Light: A Wave

and a
Particle, Physica
l Science
HOW HERTZ PRODUCED RADIO PULSE
 Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to describe how Hertz
produced radio pulses.

 Recallthat visible light is only one of the seven

electromagnetic (EM) waves. Another type of EM
wave is the radio wave which is widely used for
communication and transmission of information
regardless the distance of the sender and
receiver. Radio waves are naturally created by
astronomical bodies or lightning but can also be
created artificially to serve its purpose.
 When and how was the first man-made
radio wave created and who first
generated it?
Learn about it!
 In 1865, James Clerk Maxwell published his theory
about EM waves. According to Maxwell’s theory, EM
waves move at the speed of light, c = 3 x 108 m/s, and
is created by oscillating electric and magnetic fields
moving perpendicular to each other, in which a
changing electric field yields changing magnetic fields
and vice-versa.

 The first person to succeed was HeInrich Rudolf Hertz.

In 1886, Hertz was able to create the first man-made
radio wave by using induction coil, Leyden jar as a
condenser and a spark gap.
 Learn about it!
Hertz' First Transmission
of Radio Waves

 The poles of the spark

gap are made up of
two 2-cm radius
spheres. The picture
below depicts the
image of Hertz’ set-
up. 
 Inducing high voltage to the induction coil caused a
spark discharge between the spark gaps. Relating
this to Maxwell’s theory, where changing electric
fields or magnetic fields will produce EM waves,
Hertz thought that whenever a spark is produced,
EM waves will be transmitted. To check if this was
true, he created a receiver made of looped copper
wire whose ends were made of small knobs with
small gaps in between. He ran the experiment again
and saw that a spark was produced at the receiver
loop, which means that EM waves were transmitted.
His experiment was the first transmission and
reception of radio waves.
Learn about it!
The Speed of Electromagnetic Waves

 Tocalculate the speed of the EM waves. Hertz

performed another experiment that aimed the
radiation into a wide metal sheet. A standing wave
was formed from which he was able to measure the
distance between nodes which served as the
wavelength of the EM wave while the frequency
was calculated from the frequency of the oscillator.
From these two quantities, Hertz was able to
calculate the speed of the EM wave.
 The speed of the EM wave was equivalent to
the speed of light which served as a proof of
Maxwell’s theory. The frequency of a wave,
which is the number of cycles created in a unit
of time, was named hertz ,in honor of his
name.
 Try it!
Research about other experiments that tried to
prove Maxwell's theory.

What do you think?

What do you think would have happened to our
communication system if Hertz was not successful
in his experiment?
 Key Points
 Maxwell’stheory states that EM waves are
produced by oscillating electric and magnetic field
and moves at the speed of light.
 Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was the first scientist to
prove Maxwell’s hypothesis by conducting an
experiment showing the first transmission and
reception of radio waves.
 Hertz'experiment proved that EM waves travel at
the speed of light and is created by changing
electric and magnetic fields.