Quote: "In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy."
Study of the behavior and properties of waves that are created as a result of oscillations between electric and magnetic fields.
Electromagnetic Spectrum: The range of frequencies of electromagnetic waves, including radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma radiation.
Electromagnetic Fields: A vector field that describes the physical effects of charged particles and their interactions with other charged particles and magnetic fields.
Wave Properties: The characteristics of a wave, including amplitude, wavelength, frequency, and speed.
Huygens Principle: A principle in wave theory that states that every point on a wavefront can be considered a source of secondary spherical waves that propagate in all directions with the same speed as the original wave.
Refraction: The bending of light as it passes through a medium with a different refractive index, such as air to water or glass.
Reflection: The bouncing back of light waves from a surface, such as a mirror or a pool of water.
Interference: The phenomenon that occurs when two or more waves interact and their individual amplitudes combine or cancel each other out.
Diffraction: The bending of waves around obstacles and through narrow openings.
Polarization: The orientation of the electric and magnetic fields of an electromagnetic wave.
Snell's Law: The law that describes the relationship between the angle of incidence of a wave and the angle of refraction when it passes through a boundary between two materials with different refractive indices.
Total Internal Reflection: The phenomenon that occurs when a wave is completely reflected back into the medium from which it came, due to the angle of incidence being greater than the critical angle.
Dispersion: The separation of white light into its component colors by a prism or other medium that refracts light at different angles depending on its wavelength.
Absorption: The process by which electromagnetic waves are absorbed by a material, resulting in a decrease in the intensity of the wave.
Scattering: The process by which electromagnetic waves are redirected in different directions due to interactions with small particles or irregularities in a material.
Laser: A device that emits coherent and monochromatic light by the stimulated emission of photons from a lasing medium.
Ray Optics: A branch of optics that deals with the behavior of light as it travels in straight lines through a medium or between media with different refractive indices.
Wave Optics: A branch of optics that deals with the behavior of light as a wave, including diffraction, interference, and polarization.
Optical Instruments: Devices that use the principles of optics to manipulate and detect light, such as lenses, mirrors, telescopes, microscopes, and cameras.
Quantum Optics: A branch of optics that deals with the behavior of light as a quantum mechanical phenomenon, including the interaction between light and matter, and the creation and detection of individual photons.
Radio waves: Low-frequency electromagnetic waves that are used for communication and broadcasting, such as AM/FM radio, TV, and cell phone signals.
Microwaves: High-frequency electromagnetic waves that are used for communication, radar, cooking, and scientific research.
Infrared waves: Electromagnetic waves with longer wavelengths than visible light that are emitted by hot objects and used in remote controls, thermal imaging, and other applications.
Visible light: Electromagnetic waves that the human eye can see and that are responsible for color perception. Visible light is used in photography, lasers, and various scientific applications.
Ultraviolet waves: High-frequency electromagnetic waves that have shorter wavelengths than visible light and are responsible for sunburns and skin cancer. It is also used in scientific research, sterilization, and fluorescence.
X-rays: Electromagnetic waves with high energy and short wavelengths that are used in medical imaging, industrial testing, and scientific research.
Gamma rays: Electromagnetic waves with the highest energy and shortest wavelengths that are created during nuclear reactions and used in cancer treatment and scientific research.
Quote: "Types of EMR include radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visible) light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays."
Quote: "In a vacuum, electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, commonly denoted c."
Quote: "In homogeneous, isotropic media, the oscillations of the two fields are perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the direction of energy and wave propagation, forming a transverse wave."
Quote: "The position of an electromagnetic wave within the electromagnetic spectrum can be characterized by either its frequency of oscillation or its wavelength."
Quote: "In order of increasing frequency and decreasing wavelength these are: radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays."
Quote: "Electromagnetic waves are emitted by electrically charged particles undergoing acceleration."
Quote: "EM waves carry energy, momentum and angular momentum away from their source particle and can impart those quantities to matter with which they interact."
Quote: "EMR is sometimes referred to as the far field, as it is associated with those EM waves that are free to propagate themselves ('radiate') without the continuing influence of the moving charges that produced them."
Quote: "In this language, the near field refers to EM fields near the charges and current that directly produced them, specifically electromagnetic induction and electrostatic induction phenomena."
Quote: "In quantum mechanics, an alternate way of viewing EMR is that it consists of photons, uncharged elementary particles with zero rest mass which are the quanta of the electromagnetic field, responsible for all electromagnetic interactions."
Quote: "Quantum electrodynamics is the theory of how EMR interacts with matter on an atomic level."
Quote: "Quantum effects provide additional sources of EMR, such as the transition of electrons to lower energy levels in an atom and black-body radiation."
Quote: "The energy of an individual photon is quantized and is greater for photons of higher frequency. This relationship is given by Planck's equation E = hf."
Quote: "A single gamma ray photon, for example, might carry ~100,000 times the energy of a single photon of visible light."
Quote: "The effects of EMR upon chemical compounds and biological organisms depend both upon the radiation's power and its frequency."
Quote: "EMR of visible or lower frequencies (i.e., visible light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves) is called non-ionizing radiation."
Quote: "The effects of these radiations on chemical systems and living tissue are caused primarily by heating effects from the combined energy transfer of many photons."
Quote: "High frequency ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays are called ionizing radiation since individual photons of such high frequency have enough energy to ionize molecules or break chemical bonds."
Quote: "These radiations have the ability to cause chemical reactions and damage living cells beyond that resulting from simple heating, and can be a health hazard."