement current to the conduction current in Ampere’s law, indicating that just as
changing magnetic fields give rise to electric fields, changing electric fields also give rise to magnetic fields.

What the generalization made by Maxwell?

The source of a magnetic field is not just the conduction current but it is also the rate of change of electric
field with time.

Displacement Current (Id):

The current which appears in the region in which the electric field is changing with time is called
displacement current.

Where is the permittivity of free space.

is the rate of change of electric flux

Mention the need of displacement current:

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Maxwell introduced the concept of displacement current to remove the inconsistency in Ampere’s circuital
law.

Properties of displacement current:

 Displacement current exists whenever there is a change in electric field with time.
 Displacement current is zero where the electric field is zero.
 Displacement current acts as a source of magnetic field.

Mention the expression for Ampere’s – Maxwell law and explain the symbols

∮ ⃗ ⃗⃗⃗

∮ ⃗ ⃗⃗⃗

Where ⃗ is the magnetic field intensity.

⃗⃗⃗ is the infinitesimally small line element on the closed path,

IC is the conduction current

Id is the displacement current

Distinguish between conduction current and displacement current:

Conduction Current Displacement Current

It is due to the flow of charges It is due to the change in electric field

What is the displacement current between two plates of the capacitors if the capacitor is fully charged in
AC circuit?

Zero, because in a fully charged capacitor electric field between the plates is constant.

Electromagnetic waves:

Electromagnetic wave is the combination of time varying electric field and time varying magnetic field. These
two fields are perpendicular to each other and also perpendicular to the direction of propagation of wave.

Examples: Visible light, X – rays, UV rays etc.

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Who predicted the existence of the electromagnetic waves?

James Clerk Maxwell.

Who confirmed the existence of electromagnetic waves experimentally?

Heinrich Hertz.

Name the Indian Physicist who has worked in the field of production of electromagnetic wave.

Jagadish Chandra Bose. (J.C. Bose)

Sources of electromagnetic waves:

Oscillating charged particles is the sources of electromagnetic waves.

Nature of electromagnetic waves:

Transverse waves.

Characteristics of electromagnetic waves:

 They travel along straight lines in homogeneous medium.

 They travel with a velocity of 3 X 108 m/s in free space.
 They are transverse waves.
 They carry energy and momentum.

What is the angle between electric field vector and magnetic field vector of electromagnetic waves?

900

What is the angle between electric field vector / magnetic field vector with the direction of propagation in
an electromagnetic wave?

900

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Mention the expression for speed of light in terms of permittivity and permeability in free space.

Where is the permeability of free space

is the permittivity of free space

Mention the expression for speed of light in terms of permittivity and permeability in a material medium

Where is the permeability of the medium

is the permittivity of the medium

Relation between λ and f

What is the direction of magnetic field and electric field in a capacitor?

Magnetic field is parallel to the plates of the capacitor.

Electric field is perpendicular to the plates of the capacitor.

Electromagnetic spectrum:

It is an orderly arrangement of all the electromagnetic waves in a single chart according to their wavelengths
or frequencies.

Wavelength (λ) in m in increasing order

< 10 – 3nm 10 – 3nm 1nm to 400nm to 700nm to 1mm to >0.1m

to 1nm 400nm 700nm 1mm 0.1m
- rays X - rays UV – rays Visible rays I R – rays Micro Radio
Waves Waves

In this wide electromagnetic spectrum only a small portion between 4000 A0 and 7000 A0 is visible.

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Long wavelength Short wavelength

Low frequency High frequency

Low energy High energy

Gamma rays ( - rays):

These are high frequency electromagnetic radiation produced in nuclear reactions and also emitted by
radioactive nuclei.

These are the invisible electromagnetic radiations of wavelength range < 10-3nm.

Mention the use of gamma rays:

 They are used in the treatment of cancer.

 They are used in the treatment of skin diseases.
 They are used to find the thickness of materials.
 They are used to find the defects in buried petroleum pipes.
 They are used in microscope.

X – Rays:

These are the invisible electromagnetic radiations of wavelength range 10-3nm to 1nm.

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MICA PU COLLEGE, Mysuru Kiran Rao G

X – rays are produced by bombarding a metal target by fast moving electronics.

Mention the use of X – rays:

 They are used to detect fractures and dislocations of bones.

