Question

Explain the difference in how energy is transferred by mechanical waves and how it is transferred by EM waves.

Answer 1

For the reason of  how energy transformation is diffrent in these two waves lets first discuss the nature of these energies.

As Mechanical waves are caused by a disturbance or vibration in matter, whether solid, gas, liquid, or plasma. Matter that waves are traveling through is called a medium. Mechanical waves are waves that require a medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another, because mechanical waves rely on particle interaction in order to transport their energy, they cannot travel through regions of space that are void of particles.

Whereas Electromagnetic waves are formed when a electron generates a magnetic field that will also creates its field from the motion of the electron. These combined electrical and magnetic waves reinforce one another. This kind of wave is called an electromagnetic wave and light is such a wave.

Electromagnetic waves differ from mechanical waves in that they do not require a medium to propagate. This means that electromagnetic waves can travel not only through air and solid materials, but also through the vacuum of space.Electromagnetic waves don't require medium to propagate because they are formed by changing magnetic and electric field , and these fields don't require any medium to propagate .