ASTRON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Electromagnetic Spectrum, Thermal Radiation, Electric Field
4 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Kinetic: energy of motion (moving car, thermal energy, running water) Potential: energy of force fields (gravity, electric or magnetic forces, strong force) Potential energy has the ability to produce motion. In a closed system , the total amount of energy is always conserved although it. In some situations, energy can be stored in an oscillating system (pendulum, may change form wave) where the form of energy constantly changes. Friction generates heat, which causes many systems to lose the useful energy. A changing magnetic field can generate an electric field; a changing electric field can generate a magnetic field. Electromagnetic (em) waves store energy in oscillating electric and magnetic fields, which mutually generate each other. Light is an em wave; each photon is a particle of em energy. Subatomic particles (electrons, protons) also behave as waves (quantum theory) The more rapidly an em light wave oscillates, the more energetic it has.
