Radiation

Information from the Cosmos

 Radiation,Waves, & Information
• Most of the information around
us gets to us in waves.
• Sound energy that travels to
our ears is in one form of wave.
• Light is energy that comes
to our eyes if the form of
another type of wave.
• Energy (information) that is
transferred from place to
place in the form of a wave is
called RADIATION.
 So, what is light?
• The particle or ray model of light is illustrated
Is it a particle?
by the properties of reflection and refraction.

• The wave model of light is illustrated by the

properties of reflection, refraction, Is it a wave?
diffraction, interference, and polarization.
• But there are problems:
if light is a wave, and waves need a
“medium” such as air or water to carry
them, then how can light travel through
empty space? It is neither,
but it’s
• The solution was to decide that light was like both
neither a wave nor a particle, but something
else which sometimes behaved like them.
 What is a Wave?
• Wave motion is NOT a mechanical phenomenon because
a wave is not a material object but a form.
– It cannot be assigned a mass, and
the concept of acceleration cannot be applied to a wave.
– The motion of a wave is vastly different from
the motion of the medium in which it travels.
In fact, a wave can exist without any movement of matter at all!

• So, what is a wave? It is a pattern or form that moves.

• It can be a
– deformation of a material object
(music string or waves on the surface of a body of water)

OR
– pattern in a field
(light or radio waves).
 Waves: Standard Dimensions
In physics, waves are described by a few standard
dimensions.
Amplitude A= height of wave
Wavelength  = length of one cycle above “rest position”

Frequency f = how often wave crest passes, Velocity v= speed of wave

longer wavelength means lower frequency
v=f x 
 Frequency and Period
Frequency: how often a vibration (cycle, repetition)
occurs in some interval of time,
# vibrations (or cycles) per unit time.
units are Hertz (Hz)
1-Hz = 1 vibration/sec = 1 cycle/sec
103 Hz = kHz (AM radio frequencies)
106 Hz = MHz (FM radio frequencies)
Period: the time to complete one vibration (or cycle),
the inverse of the frequency

period = 1 / frequency OR frequency = 1 / period

 Wave Speed
• The speed of some waves depends on the
medium through which the wave travels.
– Sound waves travel at speeds of
330 - 350 m/s in air,
and about four times as fast in water.

• The speed of the wave is related to the

frequency and wavelength of the wave.
Wave speed = frequency x wavelength
 Motion of Waves

Is there a relationship between

the motion of the wave through space
and
the motion of the medium that a wave moves in?
 Wave Types
• Two types of waves
–transverse
–longitudinal

Cheerleader demo
 Types of waves
Transverse waves: the motion of the medium is at right
angles to the direction in which the wave travels.
Examples: stretched strings of musical instruments,
waves on the surfaces of liquids,
some of the waves produced in earthquakes.
Although they require no “medium” to travel,
electromagnetic waves are also transverse waves.

Longitudinal waves: the particles in the medium move along the

direction of the wave;
travel in solids, liquids, and gases.
Examples: sound waves,
some of the waves produced in earthquakes.
 Do waves travel through
empty space?

What if there is no medium to move in?

Can any waves travel through empty space?
If so, which ones?
 Light as a Wave
• Light is a type of radiation;
it is a type of wave that travels through space.
• Light waves are fundamentally different from
many other waves that travel only through
material media (sound or water waves).
• Light waves require NO material medium to
travel from place to place.
• The wave speed of all types of light in a vacuum
is called the speed of light, c.
c = 300,000 km/sec
 Terminology
• Radiation:
a way to transfer of energy in the form of a wave
• Light:
another name for electromagnetic radiation
• Electromagnetic (EM) radiation:
Also known as light, transfers energy and
information from one place to another
(in form of coupled electric and magnetic waves)
• Visible light:
the range of electromagnetic radiation that
the human eyes perceive as visible
 Group Question
1. Determine the wavelength of your group’s
favorite radio station.
2. Assume you are 100 km (~60 miles) from the
station transmitter. Calculate how long it takes
for the radio waves to arrive at your location
from the radio station transmitter.
Wave speed = frequency x wavelength
Speed of light (radio waves) = c = 3x 108m/sec
Distance = speed x time
x103 Hz (AM radio frequencies)
x106 Hz (FM radio frequencies)
 Creating Electromagnetic Waves
•All matter is made up of atoms.
•Atoms are, in turn, made up of smaller particles:
protons, electrons, and neutrons.
•Two of the elementary particles that make up
atoms possess a property described as
electrical charge.
•The charges on each are equal and opposite.
electron: - charge
proton: + charge
 Electromagnetism
Electric and magnetic fields do not exist
as independent entities.
They are different aspects of a single phenomenon:
Electromagnetism (EMR)

