News tagged with electromagnetic radiation

The new world of gamma-ray optics

Scientists discover that certain materials like silicon or gold exhibit a surprisingly large refractive index for extremely high energetic gamma-rays.

Physics / Condensed Matter

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

Measuring magnetic fields

(Phys.org) -- Polarized light is a familiar phenomenon, as people who prefer polarized sunglasses can testify. The electric field in a beam of light can vibrate either left-right or up-down, and the scattering ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers develop new technique to assess diversity of plant species from afar

By analyzing vegetation information collected by satellites over time instead of for just one day, scientists in the Michigan State University Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS) have ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Building a better light bulb

Scientists study the movement of charge carriers to design an organic LED that is energy efficient and still casts a warm, natural glow.

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 4

Surfboard-sized drones crossing pacific to monitor sea surface

Hundreds of miles off the California coast, four drones about the size of surfboards and are tossing across the Pacific toward Hawaii, controlled by pilots on shore.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study resolves century-long debate over how to describe electromagnetic momentum density in matter

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the NIST Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the University of British Columbia have shown that the interaction between a light pulse and a light-absorbing object, including the ...

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 29, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 23 | with audio podcast

NASA to support IU astronomer's quest to develop largest-ever star formation database

(PhysOrg.com) -- Samir Salim has a lot of space to fit into a new NASA-funded database; about 11 million galaxies of it would be a ballpark estimate based on the number of galaxies for which distances can be estimated to ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Millisecond pulsar in spin mode

Astronomers have tracked down the first gamma-ray pulsar in a globular cluster of stars. It is around 27,000 light years away and thus also holds the distance record in this class of objects. Moreover, its ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 03, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Suspects in the quenching of star formation exonerated

Supermassive black holes millions to billions times the mass of our Sun lie at the heart of most, maybe all large galaxies. Some of these power brilliantly luminous, rapidly growing objects called active galactic nuclei that ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 11, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Astronomers reveal a cosmic 'axis of evil'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers are puzzled by the announcement that the masses of the largest objects in the Universe appear to depend on which method is used to weigh them. The new work was presented at a specialist ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 30, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (17) | comments 23 | with audio podcast

German managers 'keep phones in biscuit tins'

A German chemicals company said on Monday its managers have begun keeping their mobile phones in biscuit tins during meetings in order to guard against industrial espionage.

Technology / Other

created Jun 27, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 3

Experts say cellphones are 'possibly carcinogenic'

(AP) -- A respected international panel of scientists says cellphones are possible cancer-causing agents, putting them in the same category as the pesticide DDT, gasoline engine exhaust and coffee.

Medicine & Health / Health

created May 31, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (9) | comments 21

Andromeda's coat of many colors (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's fleet of space telescopes has captured the nearby Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, in different wavelengths. Most of these wavelengths are invisible to the eye and each shows a different aspect ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 27, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Can cell phone exposure cause bone weakening?

Electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones may adversely affect bone strength, suggests a study in the March Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Mar 27, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 5

New electromechanical circuit sets record beating microscopic 'drum'

Described in the March 10 issue of Nature, the NIST experiments created strong interactions between microwave light oscillating 7.5 billion times per second and a "micro drum" vibrating at radio frequencies 11 mil ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Electromagnetic radiation

Electromagnetic radiation (sometimes abbreviated EMR) is a ubiquitous phenomenon that takes the form of self-propagating waves in a vacuum or in matter. It consists of electric and magnetic field components which oscillate in phase perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the direction of energy propagation. Electromagnetic radiation is classified into several types according to the frequency of its wave; these types include (in order of increasing frequency and decreasing wavelength): radio waves, microwaves, terahertz radiation, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays. A small and somewhat variable window of frequencies is sensed by the eyes of various organisms; this is what we call the visible spectrum, or light.

EM radiation carries energy and momentum that may be imparted to matter with which it interacts.

For more information about Electromagnetic radiation, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.