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electromagnetic wave
Sign in to saveAlso known as EM radiation, electromagnetic radiation
synchronized oscillations of electric and magnetic fields
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- electromagnetic radiation
- Has part
- electric field
- Material used
- electromagnetic field
- Image
- Filtered light.jpg
- Said to be same as
- electromagnetic radiation
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Electromagnetic waves
- facet of
- electromagnetic radiation
- topic's main category
- Category:Electromagnetic waves
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
A linearly polarized electromagnetic wave going in the z-axis, with E denoting the electric field and perpendicular B denoting magnetic field
In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) or an electromagnetic wave (EMW) is a self-propagating wave of the electromagnetic field that carries momentum and radiant energy through space. It encompasses a broad spectrum, classified by frequency (inversely proportional to wavelength), ranging from radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, to gamma rays. All forms of EMR travel at the speed of light in a vacuum and exhibit wave–particle duality, behaving both as waves and as discrete particles called photons.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “electromagnetic wave” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.