An electromagnetic field is a single more complete object than its component electric and magnetic fields.
- An electromagnetic field is created when an electric field and a magnetic field interact at right angles to each other.
- An electromagnetic field, when oscillating, can generate electromagnetic waves.
- Electromagnetic waves can be described in terms of wavelength, frequency and energy.
- Electromagnetic waves carry energy through space.
- The main distinction between an electromagnetic field and an electromagnetic wave is that the former is a more abstract concept.
- An electromagnetic field is a region of space where electric and magnetic fields exist.
- But these fields do not necessarily transport energy, so it is not the fields that produce light.
- Electromagnetic waves do transport energy because their electric and magnetic fields are oscillating at non-zero frequencies.
- In the field of quantum mechanics, electromagnetic waves can be understood as packets of energy called photons.
- Photons are essentially the force carriers of electromagnetic radiation.
- The electromagnetic spectrum is a range of all possible wavelengths of electromagnetic fields in motion. It includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays, each distinguished by its specific wavelength.
- Visible light is an electromagnetic field in motion, oscillating within a range of wavelengths that our eyes perceive as colours.
- Electromagnetic radiation, an example of an electromagnetic wave, is produced by an oscillating electromagnetic field and can travel through vacuum, air, or solid materials.
An electromagnetic field can be thought of as a single more complete object than its component electric and magnetic field. It propagates through space in the form of bundles of energy called photons which are configured as electromagnetic waves, the force carriers of radiant energy (electromagnetic radiation).
- An electromagnetic field results from the coupling of an electric and magnetic field.
- When an electromagnetic field experiences a change in voltage or current its reconfiguration into an electromagnetic wave can be described in terms of wavelength, frequency and energy.
- An electromagnetic wave can be thought to come into existence when a static electric field experiences a change in voltage or a static magnetic field experiences a change in current producing radiating oscillations of electromagnetic energy that propagate through space.
- The difference between an electromagnetic field and an electromagnetic wave is that the wave has a non-zero frequency component which is the source of the energy it transports.
- Electromagnetic radiation is essentially the result of an oscillating electromagnetic field propagating through space.