Physics Project

CONTENT

S:NO TOPICS
1. Introduction To
electromagnetic waves
2. Basic properties of waves

3. The electromagnetic
spectrum
4. Types of electromagnetic
spectrum

5. Quantization of energy and

the dual nature of light
6. The photon

7. conclusion
Introduction to
electromagnetic waves:
Electromagnetic radiation is one of the many ways that energy travels through space. The
heat from a burning fire, the light from the sun, the X-rays used by your doctor, as well as the
energy used to cook food in a microwave are all forms of electromagnetic radiation. While
these forms of energy might seem quite different from one another, they are related in that
they all exhibit wavelike properties.

If you’ve ever gone swimming in the ocean, you are already familiar with waves. Waves are
simply disturbances in a particular physical medium or a field, resulting in a vibration or
oscillation. The swell of a wave in the ocean, and the subsequent dip that follows, is simply a
vibration or oscillation of the water at the ocean’s surface. Electromagnetic waves are
similar, but they are also distinct in that they actually consist of 222 waves oscillating
perpendicular to one another. One of the waves is an oscillating magnetic field; the other is
an oscillating electric field. This can be visualized as follows:

Electromagnetic radiation can be drawn as an oscillating electric and magnetic field.

The Y axis is amplitude and the X axis is distance in space.

While it’s good to have a basic understanding of what electromagnetic radiation is, most
chemists are less interested in the physics behind this type of energy, and are far more
interested in how these waves interact with matter. More specifically, chemists study how
different forms of electromagnetic radiation interact with atoms and molecules. From these
interactions, a chemist can get information about a molecule’s structure, as well as the types
of chemical bonds it contains. Before we talk about that, however, it’s necessary to talk a
little bit more about the physical properties of light waves.
Basic properties of waves:
Amplitude, wavelength, and
frequency
As you might already know, a wave has a trough (lowest point) and a crest (highest point).
The vertical distance between the tip of a crest and the wave’s central axis is known as
its amplitude. This is the property associated with the brightness, or intensity, of the wave.
The horizontal distance between two consecutive troughs or crests is known as
the wavelength of the wave. These lengths can be visualized as follows:

The amplitude is the distance from its central axis (indicated by the red line) to the tip of a
crest. The wavelength is the distance from crest to crest, or from trough to trough.

Keep in mind that some waves (including electromagnetic waves) also oscillate in space,
and therefore they are oscillating at a given position as time passes. The quantity known as
the wave’s frequency refers to the number of full wavelengths that pass by a given point in
space every second; the SI unit for frequency is Hertz. As you might imagine, wavelength
and frequency are inversely proportional: that is, the shorter the wavelength, the higher the
frequency, and vice versa. This relationship is given by the following equation:

c=λν

where, λ (the Greek lambda) is the wavelength (in meters) and ν (the Greek nu) is the
frequency (in Hertz). Their product is the constant c, the speed of light, which is equal
to 3.00×108. This relationship reflects an important fact: all electromagnetic radiation,
regardless of wavelength or frequency, travels at the speed of light.

Period: The last quantity we will consider is the period of a wave. A wave’s
period is the length of time it takes for one wavelength to pass by a given point in space.
Mathematically, the period (T) is simply the reciprocal of the wave’s frequency (f):
T=1/f.

The units of period are seconds (s).

Now that we have an understanding of some basic properties of waves, we’ll look at the
different types of electromagnetic radiation.

The electromagnetic
spectrum:
Electromagnetic waves can be classified and arranged according to their various
wavelengths/frequencies; this classification is known as the electromagnetic spectrum. The
following table shows us this spectrum, which consists of all the types of electromagnetic
radiation that exist in our universe.

The electromagnetic spectrum is comprised of all the varieties of radiation in the universe.
Gamma rays have the highest frequency, whereas radio waves have the lowest. Visible light
is approximately in the middle of the spectrum, and comprises a very small fraction of the
overall spectrum.

As we can see, the visible spectrum—that is, light that we can see with our eyes—makes up
only a small fraction of the different types of radiation that exist. To the right of the visible
spectrum, we find the types of energy that are lower in frequency (and thus longer in
wavelength) than visible light. These types of energy include infrared (IR) rays (heat waves
given off by thermal bodies), microwaves, and radio waves. These types of radiation
surround us constantly, and are not harmful, because their frequencies are so low. As we will
see in the section, “the photon,” lower frequency waves are lower in energy, and thus are not
dangerous to our health.
To the left of the visible spectrum, we have ultraviolet (UV) rays, X-rays, and gamma rays.
These types of radiation are harmful to living organisms, due to their extremely high
frequencies (and thus, high energies). It is for this reason that we wear suntan lotion at the
beach (to block the UV rays from the sun) and why an X-ray technician will place a lead
shield over us, in order to prevent the X-rays from penetrating anything other than the area
of our body being imaged. Gamma rays, being the highest in frequency and energy, are the
most damaging. Luckily though, our atmosphere absorbs gamma rays from outer space,
thereby protecting us from harm.

Types of electromagnetic
waves:
Radio Waves
Radio waves have the longest wavelengths of all the electromagnetic waves. They range
from around a foot long to several miles long. Radio waves are often used to transmit data
and have been used for all sorts of applications including radio, satellites, radar, and
computer networks.