Together, they constitute an electromagnetic wave that carries

energy and information from one part of the universe to another.
Creating and Detecting Light
• Light is created by the
motion of charged particles.
• Matter is made up of atoms, which are
in turn made up of charged particles.
• Motions of these charged particles
create light.
– Not just the light we detect with our eyes,
but at all wavelengths (or frequencies).
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Properties of Light
• Polarization
• Reflection
• Refraction
• Dispersion
• Diffraction
• Interference
 Properties of Light:
Reflection and Refraction
• An isolated light beam travels in a straight line.
• Light can change directions under certain
conditions:
• Reflection from a surface,
– mirrors, objects
• Refraction (or bending of a ray of light) as the
ray travels from one transparent medium to
another.
– pencil in a clear glass of water
– light through a piece of glass
 Properties of Light: Dispersion
•Electromagnetic waves interact with the charged particles in matter
and travel more slowly in transparent media than in a vacuum.
•The change in speed of the light wave causes the wave to refract.
•Since the speed of an EM wave in a medium changes with
wavelength, the amount of refraction depends on the wavelength.
•This effect is called dispersion.
 Visible Light
• Prism will separate light into its components
• Composed of 7 hues (Roy G. Biv), known as its
spectrum
– Red (~ 700 nm or 7000 Å)
– Orange
– Yellow
– Green
– Blue
– Indigo
– Violet (~ 400 nm or 4000 Å)
• Color determined by its frequency
(or, equivalently, its wavelength)
 Visible Spectrum

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet

 Properties of Light: Diffraction
• Diffraction is the bending of a wave as it passes
through a hole or around an obstacle.
– If light consists of parallel rays, they would travel
through a small pinhole and make a small, bright
spot on a nearby screen.

Sharp-edged Fuzzy
shadow shadow

Effect cannot be explained by ray model of light.

 Diffraction of Waves
• Actually observe a spot larger than the pinhole and
varying in brightness.
– The pinhole somehow affects the light that passes through it.
• Diffraction is proportional to the ratio of wavelength
to width of gap.
– The longer the wavelength and/or the smaller the
gap, the greater the angle through which the wave is
diffracted.

Fuzzy
shadow
 Properties of Light:
Interference and Superposition
• What happens if two waves run into each other?
• Waves can interact and combine with each other,
resulting in a composite form.
• Interference is the interaction of the two waves.
– reinforcing interaction = constructive interference
– canceling interaction = destructive interference
• Superposition is the method used to model the
composite form of the resulting wave.
 Interference of Waves
Interference: ability of two or more waves to reinforce
or cancel each other.

Constructive interference
occurs when two wave
motions reinforce each
other, resulting in a wave of
greater amplitude.

Destructive interference
occurs when two waves
exactly cancel, so that no
net motion remains.
 Electromagnetic Radiation
Type of Wavelength Radiated by Typical Sources
Radiation Range (nm) Objects at this
Temperature
Gamma rays Less than More than No astronomical sources this
0.01 108 K hot; some produced in nuclear
reactions.
X rays 0.01 – 20 106 – 107 K Gas in clusters of galaxies;
supernova remnants; solar
corona.
Ultraviolet 20-400 105 – 106 K Supernova remnants; very
hot stars.
Visible 400-700 103 – 105 K Stars

Infrared 103 – 106 10 – 103 K Cool clouds of dust and gas,

planets, satellites
Radio More than Less than 1 K No astronomical objects this
106 cold: radio emission
produced by electrons
moving in magnetic fields
Electromagnetic Spectrum