Multiple Choice
In the context of electromagnetic waves, increasing the number of loops in a coil will increase the of the magnetic field produced by the coil. Which property does this refer to?
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32. Electromagnetic Waves
Intro to Electromagnetic (EM) Waves
Multiple Choice
For an electromagnetic wave traveling in vacuum, what happens to the frequency as the wavelength increases, given ?
A
stays the same because is constant.
B
becomes zero when increases.
C
decreases (it is inversely proportional to ).
D
increases (it is directly proportional to ).
Verified step by step guidance1
Recall the fundamental relationship for an electromagnetic wave traveling in vacuum: \(c = f \times \lambda\), where \(c\) is the speed of light, \(f\) is the frequency, and \(\lambda\) is the wavelength.
Understand that the speed of light \(c\) is a constant value in vacuum, approximately \(3 \times 10^{8}\) meters per second, and does not change regardless of the wavelength or frequency.
Since \(c\) is constant, any change in wavelength \(\lambda\) must be accompanied by a corresponding change in frequency \(f\) to keep the product \(f \times \lambda\) equal to \(c\).
Rearrange the equation to express frequency in terms of wavelength: \(f = \frac{c}{\lambda}\). This shows that frequency is inversely proportional to wavelength.
Therefore, as the wavelength \(\lambda\) increases, the frequency \(f\) decreases, because their product must remain equal to the constant speed of light \(c\).
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