Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
If radio waves and light waves are the same thing, why are radio waves associated with electric currents? ?
Why do electric currents or changing ones emit radio waves so easily as apposed to other EM waves? I've been studying them and I've recently connected how they are all related. But I'm still trying to understand how the waves propagate at the atomic level.
I read that all EM waves travel through photons? Is that true? If so then why are radio waves associated with changing electric currents or electricity in general vs. light?
If you look at a radio antenna, there is nothing coming out of it that you could visibly see, but what about infrared? If you could see in the radio spectrum what would it look like? Would it glow and change colors?
If EM waves are the same phenomena then how I understand it, you get a radio antenna to emit microwaves, then infrared waves, and eventually visible light if you oscillate the current fast enough, is that true? Could we do that?
I meant travel in the form of photons
2 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Emission of EM waves is associated with the transitions (from high to low) in the energy states of electrons, and this is true whether you're talking about RF or light.
The thing about waves and photons is that there is no real distinction between them; photons at high frequency gradually look more wave-like as frequency decreases. But there are, to one degree or another, properties of both wave-like and particle-like behavior evident in "EM radiation" regardless of what frequency of radiation you're considering.
- 5 years ago
yes radio waves are a type of light waves, although radio waves arent visible light. the only difference between radio waves and visible light is their frequency/period (but of course they all travel at the same speed--the speed of light) "For example antennas would glow and flash in different colors ect?" no, because a "color" is a wavelength existing only from red to violet on the emf scale. radio waves dont have colors existing on the red through violet spectrum "if you oscillate an electric signal on an antenna fast enough could it produce light waves?" im not sure, but if you were to see anything it wouldnt be a radio wave (it would be a wave with a visible light frequency) hope that helped a bit
