PHY 203 LECTURE NOTE I

COURSE TITLE: NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE

PHYSICS
BY
LECTURER:DR ALAUSA S. K
&
CO-LECTURER:DR AJETUNMOBI A.E
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT,
OLABISI ONABANJO UNIVERSITY,
AGO-IWOYE,
OGUN STATE.
 ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
• Electromagnetic spectrum, the entire distribution of electromagnetic
radiation according to frequency or wavelength.

• The electromagnetic spectrum comprises the span of all

electromagnetic radiation and consists of many subranges,
commonly referred to as portions, such as visible light or ultraviolet
radiation.

• The various portions bear different names based on differences

in behavior in the emission, transmission, and absorption of the
corresponding waves and also based on their different practical
applications.
 ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM……..
• Electromagnetic Spectrum can also be explained as all of
the kinds of light, including those the human eye cannot
see.

• The electromagnetic spectrum is the term used by

scientists to describe the entire range of light that exists.
• The light we can see, made up of the individual colors of
the rainbow, represents only a very small portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum.
• Other types of light include radio waves, microwaves,
infrared radiation, ultraviolet rays, X-rays and gamma rays
— all of which are imperceptible to human eyes.
• All light, or electromagnetic radiation, travels through
space at 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) per second —
ELECTROMAGNETIC
SPECTRUM……..
• Other types of light include radio waves,
microwaves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet rays, X-
rays and gamma rays — all of which are
imperceptible to human eyes.

• All light, or electromagnetic radiation, travels

through space at 186,000 miles (300,000
kilometers) per second — the speed of light.
• Electromagnetic radiation can be described in
terms of a stream of mass-less particles,
called photons each traveling in a wave-like
pattern at the speed of light
 MEASURING ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION
• Electromagnetic radiation can be
expressed in terms of energy,
wavelength, or frequency.
• Frequency is measured in cycles per
second, or Hertz.
• Wavelength is measured in meters.
• Energy is measured in electron volts.
• Each of these three quantities for
describing EM radiation are related to
each other in a precise mathematical
TYPES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION
TYPES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION ……
• There are no precise accepted boundaries between any
of these contiguous portions, so the ranges tend to
overlap.
• The entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the lowest
to the highest frequency (longest to shortest
wavelength), includes all radio waves (e.g.,
commercial radio and television microwaves, radar, infr
ared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-
rays, and gamma rays.
• Nearly all frequencies and wavelengths of
electromagnetic radiation can be used for spectroscopy.
TYPES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATION ……
• Each photon contains a certain amount of energy.
• The different types of radiation are defined by the
amount of energy found in the photons.

• Radio waves have photons with low energies,

microwave photons have a little more energy than
radio waves, infrared photons have still more,
then visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, and, the most
energetic of all, gamma-rays.
COMPARISON OF PARAMETERS
OF ELECTROMAGNETIC
RADIATIONS
 APPLICATION OF EMR
• Astronomers who study radio waves tend to use
wavelengths or frequencies.
• Most of the radio part of the EM spectrum falls in the
range from about 1 cm to 1 km, which is 30 gigahertz
(GHz) to 300 kilohertz (kHz) in frequencies.
• The radio is a very broad part of the EM spectrum.
• Infrared and optical astronomers generally use
wavelength.
• Infrared astronomers use microns (millionths of a
meter) for wavelengths, so their part of the EM
spectrum falls in the range of 1 to 100 microns.
 APPLICATION OF EMR……
• Optical astronomers use both angstroms
(0.00000001 cm, or 10-8 cm) and nanometers
(0.0000001 cm, or 10-7 cm).
• Using nanometers, violet, blue, green, yellow,
orange, and red light have wavelengths between
400 and 700 nanometers.
• (This range is just a tiny part of the entire EM
spectrum, so the light our eyes can see is just a
little fraction of all the EM radiation around us.)
 RADIO WAVES
• Radio waves are EM (Electromagnetic)waves that
have wavelengths between 1 millimeter and 100
kilometers (or 300 GHz and 3 kHz in frequency).
• Like all other electromagnetic waves, radio waves
travel at the speed of light.
• Naturally occurring radio waves are made by
lightning or by astronomical objects.
• Artificially generated radio waves are used for
fixed and mobile radio communication,
broadcasting, radar and other navigation systems,
communications satellites, computer networks
and innumerable other applications
 RADIO WAVES……

