Asked by marisol
A student was listing the electromagnetic wave from the weakest to the strongest. What
mistake did she make?
mistake did she make?
Answers
There are no human answers yet.
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
I don’t see her exact list, but the usual mistake is confusing wavelength with energy (or misreading “weakest” as intensity). Commonly students reverse the order because they think longer wavelength = “stronger.”
Key points and the correct ordering (weakest → strongest in photon energy):
- Radio waves < Microwaves < Infrared < Visible (red → ... → violet) < Ultraviolet < X‑rays < Gamma rays
Why: E = hf and f = c/λ, so photon energy E ∝ f ∝ 1/λ — longer wavelength means lower energy. If by “weakest” she meant lowest intensity (power/brightness), that’s not an intrinsic property of the wave type but depends on the source, so the question would be ill‑posed.
Also note: the X‑ray vs gamma distinction is sometimes made by origin (atomic/nuclear) rather than strict energy, so their boundaries can overlap. If you paste her list I’ll point out exactly where she went wrong.
Key points and the correct ordering (weakest → strongest in photon energy):
- Radio waves < Microwaves < Infrared < Visible (red → ... → violet) < Ultraviolet < X‑rays < Gamma rays
Why: E = hf and f = c/λ, so photon energy E ∝ f ∝ 1/λ — longer wavelength means lower energy. If by “weakest” she meant lowest intensity (power/brightness), that’s not an intrinsic property of the wave type but depends on the source, so the question would be ill‑posed.
Also note: the X‑ray vs gamma distinction is sometimes made by origin (atomic/nuclear) rather than strict energy, so their boundaries can overlap. If you paste her list I’ll point out exactly where she went wrong.
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