Four types of electromagnetic radiation (emr) are ultraviolet, microwaves, gamma rays, and visible. all of these types of emr can be characterized by wavelength, frequency, photon energy, and speed of travel. define these terms, and rank the four types of electromagnetic radiation in order of increasing wavelength, frequency, photon energy, and speed.

a) Define these terms (wavelength, frequency, photon energy, speed of travel).

Wavelength: It is the distance between two consecutive valleys or crests on a wave.

Frequency: It is the number of crests or valleys that pass from one point in a determined interval of time.

Photon energy: The energy that a photon has, that energy will variate with the wavelength or frequency.

Speed of travel: It is the distance covered in a period of time by the propagation of a wave in a particular media.

b) Rank the four types of electromagnetic radiation in order of increasing wavelength, frequency, photon energy, and speed.

Increasing wavelength:

Microwaves

Visible

Ultraviolet

Gamma rays

Increasing frequency:

Gamma rays

Ultraviolet

Visible

Microwaves

Increasing photon energy:

Gamma rays

Ultraviolet

Visible

Microwaves

The speed will be the same for the four types of electromagnetic radiation, since the speed of a wave only depends in the media in which it propagates.

Explanation:

The electromagnetic spectrum is the distribution of radiation due to the different frequencies at which it radiates and its different intensities, that radiation is formed by electromagnetic waves, which are transverse waves formed by an electric field and a magnetic field perpendicular to it.

The distribution of the radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum can also be given in wavelengths, but it is more frequent to work with it at frequencies, the highest being that of gamma rays, followed by X-rays, ultraviolet rays and the visible region, and those of lower frequencies, which correspond to infrared, microwave and radio waves.

a) Define these terms (wavelength, frequency, photon energy, speed of travel).

Wavelength: It is the distance between two consecutive valleys or crests on a wave, and is related with the frequency by:

Where v and are the speed and frequency of the wave.

Frequency: It is the number of crests or valleys that pass from one point in a determine interval of time.

Where T is the period.  

The frequency can be related with the wavelength by means of the next equation:

Where v and are the speed and wavelength of the wave.

Photon energy: The energy that a photon has, that energy will variate with the wavelength or frequency:

Where E is the energy of the photon, h is Planck’s constant and f is the frequency of the wave.

Since it gets:

Where h is Planck’s constant, c is the speed of light and is the wavelength of the wave.

Speed of travel: It is the distance covered in a period of time by the propagation of a wave in a particular media.

Where and are the frequency and wavelength of the wave.

Summary:

b) Rank the four types of electromagnetic radiation in order of increasing wavelength, frequency, photon energy, and speed.

Increasing wavelength:

Microwaves

Visible

Ultraviolet

Gamma rays

Increasing frequency:

Gamma rays

Ultraviolet

Visible

Microwaves

Increasing photon energy:

Gamma rays

ultraviolet

Visible

Microwaves

The speed will be the same for the four types of electromagnetic radiation, since the speed of a wave only depends in the media in which it propagates.

answer: electrons