Electromagnetic (EM) Waves
2 guided lessons · 18 checks · 3. Waves → Waves & The Electromagnetic Spectrum
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Properties of EM waves
The electromagnetic spectrum is continuous: radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray, with no gaps between the bands. Every member is a transverse wave, every one crosses empty space, and every one travels at exactly the same speed in that vacuum. Light is simply the band our retinas respond to.
What you know already
Light is the slice of a much larger family that your eye happens to catch. The electromagnetic spectrum runs from radio waves with kilometre-scale wavelengths to gamma rays from atomic nuclei, and every member shares one speed through empty space. This lesson fixes the order of that spectrum and the colours inside the visible band.
Key points of understanding
- The EM spectrum contains radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray radiations.
- All EM waves travel through free space, meaning a vacuum.
- All EM waves travel at the same speed in free space.
- All EM waves are transverse.
- Light is one continuous part of this spectrum.
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1.Properties of EM waves
The electromagnetic spectrum is continuous: radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray, with no gaps between the bands. Every member is a transverse wave, every one crosses empty space, and every one travels at exactly the same speed in that vacuum. Light is simply the band our retinas respond to.
Key points
- The EM spectrum contains radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma ray radiations.
- All EM waves travel through free space, meaning a vacuum.
- All EM waves travel at the same speed in free space.
- All EM waves are transverse.
- Light is one continuous part of this spectrum.
First pass
Guided content from the SME authoring corpus — note rn_GVDsPK5gmYw5wqvG, pinned at dad406f1ecd8 · promoted SyllabAI/syllabai-resources b3caaaa90c5e
