Thread: HOW DOES RADIATION TRAVEL?

I think it travels through the air?

all radiation travels via photons.

All EM radiation travels via photons.

But other types of radiation, such as alpha and beta radiation, are actual particles of matter.

Originally Posted by ADAMA

I think it travels through the air?

It travels quite well through the vacuum.

Even when it travels through a medium it is traveling through the vacuum

Electromagnetic (EM) waves are really a bunch of photons. When an EM wave travels through a material medium what really happens is that the photons travel through the vacuum between atoms, encounter electrons, are absorbed, are re-emitted and them travel through the vacuum again.

Radiation travels quite well through the vacuum of space. If it didn't you would not be able to see stars.

You almost might as well ask how gravity travels. All EM radiation consists of is a changing magnetic field (changing from the perspective of the observer).

If there were a wire with a powerful electric charge 100 meters away from you, and it suddenly got yanked another 50 meters away, the change in how much it affected a piece of metal you were holding would wait to happen until (The speed of light)/(100 meters) time later.

That change, and EM radiation, are exactly the same thing. You can generate a radio wave just by moving a charged object around. It won't be a very strong radio wave... mind you.