This is a very familiar effect, since sunlight warms surfaces that it irradiates. When EM waves are absorbed by an object, the energy of the waves is converted to heat (or converted to electricity in case of a photoelectric material). This implies that if two EM waves have the same intensity, but different frequencies, the one with the higher frequency "contains" fewer photons, since each photon is more energetic. In the wave picture, the energy of a monochromatic wave is proportional to its intensity. In the particle picture, the energy carried by each photon is proportional to its frequency. The bands of frequency present in a given EM signal may be sharply defined, as is seen in atomic spectra, or may be broad, as in blackbody radiation. ĮM radiation can have various frequencies. These two views are completely equivalent and are reconciled to one another in quantum field theory (see wave-particle duality). Alternatively, EM radiation can be viewed as an electromagnetic wave, which carries energy in its oscillating electric and magnetic fields. Cherenkov radiation glowing in the core of a TRIGA reactor.īecause electromagnetic (EM) radiation can be conceptualized as a stream of photons, radiant energy can be viewed as photon energy – the energy carried by these photons.
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