Light - Radio and Microwave - 16+
This collection explores Radio and Microwaves, suitable for ages 16+.
About Radio and Microwaves: Radio Waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths ranging from 1 millimeter (0.039 in) to 100 kilometers (62 mi). Artificially generated radio waves are used for fixed and mobile radio communication, broadcasting, radar and other navigation systems, communications satellites, computer networks and innumerable other applications. Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter; with frequencies between 300 MHz (100 cm) and 300 GHz (0.1 cm). This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF (millimeter waves), and various sources use different boundaries.
Resources in this collection:
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): This resource from the Institute of Physics (IOP), describes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the body. The magnetic resonance imaging video, taken from an IOP Schools and Colleges lecture, uses analogies with sound to describe how the resonant frequencies of protons within the body can be used to produce images. The functional magnetic resonance imaging video, shows an MRI scan of the lecturers brain. He describes how the activity in the brain is linked to different functions, such as exercise, and poses a final question to the students.
- Unit 8: Electromagnetic Waves: This Nuffield Advanced Physics Unit was about light as a wave motion. It represented the culmination of one line of thought in the course as a whole, for in it, earlier work on waves, on electric fields, and on magnetic fields came together in a (simplified) description of what an electromagnetic wave might be thought to be like.
