Which electromagnetic waves have the shortest wavelength and the highest frequency waves

Miller and Levine Biology

1st EditionJoseph S. Levine, Kenneth R. Miller

1,773 solutions

Physics

1st EditionWalker

3,338 solutions

Life on an Ocean Planet

1st EditionLesley Alexander

1,543 solutions

Glencoe Health

1st EditionMcGraw-Hill Education

1,843 solutions

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The spectrum of electromagnetic waves is continuous from the longest wavelengths (radio waves) through to the shortest wavelengths (gamma rays).

All electromagnetic waves are transverse waves that can travel through a vacuum. They all travel through empty space at a speed of 300 000 000 m/s.

Radio waves have the longest wavelength, lowest frequency and lowest energy. Gamma rays have the shortest wavelength, highest frequency and highest energy. The wavelengths are related to the frequencies using the wave equation.

This video provides an introduction to the Electromagnetic Spectrum

This video explains what happens when you mix colours from the electromagnetic spectrum

Radiation

Radiation is transmitted from the source to the detector. Some materials absorb some types of electromagnetic radiation. The further the radiation travels through an absorbent material the lower its intensity will be when it reaches the end of its journey. More of the radiation energy is absorbed by the material and it heats up.

On some journeys the radiation is reflected at a boundary between two different materials.

When the energy of the radiation is absorbed by the detector it may:

Have a heating effect.
Produce small electric currents in aerials (if microwaves or radio waves).
Make chemical reactions more likely, for example light causes photosynthesis in plants.
Ionise atoms (if ultraviolet, X-ray or gamma).

Energy and Intensity

When electromagnetic radiation strikes a surface, the intensity of the radiation is the amount of energy arriving at a square metre of the surface each second.

Radiation is emitted from a source and travels towards a destination. On this journey the radiation spreads out, so the further away a detector is from the source the less energy is detected. The intensity of the radiation can be increased by moving closer to the source.

Intensity can also be increased by increasing the radiation from the source.

The energy absorbed by the surface or detector can be calculated by:

Energy (J) = intensity (W/m2) × time (s)

Electromagnetic radiation sometimes behaves as waves, and sometimes as packets of energy called photons. A gamma ray photon has the most energy. The energy of the photons increases with the frequency of the radiation.

Answer

Verified

Hint: So, here we are asked to find the electromagnetic wave that is known to have the shortest wavelength among all the other EM waves. You could first begin by defining what these electromagnetic waves are. Then you could list down all of them and hence be given the answer.

Complete answer:
In the question, we are asked to give the EM wave that has the shortest wavelength. First of all, one has to have the basic understanding of EM waves and their spectrum. We could define EM waves as the collection of oscillating magnetic and electric fields. The electromagnetic spectrum consists of the following waves: Radio waves, Microwaves, Infrared waves, Visible light, UV rays, X-rays and Gamma rays. The above listing of EM waves is done by taking increasing frequency or decreasing wavelength as a basis. That is, among the above radio waves have the least frequency and longest wavelength and the gamma rays have the least wavelength and highest frequency. Since, energy is directly proportional to frequency, we could say that Gamma rays have the highest energy in the above list.
Therefore, we found the wavelength of Gamma rays to be less than 0.001nm and due to this very reason, fortunately, the harmful gamma rays from space don't cross the earth’s atmosphere.

Note: The Gamma rays have application in the killing of cancer cells in our bodies by the ray being propagated through the infected organs. Among the above mentioned waves, only the visible rays are visible to human eyes and hence they are named so.