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Radio waves you say?

Every day, millions of people are using radio waves. Most don't know that they are using radio waves or even know what they are. Radio waves are used in the items you see every day like your microwave, phone, radio, and your tv. 

That's right, even your phone! They do more than just send music to your radio, they carry signals to your tv or phone. Without radiowaves, our way of communicating would be very different.

Can you think of other items that use radio waves? If you can, remember them, they might be seen later throughout the book!

To understand what radio waves are, you need to first know about electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves consist of vibrating electric and magnetic fields. They transfer energy across space as well as through matter. Electromagnetic waves vary in their wavelengths and frequencies, and the higher-frequency waves have more energy.

Radio waves are electromagnetic waves with the longest wavelengths. They are also the electromagnetic waves with the lowest frequencies, because of this they have the least energy of all electromagnetic waves.

Look at all those colors!

An example of them being used in our lives would be radio broadcasts. According to ck12, "In radio broadcasts, sounds are encoded in radio waves, and then the waves are sent out through the atmosphere from a radio tower. A radio receiver detects the waves and changes them back to sounds." We also use radio waves in television. For TV broadcasts, sounds are encoded with frequency modulation, and pictures are encoded with amplitude modulation.

One of the best examples of the usage of radio waves would be AM and FM radios.

AM stands for amplitude modulation. In AM broadcasts, sound signals are encoded by changing the amplitude, or maximum height, of radio waves. AM broadcasts use longer wavelength radio waves than FM broadcasts.

FM stands for frequency modulation. In FM broadcasts, sound signals are encoded by changing the frequency of radio waves. Frequency modulation allows FM waves to encode more information than does amplitude modulation, so FM broadcasts usually produce clearer sounds than AM broadcasts.