Low-energy photons (such as radio) behave like waves, while high-energy photons (such as X-rays) behave more like particles. You can read more about how photons work in How Florescent Lamps Work. EM radiation can travel through empty space. This differentiates it from other types of waves...
X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to visible light but with much higher energy. They consist of photons, which are particles without mass or charge, and their energy allows them to penetrate materials and create images of internal structures in various applications such as ...
For electrons to break free of atoms, they need to absorb photons, the particles of electromagnetic radiation, with a certain amount of energy, the "ionization energy." This energy is different depending on what "shell" around an atom the electron occupies. Electrons on the outer shell are th...
The emitted radiation is very much like a fingerprint of the atom. Copper fluorescence looks very different from zinc fluorescence and from fluorescence of any other element in the periodic table. That is why XRF is one of the most straightforward and convenient ways to do elemental analysis and...
How were subatomic particles discovered? How are gamma rays produced? How can neutrinos be detected? How is ionizing radiation used? How were oncogenes discovered? How does Hawking radiation work? How do cosmic rays affect humans? How did the discovery of the neutron lead to nuclear physics?
Light as Particles Solar panels take advantage of the photoelectric effect to power our homes and businesses. iStockphoto/Thinkstock Maxwell's theoretical treatment of electromagnetic radiation, including its description of light waves, was so elegant and predictive that many physicists in the ...
What is photovoltaic energy and how does it work? Photovoltaic solar energy is a clean, renewable source of energy that uses solar radiation to produce electricity. It is based on the so-called photoelectric effect, by which certain materials are able to absorb photons (light particles) and rel...
More recent theories of gravity express the phenomenon in terms of particles and waves. One view suggests that particles called gravitons cause objects to be attracted to one another. However, gravitons have never been observed. Another theory involves gravitational waves or gravitational radiation, ...
On partly cloudy days, this efficiency drops to 50%–80%; on heavily overcast days, when solar radiation is much lower, the efficiency can be between 10%–25%. Do solar panels still work at night? Technically, no. Solar panels do not produce energy at night. The photovoltaic cells in ...
Do plants absorb particulate matter? Is carbon dioxide particulate matter? How do particles move in different states of matter? How do particles move in the different states of matter? How do particle accelerators use superconductors? How does antimatter work?