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Information about Wavelength

In physics, wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a given frequency. It is commonly designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). Examples of wave-like phenonomena are light, water waves, and sound waves.



In a wave, a property varies with the position. For example, this property can be the air pressure for a sound wave, or the magnitude of the electric or the magnetic field for light. The wavelengths of frequencies audible to the human ear (20 Hz–20 kHz) are between approximately 17 m and 17 mm, respectively. Visible light ranges from deep red, roughly 700 nm to violet, roughly 400 nm (430–750 THz). For other examples, see electromagnetic spectrum.

Relationship with frequency

Wavelength λ is inverse proportional with the frequency ν (Greek "nu"), the number of wave periods per time unit passing a given point, as in
where is the propagation velocity of the wave. In the case of electromagnetic radiation, such as light, in a vacuum, this speed is the speed of light, 299,792,458 m/s or about 109 km/h. For sound waves in air, this is the speed of sound, 344 m/s (1238 km/h) in air at room temperature. Usually, SI units are used, where the wavelength is expressed in meters, the frequency in Hz, and the propagation velocity in meters per second.

In non-vacuum media

The speed of light in most media is lower than in vacuum, which means that the same frequency will correspond to a shorter wavelength in the medium than in vacuum. The wavelength in the medium is
where n is the refractive index of the medium. Wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation are usually quoted in terms of the vacuum wavelength, unless specifically indicated as the "wavelength in the medium". In acoustics, unless otherwise specified, the term wavelength is used to mean the wavelength in the medium.

De Broglie wavelength of particles

Louis de Broglie postulated that all particles with momentum have a wavelength
where h is Planck's constant, and p is the momentum of the particle. This hypothesis was at the basis of quantum mechanics. Nowadays, this wavelength is called the de Broglie wavelength. For example, the electrons in a CRT display have a De Broglie wavelength of about 10-13 m.'''

See also

External links

Physics is the science of matter[1] and its motion[2][3], as well as space and time[4][5] —the science that deals with concepts such as force, energy, mass, and charge.
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wave is a mode of energy transfer from one place to another, often with little or no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium (i.e. little or no associated mass transport); instead there are oscillations around almost fixed positions.
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FreQuency is a music video game developed by Harmonix and published by SCEI. It was released in November 2001. A sequel, titled Amplitude was released in 2003.
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
 Italy
 Turkey
Regulated by:
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A letter is a written message from one person to another. The role of letters in communication has changed significantly since the 19th century. Historically, letters were the only reliable means of communication between two persons in different locations.
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Lambda (uppercase Λ, lowercase λ) is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 30. Letters that arose from Lambda include the Roman L and the Cyrillic letter El (Л, л).
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Light is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light). In a scientific context, the word "light" is sometimes used to refer to the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
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Ocean surface waves are surface waves that occur in the upper layer of the ocean. They usually result from wind or geologic effects and may travel thousands of miles before striking land. They range in size from small ripples to huge tsunamis.
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Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave (through fluids as a compression wave, and through solids as both compression and shear waves).
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Sound pressure is the pressure deviation from the local ambient pressure caused by a sound wave. Sound pressure can be measured using a microphone in air and a hydrophone in water. The SI unit for sound pressure is the pascal (symbol: Pa).
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Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave (through fluids as a compression wave, and through solids as both compression and shear waves).
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electric field. This electric field exerts a force on other electrically charged objects. The concept of electric field was introduced by Michael Faraday.

The electric field is a vector field with SI units of newtons per coulomb (N C−1
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magnetic field is a field that permeates space and which exerts a magnetic force on moving electric charges and magnetic dipoles. Magnetic fields surround electric currents, magnetic dipoles, and changing electric fields.
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Light is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light). In a scientific context, the word "light" is sometimes used to refer to the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
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electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation. The "electromagnetic spectrum" (usually just spectrum) of an object is the frequency range of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from thousands of kilometers down to fractions of
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FreQuency is a music video game developed by Harmonix and published by SCEI. It was released in November 2001. A sequel, titled Amplitude was released in 2003.
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Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a self-propagating wave in space with electric and magnetic components. These components oscillate at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation, and are in phase with each other.
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speed of light in a vacuum is an important physical constant denoted by the letter c for constant or the Latin word celeritas meaning "swiftness".[1] It is the speed of all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, in a vacuum.
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An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it. The ratio most commonly used is 10.
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Sound is a disturbance of mechanical energy that propagates through matter as a wave (through fluids as a compression wave, and through solids as both compression and shear waves).
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speed of sound describes how much distance such a wave travels in a given amount of time. In dry air, at a temperature of 21 °C (70 °F) the speed of sound is 344 m/s (1238 km/h, or 769 mph, or 1128 ft/s).
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Si, si, or SI may refer to (all SI unless otherwise stated):

In language:
  • One of two Italian words:
  • sì (accented) for "yes"
  • si

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1 metre =
SI units
1000 mm 0 cm
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 in
The metre or meter[1](symbol: m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
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hertz (symbol: Hz) is the SI unit of frequency. Its base unit is cycle/s or s-1 (also called inverse seconds, reciprocal seconds). In English, hertz is used as both singular and plural.
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The refractive index (or index of refraction) of a medium is a measure for how much the speed of light (or other waves such as sound waves) is reduced inside the medium. For example, typical glass has a refractive index of 1.
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Louis de Broglie

Born July 16 1892(1892--)
Dieppe, France
Died March 19 1987 (aged 96)
Louveciennes, France
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momentum (pl. momenta; SI unit kg m/s, or, equivalently, N•s) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. For more accurate measures of momentum, see the section "modern definitions of momentum" on this page.
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Planck constant (denoted ) is a physical constant that is used to describe the sizes of quanta. It plays a central role in the theory of quantum mechanics, and is named after Max Planck, one of the founders of quantum theory.
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momentum (pl. momenta; SI unit kg m/s, or, equivalently, N•s) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. For more accurate measures of momentum, see the section "modern definitions of momentum" on this page.
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quantum mechanics is the study of the relationship between energy quanta (radiation) and matter, in particular that between valence shell electrons and photons. Quantum mechanics is a fundamental branch of physics with wide applications in both experimental and theoretical physics.
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