Which of the following types of waves has the shortest wavelength
| Which of the following types of waves has the shortest wavelength?
A. X-ray
B. Gamma ray
C. Infrared
D. UV rays
Please scroll down to see the correct answer and solution guide.
Right Answer is: B
SOLUTION
CONCEPT:
Electromagnetic spectrum:
- It is a collection of a range of different waves in sequential order from radio to gamma electromagnetic waves.
Ultra-Violet:
- UV light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light in the range of 10 nm to 400 nm.
Radio waves:
- The lowest frequency portion comes in radio waves generally, has wavelengths range between 1mm to 100km or frequencies between 300 GHz to 3 kHz.
- There are several subcategories in between these waves like AM and FM radio.
Gamma rays:
- It has the shortest wavelength and radio waves have the longest wavelength.
X-rays:
- An electromagnetic wave with wavelengths from 0.01 nm to 10 nm called X-rays.
|
Radiation |
Range of wavelengths |
Typical wavelength |
|
Increasing wavelength
Decreasing Energy
Decreasing frequency |
|
Gamma |
10-16 m – 10-10 m |
10-15 m |
||
|
X-Rays |
10-13 m – 10-8 m |
10-10 m |
||
|
UV |
10-8 m – 400 nm |
10-8 m |
||
|
Visible Light |
400 nm – 700 nm |
|
||
|
Infra-red |
700 nm – 10-3 m |
10-5 m |
||
|
Microwaves |
10-3 m – 10-1 m |
10-2 m |
||
|
Radio waves |
10-1 m – 106 m |
102 m |
EXPLANATION:
- The decreasing order of the wavelength of different rays is as followed
Radio waves > Microwaves > Infrared waves > Visible Light > Ultra Violet > X-ray > Gamma ray
- So the shortest wavelength out of given options is gamma rays.