 They are used in the treatment of brain tumor, skin diseases and cancer.
 They are used to test the quality of welding in industry.
 They are used in the crystal structure analysis.

Ultraviolet rays (UV - rays):

These are the invisible electromagnetic radiations of wavelength range 1nm to 400nm

Mention the use of UV – rays:

 They are used in the treatment of skin diseases and bone diseases.
 They are used in production of vitamin D.
 They are used to distinguish between real and artificial gems.
 They are used to activate rate of chemical reactions.
 They are used in high resolving power microscopes.

Visible rays:

These are visible electromagnetic radiations of wavelength range 400nm to 700nm.

Mention the use of visible rays:

 They are used to see the things around us.

 They are used in photosynthesis
 They are used in photocells.

Infrared rays (IR - rays):

Infrared rays are waves produced by all hot bodies.

These are the invisible electromagnetic radiations of wavelength range 700nm to 1mm

Mention the use of IR rays:

 They are used in long distance photography.

 They are used to treat muscular pains and skin diseases.
 They are used to diagnose cure bone fractures.
 They are used to protect food from decaying.

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Micro waves:
These are electromagnetic waves produced by electrical oscillations in LC circuit.

These are the invisible electromagnetic radiations of wavelength range 1mm to 0.1m

Mention the use of micro waves

 Micro waves are used in micro ovens.

 They are used in RADAR system.
 They are used in long distance communication system via geostationary satellites.

Radio waves:
Radio waves are electromagnetic waves produced by the accelerated motion of charges in conducting wires.

These are the invisible electromagnetic radiations of very long wave length greater than 0.1m.

Mention the use of radio waves:

 They are used in communication and broadcasting.

What is the wavelength range of electromagnetic spectrum?

10 – 14 m to 10 7 m

What is the frequency range of electromagnetic spectrum?

10 Hz to 1022 Hz.

Name the electromagnetic radiation having highest frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Gamma rays

Name the electromagnetic radiation having lowest frequency in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Radio waves.

Name the electromagnetic radiation with highest wave length.

Radio waves.

Name the electromagnetic radiation with lowest wave length.

Gamma rays.

Arrange IR rays, Gamma rays, visible rays, X – rays in increasing order of wave length.

Gamma rays, X rays, visible rays and IR rays.

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Arrange micro waves, gamma rays, visible rays, X rays in increasing order of frequency.

Micro waves, visible rays, X rays and gamma rays.

Question bank
March 2014

1. Who predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves? Give the wavelength range of
electromagnetic spectrum. (2M)
.July 2014
1. Write any two uses of microwaves. (2M)
March 2015
1. Mention two applications of infrared radiation. (2M)
July 2015
1. What is displacement current? Write the expression for displacement current. (2M)
March 2016
1. Arrange micro waves, gamma rays, visible rays, X rays in increasing order of frequency. (2M)
July 2016
1. What are electromagnetic waves? Write the expression for the velocity of electromagnetic waves in
terms of permittivity and magnetic permeability of free space. (2M)
March 2017
1. What is displacement current? Write the expression for displacement current. (2M)
July 2017
1. Write Maxwell’s equation for the speed of electromagnetic waves and explain the terms. (2M)
March 2018
1. Give any two applications of X – rays. (2M)
July 2018
1. Give any two applications of ultraviolet radiation. (2M)
March 2019
1. Write the expression for speed of light in terms of μ0 and explain the terms. (2M)
July 2019
1. Write any two uses of ultra violet rays. (2M)
March 2020
1. What is displacement current? Write the expression for displacement current. (2M)
May 2022
1. Name the type of electromagnetic rays lying between ultraviolet and gamma rays. (1M)
2. Write the relation between the magnitude of the electric and magnetic fields in an electromagnetic
waves. (1M)
Ans:

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3. What is displacement current? Write the expression for displacement current. (2M)
March 2023
1. The ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum lies between (1M)
a) X – ray region and visible region b) Microwave region and radio – wave region
c) Gamma rays region and X – ray region d) Visible region and microwave region
2. What is displacement current? Write the expression for displacement current. (2M)
July 2023
1. Electromagnetic waves are produced by (1M)
a) Accelerated charges b) Stationary charges
c) Charges in uniform motion d) A conductor carrying steady current
2. What is displacement current and conduction current? (2M)

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