Wavelength is the distance from one crest of a wave to another, whereas frequency is the number of waves within a second.
Wavelength and Frequency
1
concept
Wavelength and Frequency
1m
Play a video:
Was this helpful?
now light energy can travel through space as electromagnetic radiation in the form of either particles or wait. Now this is a highly debated topic within the scientific community, seeing some see light as individual particles, whereas others see light as a big wave filled with clusters of these particular particles now wavelength itself. We use the Greek symbol Lambda, and it's just the distance from one crest or top of a wave, or the trough the bottom of the wave to the next wave. Here it's expressed in units of meters and with wavelength. We have frequency frequency uses the Greek. There are letter mute, which looks like a V. It's a number of ways you have per second here. It's expressed in units off either seconds, inverse or hurts. So they're the same thing associate with wavelength and frequency. We have amplitude, which is just the height of a wave measured from the origin to its crest or from the origin toe. It's trough. Now here. If we take a look at this wave, we're going to say that our origin here is zero. It kind of cuts through the way right in the middle. We're going to say the distance from one crest toe, another crest or one trough toe. Another trump that represents our wavelength. We're gonna say the height from the origin up to the crest or the origin to the trough represents our amplitude. So amplitude here in amplitude here and then finally, how many ways you get per second represents our frequency. Okay, so these are the three ideas attached to any electromagnetic wave that we observe. Now that we know these three topic, let's move on to the next video.
2
example
Wavelength and Frequency Example 1
51s
Play a video:
Was this helpful?
so here it says, based on the image is given below which electromagnetic wave has the highest frequency. So remember, frequency is how many ways we can get per second. So if we don't look, we'd say that from this origin point to this origin point represents one wave here, this will be a second wave. So here's one wave, two waves, three waves, four waves, five waves. This one here would be one wave, two waves and then 25 waves. Then finally here would get one to three, four, 567 and eight. You could also eyeball it and see, like for sure, the image three would have the most amount of waves per second and therefore would have the highest frequency.
3
concept
Wavelength and Frequency
31s
Play a video:
Was this helpful?
So when it comes to frequency and wavelength, just realize that at a fixed speed the frequency of a lightwave is inversely proportional to the wavelength. That basically means that they're opposites of one another. So that means that the higher our frequency becomes than the lower our wavelength, and the lower our frequency becomes, the higher are wavelengths. So just keep in mind this inverse relationship between frequency and wavelength when it comes to any electromagnetic wave at a fixed speed.
4
Problem
Which energy wave would have the highest frequency from the wavelengths provided?
A
Wave A (453 nm)
B
Wave B (707 nm)
C
Wave C (325 nm)
D
Wave D (910 nm)
Additional resources for Wavelength and Frequency