Radio Waves Flashcards

All 5 cards in this deck

How are radio waves produced?

By oscillations in electrical circuits (an alternating current makes electrons oscillate in an aerial).

How does the frequency of a radio wave compare with the frequency of the oscillations in the circuit that produced it?

It is the same as the frequency of the oscillations.

What happens in an electrical circuit when its aerial absorbs radio waves?

An alternating current is induced in the circuit with the same frequency as the radio wave.

True or false? Radio waves absorbed by an aerial induce a direct current in the circuit.

False. They induce an alternating current, of the same frequency as the radio wave.

Give two ways in which radio waves are different from sound waves.

Radio waves are transverse electromagnetic waves (sound is longitudinal and mechanical), and they travel through a vacuum and at a much higher speed.