• The lowest frequency portion of the

electromagnetic spectrum is designated as
“radio,” generally considered to have
wavelengths within 1 millimeter to 100
kilometers or frequencies within 300 GHz to 3
kHz.
• There is a wide range of subcategories
contained within radio including AM and FM
radio. Radio waves can be generated by natural
sources such as lightning or astronomical
phenomena; or by artificial sources such as
broadcast radio towers, cell phones, satellites
 RADIO WAVES……..
• AM radio waves are used to carry commercial
radio signals in the frequency range from 540 to
1600 kHz. The abbreviation AM stands for
amplitude modulation—the method for placing
information on these waves. AM waves have
constant frequency, but a varying amplitude.
• FM radio waves are also used for commercial
radio transmission in the frequency range of 88 to
108 MHz. FM stands for frequency modulation,
which produces a wave of constant amplitude but
varying frequency.
 TYPES OF RADIO WAVES AND
APPLICATIONS
• Radio waves have many uses the category is divided into
many subcategories, including microwaves and
electromagnetic waves used for AM and FM radio,
cellular telephones and TV.

• The lowest commonly encountered radio frequencies

are produced by high-voltage AC power transmission
lines at frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz.
• These extremely long wavelength electromagnetic waves
(about 6000 km) are one means of energy loss in long-
distance power transmission.
TYPES OF RADIO WAVES AND
APPLICATIONS
• Extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves of
about 1 kHz are used to communicate with
submerged submarines.
• The ability of radio waves to penetrate salt water
is related to their wavelength (much like
ultrasound penetrating tissue)—the longer the
wavelength, the farther they penetrate.
• Since salt water is a good conductor, radio waves
are strongly absorbed by it; very long wavelengths
are needed to reach a submarine under the
surface.
 AM RADIO WAVES
• AM radio waves are used to carry commercial
radio signals in the frequency range from 540 to
1600 kHz.

