Electromagnetic Radiation

oscillating electric and magnetic fields

This page was copied from Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes.

Go to his site at www.astronomynotes.com for the updated and corrected version.

 

See an applet containing the propagation of electromagnetic radiation. Here.

 

Table 1. Wavelengths, frequencies & energies of common waves.
  Wavelength (m) Frequency (Hz) Energy (J)
Radio > 1 x 10-1 < 3 x 109 < 2 x 10-24
Microwave 1 x 10-3 - 1 x 10-1 3 x 109 - 3 x 1011 2 x 10-24- 2 x 10-22
Infrared 7 x 10-7 - 1 x 10-3 3 x 1011 - 4 x 1014 2 x 10-22 - 3 x 10-19
Optical 4 x 10-7 - 7 x 10-7 4 x 1014 - 7.5 x 1014 3 x 10-19 - 5 x 10-19
UV 1 x 10-8 - 4 x 10-7 7.5 x 1014 - 3 x 1016 5 x 10-19 - 2 x 10-17
X-ray 1 x 10-11 - 1 x 10-8 3 x 1016 - 3 x 1019 2 x 10-17 - 2 x 10-14
Gamma-ray < 1 x 10-11 > 3 x 1019 > 2 x 10-14
source:  http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/spectrum_chart.html
Relative sizes of waves.