Background Research

In 1867, James Clerk Maxwell, a Scottish

mathematician, predicted that radio waves might
exist. Twenty years later, in 1887, Heinrich Hertz
demonstrated electromagnetic waves by making
radio waves. Examples of how radio waves are
used in life are television, cell phones, and radios.
Radio waves are invisible ripples of energy or
electromagnetic radiation. They have wavelengths
in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than
infrared light, but shorter than x-ray waves. Radio
waves have frequencies ranging from 3 KHz to 300
GHz and wavelengths ranging from one millimeter
to 100 kilometers.
An electromagnetic wave, or radio wave, is a
fluctuation of electromagnetic field resulting from
an electric charge moving back and forth. There
are different types of electromagnetic wavelengths
including microwaves, ultraviolet rays, radio rays,
visible light rays, infrared rays, gamma rays, and x-
rays. They lie on a spectrum based on frequency
and wavelength. Slow oscillation on a charge or
wave means that the wavelength is longer. Fast
oscillation makes the wavelength shorter.
Wavelength is measured from the top of one peak
to the top of the next peak. Faster oscillation
means there is more energy in the wave than if
there is slow oscillation. All of these rays travel at
the speed of light. The speed of light is about
300,000,000 meters/second.
I think my experiment is related to earth science
because of the electromagnetic rays going through
a spectrum which gives us our light. The
electromagnetic light rays pass through the
atmosphere immediately diverging into many
different light colors giving us certain
phenomenons. One example of that is the northern
lights you can see in Scandinavia and in lands
close to the Arctic Circle.
I wanted to do this experiment because I am
constantly listening to my Bluetooth music player
and I wanted to see how it all works. I know that
when my phone is connected to the Bluetooth
player and I walk out of my room, the music gets
scratchy. I wanted to see what materials may have
caused that. Also, because my family and I have so
many activities, we are always going home and
then going out again only to come back three
hours later. That means a lot of garage door
opening. I just wanted to understand more about
that also.
1.Anissimov, Michael, and Bronwyn Harris.
WiseGeek. Conjecture, n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2015.

2.Easton, Tom, and Sophie Escabasse. Radio

Waves. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

3.Ladd, Jim. Radio Waves: Life and Revolution on

the FM Dial. New York: St. Martin's, 1991. Print.

4."Radio Waves." Radio Waves. N.p., n.d. Web. 03

Jan. 2015.

5.Waves Are All around Us." Waves Are All

around Us. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015