• The abbreviation AM stands for amplitude

modulation—the method for placing information
on these waves.
• A carrier wave having the basic frequency of the
radio station (for instance, 1530 kHz) is varied or
modulated in amplitude by an audio signal.
• The resulting wave has a constant frequency, but
AM RADIO WAVES
 FM RADIO WAVES
• FM radio waves are also used for commercial
radio transmission, but in the frequency range of
88 to 108 MHz.
• FM stands for frequency modulation, another
method of carrying information.
• In this case, a carrier wave having the basic
frequency of the radio station (perhaps 105.1
MHz) is modulated in frequency by the audio
signal, producing a wave of constant amplitude
but varying frequency
FM RADIO WAVES
 EMS &TV TRANSMISSION
• Electromagnetic waves also broadcast television
transmission.
• However, as the waves must carry a great deal of
visual as well as audio information, each channel
requires a larger range of frequencies than simple
radio transmission.
• TV channels utilize frequencies in the range of 54 to
88 MHz and 174 to 222 MHz (the entire FM radio
band lies between channels 88 MHz and 174 MHz).
• These TV channels are called VHF (very high
frequency). Other channels called UHF (ultra high
frequency) utilize an even higher frequency range of
470 to 1000 MHz.
 MICROWAVES
• Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with
wavelengths ranging from one meter to one
millimeter (frequencies between 300 MHz and
300 GHz).
• The microwave region of the electromagnetic
(EM) spectrum is generally considered to overlap
with the highest frequency (shortest wavelength )
radio waves.
• The prefix “micro-” in “microwave” is not meant
to suggest a wavelength in the micrometer range.
• It indicates that microwaves are “small”
compared to waves used in typical radio
 MICROWAVES
• Microwave sources include artificial devices such as
circuits, transmission towers, radar, masers, and
microwave ovens, as well as natural sources such as
the Sun and the Cosmic Microwave Background.
• Microwaves can also be produced by atoms and
molecules.
• They are, for example, a component of electromagnetic
radiation generated by thermal agitation.
• The thermal motion of atoms and molecules in any
object at a temperature above absolute zero causes
them to emit and absorb radiation.
 MICROWAVES……
• As is the case for all EM waves, microwaves travel
in a vacuum at the speed of light. The prefix
“micro-” in “microwave” is not meant to suggest a
wavelength in the micrometer range.
• The boundaries between far infrared light,
terahertz radiation, microwaves, and ultra-high-
frequency radio waves are fairly arbitrary. They
are used variously between different fields of
study
 MICROWAVES
• This frequency range is used for most radar
transmitters, microwave ovens, wireless LANs, cell
phones, satellite communication, microwave radio
relay links, and numerous short range terrestrial
data links.
• Ultra-high frequency (UHF) designates the
microwave frequency range of electromagnetic
waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz, also known as
the decimeter band because the wavelengths range
from one to ten decimeters, or 10 centimeters to 1
meter.
• They are used for television broadcasting, cordless
phones, walkie-talkies, satellite communication, and
 SUB- CATEGORIES OF
MICROWAVE
• The microwave portion of the radio spectrum can be subdivided into
three ranges, listed below from high to low frequencies.
• Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the highest microwave frequency
band. EHF runs the range of frequencies from 30 to 300 gigahertz,
above which electromagnetic radiation is considered as far infrared
light, also referred to as terahertz radiation.
• This frequency range corresponds to a wavelength range of 10 to 1
millimeter, so it is sometimes called the millimeter band.
• This band is commonly used in radio astronomy and remote
sensing.
• Super high frequency (SHF) is the designation for electromagnetic
wave frequencies in the range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz.

• This band of frequencies is known also as the centimeter band

because the wavelengths range from ten to one centimeters..
CATEGORIES OF MICROWAVE
 SOURCES AND APPLICATIONS OF
MICROWAVES
• Microwaves are the highest-frequency electromagnetic
waves that can be produced by currents in macroscopic
circuits and devices.
• Microwaves can also be produced by atoms and
molecules—e.g., they are a component of
electromagnetic radiation generated by thermal
agitation. The thermal motion of atoms and molecules
in any object at a temperature above absolute zero
causes them to emit and absorb radiation.
• Since it is possible to carry more information per unit
time on high frequencies, microwaves are quite
suitable for communications devices.
 SOURCES AND APPLICATIONS
OF MICROWAVES
• Most satellite-transmitted information is carried on
microwaves, as are land-based long-distance
transmissions.
• A clear line of sight between transmitter and receiver
is needed because of the short wavelengths involved.
• The sun also emits microwave radiation, although
most of it is blocked by Earth’s atmosphere.
• The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
(CMBR) is microwave radiation that permeates all of
space, and its discovery supports the Big Bang theory
of the origin of the universe.
SOURCES AND APPLICATIONS OF
MICROWAVES
• Microwaves are used by microwave ovens to heat food.
• Microwaves at a frequency of 2.45 GHz are produced
by accelerating electrons.
• The microwaves then induce an alternating electric
field in the oven.
• Water and some other constituents of food have a
slightly negative charge at one end and a slightly
positive charge at one end (called polar molecules).
• Radar, first developed in World War II, is a common
application of microwaves.
SOURCES AND APPLICATIONS OF
MICROWAVES
• By detecting and timing microwave echoes, radar systems can
determine the distance to objects as diverse as clouds and aircraft.
• A Doppler shift in the radar echo can determine the speed of a car
or the intensity of a rainstorm. Sophisticated radar systems can
map the Earth and other planets, with a resolution limited by
wavelength.
• The shorter the wavelength of any probe, the smaller the detail it
is possible to observe.
• A maser is a device similar to a laser, which amplifies light energy
by stimulating photons. The maser, rather than amplifying visible
light energy, amplifies the lower-frequency, longer-wavelength
microwaves and radio frequency emissions.