Higher frequency => higher energy

[LLT71]

can someone explain why high frequency waves contain higher energy?

thanks!

 

[Chandra Prayaga]

If these are EM waves we are talking about, then each photon has energy equal to hf where h is Planck's constant and f is the frequency of the wave. To say that high frequency waves "contain" higher energy is not quite correct. The energy of a wave is proportional to the square of the amplitude, which is related to the number of photons. So certainly it is correct to say that a photon of higher frequency has higher energy.

 

[Nugatory]

can someone explain why high frequency waves contain higher energy?

One intuitive answer:
All else being the same, it takes a stronger restoring force to produce a higher frequency oscillation - the easiest way to see this is to play around with the equation for a simple harmonic oscillator. A stronger restoring force means more energy is needed to produce the same displacement.

Another intuitive answer: The energy of a wave is in whatever pushes the peaks up and the troughs down. A higher frequency means more peaks and troughs, hence more energy.

Both of these answers are imprecise and hand-wavy descriptions of something that is clear and precise in the math.

 

[LLT71]

thank you guys!