WHY EVERYONE SHOULD LEARN ABOUT ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES
Editor’s Note: In this piece, Will Landau (‘19) talks about why electromagnetic waves are important and ways to get America’s youth engaged in science.
We live in a scientifically illeterate society. We come in close to last in math and science in every international test. There are not many ways for this to change. However, me thinking as the child I am, I thought of a way to get the average American youth engaged in the sciences. You have to show them how science directly impacts their lives. If you show them and explain to them how things work scientifically they will be interested. That is why I chose electromagnetic waves as my topic that should be more widely known.
There are not many things that impact people's lives as these waves. These are waves produced when electric and magnetic fields interact with each other to make waves. These were thought of in the 1800s by a man named James Clark Maxwell from England. He noticed that when magnetic and electric fields interacted they made something totally different. He knew this when he realized that the new moving waves formed while the original fields did not move. These waves come in a spectrum based on their wave lengths. Wavelengths are the distance from one peak of a wave to the peak of the next wave. Wavelengths differ greatly from one end of the spectrum to the other, the large end has wavelengths as long as a football field and the smallest end has them just as big as a nucleus of an atom. The waves on the larger end of the spectrum are used a radio waves, yes like the ones that play music. Radio stations take the music that they want to play make them into electromagnetic waves send them to you where your receiver changes them back into music. Moving farther down the spectrum we have microwaves, these are the waves that heats ou food in the oven!
Even further down we have infrared waves. These are used in night vision goggles to see at night. Next we come to visible light. Any light that is being admitted by anything are electromagnetic waves. This includes everything from the sun to the computer I am writing this on now. There is also X-rays on the spectrum this is used in doctors offices to see bones though the skin! You may have heard of the final type of wave gamma rays. These are frequently used for the treatment of cancer throughout the body. As I have explained, these waves are used in almost every facet of our lives. What interests kids and adults alike when it comes to science is to know how things work. That is how you get people interested in science, not by explaining to them things that they have no interest in. I cannot think of one topic that does that for more things than the electromagnetic waves. In an age of people not caring about science, this is good start to get america back on track.
Works Cited
Scientists and Electromagnetic Waves: Maxwell and Hertz. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/consider.html
The Electromagnetic Spectrum. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/waves2.html.
The electromagnetic spectrum: electromagnetic waves have different wavelengths. (2007, March 27). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/waves3.html.
There are not many things that impact people's lives as these waves. These are waves produced when electric and magnetic fields interact with each other to make waves. These were thought of in the 1800s by a man named James Clark Maxwell from England. He noticed that when magnetic and electric fields interacted they made something totally different. He knew this when he realized that the new moving waves formed while the original fields did not move. These waves come in a spectrum based on their wave lengths. Wavelengths are the distance from one peak of a wave to the peak of the next wave. Wavelengths differ greatly from one end of the spectrum to the other, the large end has wavelengths as long as a football field and the smallest end has them just as big as a nucleus of an atom. The waves on the larger end of the spectrum are used a radio waves, yes like the ones that play music. Radio stations take the music that they want to play make them into electromagnetic waves send them to you where your receiver changes them back into music. Moving farther down the spectrum we have microwaves, these are the waves that heats ou food in the oven!
Even further down we have infrared waves. These are used in night vision goggles to see at night. Next we come to visible light. Any light that is being admitted by anything are electromagnetic waves. This includes everything from the sun to the computer I am writing this on now. There is also X-rays on the spectrum this is used in doctors offices to see bones though the skin! You may have heard of the final type of wave gamma rays. These are frequently used for the treatment of cancer throughout the body. As I have explained, these waves are used in almost every facet of our lives. What interests kids and adults alike when it comes to science is to know how things work. That is how you get people interested in science, not by explaining to them things that they have no interest in. I cannot think of one topic that does that for more things than the electromagnetic waves. In an age of people not caring about science, this is good start to get america back on track.
Works Cited
Scientists and Electromagnetic Waves: Maxwell and Hertz. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/consider.html
The Electromagnetic Spectrum. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/waves2.html.
The electromagnetic spectrum: electromagnetic waves have different wavelengths. (2007, March 27). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from https://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/waves3.html.
