Radio waves are the waves having the longest wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum. These waves are a kind of electromagnetic radiation and have a frequency from high 300 GHz to low as 3 kHz, though somewhere it is defined as above 3 GHz as microwaves. At 300 GHz, the wavelength is 1 mm, and at 3 kHz is 100 km. They travel at the speed of light just like all other electromagnetic waves do. Lightning or astronomical objects make all the waves that have naturally occurred. Artificially formed radio waves are used in radio communication, radar, computer networks, broadcasting, different navigation systems, and different applications.
What are Radio Waves?
Radio waves are usually produced by radio transmitters and can be received by radio receivers. Radio waves having different frequencies contains various characteristics of propagation in the Earth’s atmosphere. The long waves get diffracted around different obstacles and follow the outline, whereas the short waves reflect the ionosphere and get back over the horizon of sky waves. The propagation distance of both waves is limited to the visual horizon as short wavelengths bend or diffract little and travel in a line of sight.
Bands of radio waves
Radio propagation
The study of electromagnetic phenomena, including reflection, polarization, refraction, absorption, and diffraction, holds much importance in the study of the way radio waves move in space and over the earth’s surface.
Wavelength, speed, and frequency
As radio waves travel at a speed similar to that of light and are slowed down based on that object’s permittivity and permeability while passing through an object. Wavelength is used to define the distance between one peak of the wave’s electric field to the other, being inversely proportional to the wave’s frequency.
Radio communication
A radio antenna is used to receive radio signals from AM or FM radio stations. This antenna picks up many radio signals, and a radio tuner is required to tune to a particular signal. This all can be done with the help of a resonator, or you can say an inductor, a circuit with a capacitor or a crystal oscillator. The resonator is properly configured to resonate at a frequency that allows the tuner that amplifies sine waves at a radio frequency and avoid other sine waves.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Q1
What are radio waves?
Radio waves are the waves having the longest wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum. These waves are a kind of electromagnetic radiation and have a frequency from high 300 GHz to low as 3 kHz, though somewhere it is defined above 3 GHz as microwaves. At 300 GHz, the wavelength is 1 mm, and at 3 kHz is 100 km.
Q2
What is the reason behind photons travelling at the speed of light while the other particles cannot?
Photons can travel at the speed of light, while other particles cannot because they do not have mass.
Q3
Name the property of an electromagnetic wave which is dependent on the medium in which it is travelling.
Velocity of an electromagnetic wave is a property which is dependent on the medium in which it is travelling. Other properties such as frequency, time period, and wavelength are dependent on the source that is producing the wave.
Q4
What is the sequence for the propagation of electromagnetic waves?
The sequence for the propagation of electromagnetic waves is generation, propagation, reflection, and reception.
Q5
Write some properties of electromagnetic waves.
- These waves travel at the speed of light.
- For propagation of these waves, a medium is not required.
- These waves undergo interference and diffraction and can be polarised.
