Skip to main content

Do the various forms of EM radiation vary in speed, amplitude, and frequency?

No.


Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is classified into a variety of categories that roughly correspond to certain properties, some of which are more arbitrary than others. This benefits humans because it allows us to understand and investigate how the natural world operates more precisely. The properties of amplitude and frequency are related to the behavior of waves, and EM radiation shares some similarities with waves, though the analogy is less than perfect.


Amplitude describes the "height" of each wave, and roughly corresponds to the intensity. In terms of light, this would describe the number of photons per unit time that are in a certain region, but this has nothing to do with the way the radiation is classified.


Frequency describes "waves per second," or basically, how many waves would strike a certain location in a given amount of time. In terms of light, however, this is a fixed value, because light always travels at the same speed, so the various categories of light can be defined according to their frequency. This also invalidates the final statement, that categories are defined by the speed of their radiation. To sum up, two out of three statements are incorrect.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more