What are electrical waves?

benzun_1999

dear reader,

What are electrical waves? What are magnetic waves? What are electromagnetic waves?

what is the difference between them?

-benzun
by studying again and again you perfect it.

renedox

not quite sure about the first two but electromagnetic waves are waves that belong to the electromagnetic spectrum.

In no particular order:
Microwaves,
Radiowaves,
Infra-red,
Light,
Gamma Rays,
X-Rays

There might be more, I can't quite remember :P

Fuego

electromagnetic waves are the wave representation of photons. they are transverse waves and they propogate at the speed of light, c.

electromagnetic waves can be thought of as electric waves and magnetic waves moving together perpendicular to eachother.

chroot

There cannot be a lone electrical wave, nor a lone magnetic wave. Why not? Because a changing electric field creates a magnetic field, and a changing magnetic field creates an electric field.

- Warren

Sociopath^e

don't forget Ultraviolet waves

the spectrum goes in this order from longest to shortest
Radio Waves
Microwaves
Infrared
Visible Light
Ultraviolet
X-Rays
Gamma Rays

selfAdjoint

See this: Nasa site on the Electromagnetic Spectrum

jimmy p

Dont forget Terahertz waves now!! i cant remember where they go cos im useless lol but they are either before or after X-rays but are better and MUCH safer than X-rays!! the joy of half-a$$ed knowledge!! [6)]

jimmy p

Ignore my above post about where terahertz waves lie. Apparently they lie between Microwaves and Infra Red waves so there u go, shows how much i know

renedox

Speak more of this "Terahertz" wave. Of what frequency and velocity does it travel at? What its uses? I have never heard of such a wave.

neutroncount

I should think the name "Terahertz" wave should give it away. They have a frequency that is in the trillions of cycles per second range....hence "Tera".

jimmy p

Dont too much about terahertz waves but i know that the are very hard to detect because they are between Microwaves and Radiowaves, in that frequency range. They could be very useful in applications such as medicine because they are almost completely safe and can pass through objects such as flesh but not bone...(just like x-rays but safe) and some more things...

"There are also security applications. They can be used, at short ranges, to detect and even image metal items concealed under clothing.

Detection of terrahertz signals could be problematic. There are atmospheric absorption problems in that band. IR is usually detected with semiconductor bandgaps, microwaves are detected with antennae. For terrahertz, you could go either way, but it requires extaordinary measures. You could use lithographically deposited arrays of tiny metal antennae, or engineer a semiconductor material using superlattices or quantum dots to get the right band structure. You would probably need a quantum cascade effect to detect terrahertz in semiconductors."

this is what Njorl told me about them so i cant take credit for it



i suppose u could look on google like i have been told to hehe