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when EM waves encounter a material medium, they can interact with it in much the same way that mechanical waves do. A mechanical wave transfer energy in two ways. As it travels, the wave moves potential energy from one place to another.
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How are em waves different from mechanical waves?
mechanical waves need a medium to travel through, electromagnetic waves do not. Electromagnetic waves can travel through space, mechanical waves can not.:PElectromagnetic waves do not require a medium, but mechanical waves do.
What type of wave uses a medium?
All waves of the EM. spectrum e.g. Radio waves Microwaves Light waves X-rays Gamma rays Cosmic Rays etc. Technically gravity waves and a couple other waves that relate to inter- and extra- atomic bonds
What is transfer of energy through space?
An electromagnetic wave is a oscillation through 2 fields, electrical and magnetic fields of the space the wave is travelling through. These oscillations are at right angles to each other. Electromagnetic waves are carried by miniscule particles of energy called photons, Light itself is one of the forms of electromagnetic waves and all EM waves travel at the speed of light 3x10^8 ms or 300 000 000 metres per second. Photons have 0 mass. Nothing with mass can truly have a higher velocity then the speed of light or EM radiation. As they are carried by photons they need no medium to travel through and can therefore travel through space/a vacuum.
What is the difference between sound waves and electromagetic?
Sound waves requires a medium, electromagnetic waves do not. Sound waves are longitudinal waves, electromagnetic waves are transverse waves. Sound waves Travels at approx. 330m/s in air, electromagnetic waves travel at approx. 3 x 10^8 m/s.
What type of short wave em radiation is used to look inside a human body?
Xray.
Does an elecromagnetic wave need a medium?
No. Light is in the EM spectrum, and we can see light from the sun as space is a vacuum it can be concluded that EM waves do not need a medium.
HOW are EM wave different from mechanical wave?
Mechanical waves require a medium while Electromagnetic waves does not.
How do you know that electromagnetic wave are not compression wave?
If they were they would not travel through a vacuum because there would be nothing to compress. But they do travel through vacuums, so they can't be compression waves. More detail... The above does not exclude a medium that can exist in a vacuum For EM waves to be a compression wave, it must have some medium. For many years, the ether/aether was considered to be the medium, but the Michelson-Morley experiment failed to show any effect consistent with ether/aether, and the concept is now considered invalied. So, since the ether/aether cannot be detected, EM waves have no medium, so EM waves are not compression waves.
How does electromagnetic radiation behave?
Electromagnetic radiation can behave either as a wave or a particle. A wave particle is duality. Electromagnetic energy results from acceleration of a charge EM radiation can travel through a medium or vacuum.
Is sound an example of an electromagnetic wave?
No. Sound is a longitudinal wave consisting of mechanical vibrations travelling through matter (solid , liquid, gas, etc). An electromagnetic wave (light) is, classically, a transversely oscillating electric and magnetic field and requires no medium in order to travel.
Why do EM not require a medium in which to travel through?
We can always tell that a wave exists from the way some quantity changes in time and varies along the direction the wave is travelling in. So for a sound wave this quantity is air pressure, for a water wave it's the height of the water etc. For an EM wave it's the strength of the electric or magnetic fields. Whereas for the other two examples the quantity comes about from the existence of a medium (air or water), for an EM wave it is part of the fundamental laws of physics, which just tell us that every point in space has an electric and magnetic field strength associated with it.
A Wave that doesn't need a medium?
light; all waves in the EM(electromagnetic) spectrum, including visible light, do not need a medium to travel in
What does mechanical wave needs to travel?
It has to travel through a medium. This is usually air, but could be any material such as water or steel. Mechanical waves cannot travel through vacuums as EM waves can x
What happens when EM waves encounter a medium?
The energy in the wave is partly transmitted, partly absorbed, and partly reflected.
Is it possible for a electromagnetic wave to travel through a vacuum through matter?
If there's matter then its not a vacuum. But an EM wave can transverse either.
How does light speed back up after going through water?
Try not to imagine light as like a baseball that slows down as it hits a denser medium (like water), and then (seemingly impossibly) speeding up as it goes back to a less dense medium (like air). Light should instead be viewed as an electromagnetic wave, a wave that can be altered by the charged particles within a medium. How that EM wave is altered depends on the frequency with which the wave is vibrating and the nature of the charged particles in the medium. When you do the calculations rigorously, you find that water molecules will cause this wave to propogate less slowly. When it leaves the water into air, almost no charged particles exist to alter the speed of propogation of this wave -- it instead travels at the speed Maxwell said such an EM wave would propogate.
How does the speed of light depend on the wavelength?
The equation relating the velocity, wavelength and frequency of an electromagnetic wave is given byv=f λwhere v - velocity of the em wavef - frequency of the em wave andλ - wavelength of the em wave------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It is so important to know that velocity of light depends on the nature of the medium and does not depend on the wavelength.
