In 1803, Thomas Young’s double-sit

interference experiment provide the

first experimental evidence a wave
theory of light.

In 1860 and 1870’s James Clark

Maxwell has provided a convincing
wave description of light and of
other forms of electromagnetic
radiation.
According to Maxwell, an electromagnetic
wave is an electrical and magnetic
disturbance that moves through space at the
speed of light (c=3.0 x 108 m/s) The
difference types of electromagnetic waves
are: radio waves, microwaves, infrared
waves, light, ultraviolet radiation, x-rays and
gamma rays.
The waves differ from each other in their
frequency and wavelength and in they are
produced and interact with matter. The waves
are similar in that they all move at the speed
of light and consist of moving electric and
magnetic fields.
As electron continue to move down, the rod is
neutralized, and eventually the lower rod
become negatively charged. At t=T/2, one
half cycle of oscillation is completed.
An electric charge at some distance from the
antenna and in the wave’s path is forced by
the electric field of the passing wave to
vibrate up and down. The charge moving in an
antenna at time zero where also produced a
magnetic field that encircles the antenna
rods.
 THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
 Earlier,
you have learned that the directions of the
electric and magnetic fields at a point in space would
alternate back and forth. The frequency of the wave
produced is the number of complete vibrations per
second of the field at a point along the path of the
passing wave. This frequency also equals the
vibration frequency of the wave’s source. Hence, if
the electrons in a radio station antenna move up and
down at a frequency of 80 MHZ.
The low radio-frequency region consists of
waves used mostly for communication.
Microwaves, the next part of the
electromagnetic spectrum, are used for radar
tracking, radio navigation, communications,
medical diathermy, heating in microwave
ovens, drying, and other industrial purposes.
The infrared portion of the spectrum is often
emitted and absorbed because of the vibrations
of atoms and molecules. Example: infrared
absorbed by your skin causes the amplitude of
vibration of molecules in your skin to increase.
Your skin is warmed. For this reason, infrared
waves are sometimes called heat or thermal
radiation.