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Wireless Basics: How Radio Waves Work

Before even diving into any of the science surrounding radio waves, we have to give this subject some justice by showing just how much radio waves have affected our everyday lives. Let’s start with an average day, and perhaps you wake up to the not-so-soothing sound of an alarm clock thanks to your smartphone. You can thank radio waves for the early morning jolt. As you sit down for your morning breakfast, maybe you turn on the radio or television to listen to what’s happening out in the world. How are these bits of audio and video information getting to you? With radio waves yet again. As you get ready to leave for work, maybe you like to check the traffic and plan the most efficient route,…

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 How safe is safe?

For Radio-frequency radiation, maybe not as SAFE as our masters would have us believe

 Radio Waves and the Electromagnetic Spectrum

There is some science that you can see in action. For example, chemical changes and reactions. But, what about what is not visible to the human eye? What about science such as cells and radio waves.

Articles of Interest

A Self-Guided Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum

Welcome to the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths of radio waves are long compared to other types of electromagnetic waves—they range in length from 10,000 kilometers to less than a meter.

Cell Tower Radiation Health Effects

For decades, the International Association of Fire Fighters has been directly involved in protecting and promoting the health and safety of our membership. However, we simply don’t know at this time what the possible health consequences of long-term exposure to low-intensity RF/MW radiation of the type used by the cell phone base stations and antennas will be. No one knows–the data just aren’t there.

Impact of radio waves: the lowdown

Radio waves are a mainstay of modern telecommunications. They transmit data, audio, and images, which are all essential to modern life. But what are radio waves, how are they used in telecoms, and what can you do to reduce your exposure?

More about radio waves and electromagnetic radiation

Electromagnetic radiation with frequencies between about 10 kHz and 100 GHz are referred to as radio frequencies. Radio frequencies are divided into groups which have similar characteristics, called "bands," such as "S-band," "X-band," etc. The bands are further divided into small ranges of frequencies called "channels," some of which have been set aside for the use of deep space telecommunications.

Risks to Health and Well-Being From Radio-Frequency Radiation Emitted by Cell Phones and Other Wireless Devices

We recognize a diversity of opinions on the potential adverse effects of RFR exposure from cell or mobile phones and other wireless transmitting devices (WTDs) including cordless phones and Wi-Fi. The paradigmatic approach in cancer epidemiology, which considers the body of epidemiological, toxicological, and mechanistic/cellular evidence when assessing causality, is applied.

Scientists Say: Radio Waves

Many technologies use radio waves to send and receive signals. Take the radio in your car or home. To broadcast music or news, a radio station’s tower sends radio waves out into the air. Those waves travel to radios, which translate the incoming waves into vibrations. Vibrating speakers inside a radio create the sound waves heard as radio programs. TV broadcasts work in a similar way. Towers send out radio waves that carry data for both sounds and images. TVs then pick up those radio waves and decode them to display movies and shows.

What Are Radio Waves & How Do We Use Them?

Radio waves have the longest wavelengths of any region of the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from 1 millimeter to 100 kilometers. At the same time, radio waves have the lowest frequencies, ranging from 300 GHz to 3 kHz. Radio frequency (RF) refers to the oscillation rate of radio waves. Hertz is a unit of measurement equal to one frequency cycle per second; therefore, 300 GHz is equivalent to 300 billion cycles per second. In contrast, UV, X-rays, and gamma rays have the shortest wavelengths.

Why can radio waves pass through a wall but light cannot?

I am telling you, radio waves are huge waves, their wavelengths are much much bigger then the size of atoms in the wall. According to the above analogy, that is why they go easily through the wall. ( As a boy did in the rain.) On the other side, light waves are very very small waves, their size ( wavelength ) is comparable to the size of atoms in the wall. And that is why they are not able to go through the wall.

Resources

NSF NCAR & UCAR Science Education

Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation. A radio wave has a much longer wavelength than visible light. Humans use radio waves extensively for communications. Black and white radio tower with clouds in Harrisonburg, VA on James Madison University's campus. This radio tower has both rectangular and circular antennas to transmit and receive radio frequency energy. Photo by Christina Telep on Unsplash The wavelengths of radio waves range from a few millimeters (tenths of inches) to hundreds of kilometers (hundreds of miles). Visible light, for comparison, has wavelengths in the 400 to 700 nanometer range, about 5,000 times shorter than the shortest wavelength radio waves. Radio waves oscillate at frequencies between a few kilohertz (kHz or thousands of hertz) and a few terahertz (THz or 1012 hertz). "Far infrared" radiation borders radio waves along the electromagnetic spectrum and has slightly higher energy and shorter wavelengths than radio waves.