In: Physics
How are radio waves created? And how do they reflect and absorbed?
Radio waves are generated artificially by transmitters and received by radio receivers, using antennas.
a direct electrical current is applied to a wire the current flow builds an electromagnetic field around the wire. This field sends a wave outward from the wire. When the current is removed, the field collapses which again sends a wave. If the current is applied and removed over and over for a period of time, a series of waves is propagated at a discrete frequency. If the current changes polarity, or direction repeatedly, that could make waves, too. This phenomenon is the basis of electromagnetivity and basically describes how radio waves are created within transmitters.
Reflection of radio waves: When a radio wave or in fact any electromagnetic wave encounters a change in medium, some or all of it may propagate into the new medium and the remainder is reflected. The part that enters the new medium is called the transmitted wave and the other the reflected wave.
The rules that govern the reflection of radio waves are simple and are the same as those that govern light waves.
The layer of the atmosphere that reflects radio waves is the ionosphere. That is because there are gas particles in the ionosphere that are ionized, or that carry an electrical charge. The ionosphere is a layer which includes the thermosphere and part of the mesoshere and exosphere.
Absorption of radio waves: Radio waves” are absorbed through a process called “scattering” where the energy is diminished with some material object. The object has to be able to interact with the “radio-wave".