Talk:Wavelength

The Speed of Light

"The speed of light in most media is lower than in vacuum ..."

Could someone name me a medium where light travels faster than it does in a vacuum? 80.42.146.135 17:23, 25 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No such medium exists in are universe. The speed of light is relative to the universe you live in, for us it's 299,792,458 meters per second max... This absolute limit makes space travel a real bitch because 299,792,458 m/s is very slow when compared to the size of the observable universe, which is 863,990,470,000,000,000,000,000,000 meters in diameter. It would take 91,325,815,300 years to travel from one end to the other in a space ship moving at the speed of light. Getting the space ship up to the speed of light would require all the energy in the universe. :-(

Wavelength, frequency, type of wave, and energy in joules

Does anyone know the equations to figuring out all of these with just one? PatPeter 20:50, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Describing Wave Image

"The x axis represents distance, and I would be some varying quantity at a given point in time as a function ..."

Be nice to see some labels on the image. Also the italicised "I" looks like a forward slash, and is not immediately obvious as to how it relates to the tipped-over "I" from the image.
--Thangalin 26 Sep 2006 (PST)

Redirect change

I suggest that de Broglie wavelength redirects to de Broglie hypothesis, not here. It makes more sense, and de Broglie hypothesis has a much better description. Perhaps a rewrite is then needed of that section of this page to reflect that. Any objections?
--Blinken 11:45, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I can't believe it redirects here instead of de Broglie hypothesis already. I went ahead and changed it, figuring I should be bold. In light of that, the section in here about the de Broglie wavelength probably does need to be rewritten and shortened a bit. --Laura Scudder | Talk 19:36, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Went ahead and moved it over. --Blinken 02:19, 4 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Lambda = C / f

Would it be worth using the more general formula $\lambda =v/f$ here, instead of $\lambda =c/f$ ? Or perhaps mentioning that the formula can be used with other waves by replacing the speed of light with the speed of the individual wave? --Defragged 13:23, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes -- Tim Starling 04:11, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)

relationship between Wavelength and the distance covered by the waves

Hey All !

is there any difference between the Wavelength and the distance covered by a MICOR WAVE when radiated through an anteena. Bascially i am confuse, what difference a wavelength make in the tranmisstion of a wave ? like do Higher Wavelength waves need less power to radiate and vice vers. Also what is the maximum range a micro-wave can travel or it can travell to unlimited distance (increasing the radiation in the area as a drawback ?) . I would be grateful if someone clear this up.

regards, Shakeel Ahmad

In a vacuum, electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength can travel for an unlimited distance, with intensity decreasing with distance due to the larger area as you suggest. When travelling through a medium, some will be absorbed, and the amount absorbed depends on the wavelength. That's not the major practical distance when talking about communications though, which I'm guessing you are. The major difference is that smaller wavelengths (higher frequencies) can carry more information than longer wavelengths. The downside is that higher frequencies need more expensive circuitry to send and receive. In general, smaller wavelengths are more strongly absorbed than longer wavelengths, although this is only a minor nuisance for most communications applications. -- Tim Starling 03:26, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

measurement?

how does one measure wavelength?? --129.11.76.216 12:01, 26 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

simply by noting the peaks in activity upon the measuring body.

Incidentally, the sine curve model and the use of the term 'wavelength' are a bit misleading when used to describe the physical movement of a photon. It doesn't literally move in a path following the sine wave curve, it moves in a straight line, it's just that its intensity varies as a sine wave along said straight line. Peak follows peak through the medium. In pure vacuo all photons travel at c, the speed of light, photons of higher energy are merely able to create more concentrated peaks on their journey. Electromagnetic radiation is really a product of space-time behaviour, rather than something 'passing through' space-time, as it were. Martyn Smith 22:33, 14 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What is the unit of measurement for wavelength?

please cite your sources.§ Marcher Lord

Nevermind that, it's just units of measurement of length, I looked on

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-wavelength.htm.

§ Marcher Lord

how do you find wavelength?

Where symbol lambda come from?

Hi, does anyone know where the symbol of wavelegth is derived? Perhaps from greek word, but what is that word? Sorry my bad english --213.186.244.119 11:29, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My guess would be from the word length (longueur, lengte, längd, länge, lunghezza in various languages). That's how you usually pick a symbol: if the Latin letter isn't available, you take a similar-sounding Greek letter. It would be nice to have a reference and add it to the article, though. Han-Kwang (T) 12:21, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lambda is the 11th letter of the greek alphabet... wikipedia has an article all about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda

Wavelength Error?

The audible hearing frequency is listed on the page as being between 17 m and 17 mm. I believe the correct numbers are 17 km and 17 Mm. 138.32.32.166 16:57, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The speed of sound is not the speed of light. Han-Kwang (t) 19:53, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That's not the same kind of wave though. Maybe this article should only concern itself with electromagnetic waves that are governed by the speed of light, or split them into separate sections. The problem is that the speed of sound is not a universal constant. If I were in a submarine, an air plane, in space, or on another planet those numbers wound be way off. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.214.11.170 (talk) 17:04, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wavelength is wavelength, for light waves, sound waves, water waves, etc., irrespective of the propagation speed of the wave. And phase speed is wavelength times frequency. Those are general physics principles and relationships. I do not think it useful to split this article in sections for the many existing kinds of wave phenomena. If the examples, given to clarify the concepts, lead to confusion, they have to be improved. Crowsnest (talk) 17:53, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

School Project?

I gotta write some thing for science about wave length and my teacher said nit has to be a wikipedia page.Can someone make a page for me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Foz77 (talk • contribs) 18:52, 21 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]