Talk:Electromagnetic radiation

Merger or crosslinking with spectrum?

I understand fully these are quite similar topics, but are closely related. May I ask that you look at electromagnetic spectrum, especially the graphic, and think about at least more crosslinking among the articles?

Here's my problem, in an article such as radar: I often need to talk both about radiation, and its being emitted by the transmitter. "The transmitter sends out radiation" is a reasonably intuitive thing to say. When I start talking about its antenna, however, I start needing to discuss the wavelength and the effect on antenna geometry. Maybe there need to be more, not less, articles, to encourage wikilinking, such as something on wavelength and frequency that points to both. Intuitively, I think of the energy being more of a radiation than spectrum issue, but there are arguments either way. Howard C. Berkowitz 15:03, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

I am all in for crosslinking, merging, whatever it takes to make CZ better organized and easier to consult. I saw your graphic, but I must confess that I don't find it very clear, it is too small for my old eyes.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "energy is more of a radiation than spectrum issue". The energy of a photon is inversely proportional to its wavelength and for me spectrum and wavelength are practically the same, so that energy and spectrum are one-to-one. There is also the issue of intensity (number of photons per volume). Maybe when you say energy you refer to energy density, which is intensity (number of photons per volume) times wavelength (energy per photon)? --Paul Wormer 15:45, 12 October 2008 (UTC)