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Electro-Magnetic Radiation

If a charged particle is caused to oscillate, electro-magnetic radiation is produced.

Electro-magnetic radiations have wave-like properties and so we often talk about electro-magnetic waves.

An electro-magnetic wave consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields at 90° to each other.

 E field in x-y plane

B field in x-z plane

 

It should be noted that, although light, x rays, infra-red radiation etc behave, in many situations, like waves, experiments with very low levels of light show that it also has particle like properties. These particles of electro-magnetic radiation are called photons or quanta of radiation.

The Electro-Magnetic Spectrum

 

© David Hoult 2008