मराठी

Sources of Electromagnetic Waves

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Estimated time: 6 minutes
CBSE: Class 12

Formation of Electromagnetic Waves

  • Stationary charges do not produce electromagnetic waves
  • Charges in uniform motion (constant velocity) — do not produce electromagnetic waves
  • Accelerating charges do produce electromagnetic waves
CBSE: Class 12

Mechanism of Wave Production

  • An oscillating charge produces an oscillating electric field in the surrounding space
  • This oscillating electric field generates an oscillating magnetic field
  • The oscillating magnetic field, in turn, regenerates the oscillating electric field
  • This process sustains itself — the fields keep regenerating each other as the wave propagates outward
CBSE: Class 12

Key Properties

  • The frequency of the electromagnetic wave = frequency of oscillation of the charge
  • The energy of the wave comes from the energy of the oscillating charge (the source)
CBSE: Class 12

Practical Limitation

  • For visible light (e.g., yellow light ≈ 6 × 1014 Hz), an oscillating charge at that frequency would be needed
  • Modern electronic circuits can oscillate only up to about 1011 Hz
  • Therefore, it is not practical to generate visible light by setting up oscillating circuits
  • Early demonstrations of EM wave production were hence done in the radio-wave region
CBSE: Class 12

History/Origin

Scientist Contribution
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz First produced, broadcast, and received radio waves; confirmed Maxwell's theory; discovered the photoelectric effect
Jagdish Chandra Bose Produced EM waves of shorter wavelengths (25 mm to 5 mm) in laboratory experiments in Calcutta
Guglielmo Marconi Transmitted EM waves over many kilometres; initiated EM-wave-based communication
CBSE: Class 12

Key Points: Sources of Electromagnetic Waves

  1. Only accelerating charges radiate electromagnetic waves
  2. An oscillating charge is a practical example of an accelerating charge
  3. The wave frequency equals the oscillation frequency of the source charge
  4. Energy of the wave is supplied by the source (oscillating charge)
  5. Modern circuits max out at ~1011 Hz — far below visible light frequencies (~6 × 1014 Hz)
  6. Early EM wave experiments were conducted in the radio-wave region due to this limitation
  7. Hertz → radio waves; Bose → short wavelength waves; Marconi → long-distance EM communication
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