Microwaves
Microwaves are shorter than radio waves with wavelengths measured in centimeters. We
use microwaves to cook food, transmit information, and in radar that helps to predict the
weather. Microwaves are useful in communication because they can penetrate clouds,
smoke, and light rain. The universe is filled with cosmic microwave background radiation that
scientists believe are clues to the origin of the universe they call the Big Bang.

Infrared

Between microwaves and visible light are infrared waves. Infrared waves are the waves that
are closer to visible light in wavelength. These are the infrared waves that are used in your
TV remote to change channels. Far infrared waves are further away from visible light in
wavelength. Far infrared waves are thermal and give off heat. Anything that gives off heat
radiates infrared waves. This includes the human body

Visible light
The visible light spectrum covers the wavelengths that can be seen by the human eye. This
is the range of wavelengths from 390 to 700 nm which corresponds to the frequencies 430-
790 THz. You can go here to learn more about the visible spectrum.

Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet waves have the next shortest wavelength after visible light. It is ultraviolet rays
from the Sun that cause sunburns. We are protected from the Sun's ultraviolet rays by
the ozone layer. Some insects, such as bumblebees, can see ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light
is used by powerful telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope to see far away stars.

X-rays
X-rays have even shorter wavelengths than ultraviolet rays. At this point in the
electromagnetic spectrum, scientists begin to think of these rays more as particles than
waves. X-rays were discovered by German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen. They can penetrate
soft tissue like skin and muscle and are used to take X-ray pictures of bones in medicine.

Gamma rays
the wavelength of electromagnetic waves get shorter, their energy increases. Gamma rays
are the shortest waves in the spectrum and, as a result, have the most energy. Gamma rays
are sometimes used in treating cancer and in taking detailed images for diagnostic medicine.
Gamma rays are produced in high energy nuclear explosions and supernovas.
Quantization of energy and
the dual nature of light:
We have already described how light travels through space as a wave. This has been well-
known for quite some time; in fact, the Dutch physicist Christian Huygens first described the
wave nature of light as far back as the late seventeenth century. For about 200 years after
Huygens, physicists assumed that light waves and matter were quite distinct from one
another. According to classical physics, matter was composed of particles that had mass,
and its position in space could be known; light waves, on the other hand, were considered to
have zero mass, and their position in space could not be determined. Because they were
considered to be in different categories, scientists did not have a good understanding of how
light and matter interacted. This all changed in 1900, however, when the physicist Max
Planck began studying blackbodies – bodies heated until they began to glow.

Molten lava acts as a blackbody which emits electromagnetic radiation in the visible region at
very high temperatures.

Planck found that the electromagnetic radiation emitted by blackbodies could not be
explained by classical physics, which postulated that matter could absorb or emit any
quantity of electromagnetic radiation. Planck observed that matter actually absorbed or
emitted energy only in whole-number multiples of the value hν, where h is Planck’s constant
6.626×10−34 J.s and ν is the frequency of the light absorbed or emitted. This was a
shocking discovery, because it challenged the idea that energy was continuous, and could
be transferred in any amount. The reality, which Planck discovered, is that energy is not
continuous but quantized—meaning that it can only be transferred in individual “packets” (or
particles) of the size hν. Each of these energy packets is known as a quantum (plural:
quanta).

While this might sound confusing, we are actually already very familiar with quantized
systems. The money we use daily, for example, is quantized. For instance, when you go into
a store, you will not see anything on sale for a price of one dollar and two and a half cents.
This is because the smallest possible monetary unit is the penny—it is impossible to transfer
money in any smaller amount than this. Just as we cannot pay the cashier at the store half of
a cent, energy cannot be transferred in anything less than a single quantum. We can think of
quanta as being like “pennies” of electromagnetic energy—the smallest possible units by
which such energy can be transferred.

Planck’s discovery that electromagnetic radiation is quantized forever changed the idea that
light behaves purely as a wave. Actually, light seem to have both wave and particle-like
properties.

The photon:
Planck’s discoveries paved the way for the discovery of the photon. A photon is the
elementary particle, or quantum, of light. As we will soon see, photons can be absorbed or
emitted by atoms and molecules. When a photon is absorbed, its energy is transferred to
that atom or molecule. Because energy is quantized, the photon’s entire energy is
transferred (remember that we cannot transfer fractions of quanta, which are the smallest
possible individual “energy packets”). The reverse of this process is also true. When an atom
or molecule loses energy, it emits a photon that carries energy exactly equal to the loss in
energy of the atom or molecule. This change in energy is directly proportional to the
frequency of photon emitted or absorbed. This relationship is given by Planck’s famous
equation:

E=hν

Where, E is the energy of the photon absorbed or emitted (given in Joules J), ν is frequency
of the photon (given in Hertz), and h is Planck’s constant (6.626×10−34 J⋅s).

Conclusion:
Electromagnetic radiation can be described by its amplitude (brightness), wavelength,
frequency, and period. By the equation E=hν, we have seen how the frequency of a light
wave is proportional to its energy. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the discovery
that energy is quantized led to the revelation that light is not only a wave, but can also be
described as a collection of particles known as photons. Photons carry discrete amounts of
energy called quanta. This energy can be transferred to atoms and molecules when photons
are absorbed. Atoms and molecules can also lose energy by emitting photons.