2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.

Chapter 34
Electromagnetic Waves
Multiple Choice
1. The Earth is 1.49 10
11
meters from the sun. If the solar radiation at the top of the
Earth's atmosphere is 1340 W/m
2
, what is the total power output of the sun?
a. 7 10
27
W
b. 2 10
30
W
c. 6.62 10
26
W
d. 3.73 10
26
W
e. 2.98 10
25
W
2. If the radiant energy from the sun comes in as a plane EM wave of intensity 1340 W/m
2
,
calculate the peak values of E and B.
a. 300 V/m, 10
4
T
b. 1000 V/m, 3.3 10
6
T
c. 225 V/m, 1.6 10
3
T
d. 111 V/m, 3 10
5
T
e. 710 V/m, 2.3 10
6
T
3. If the maximum E-component of an electromagnetic wave is 600 V/m, what is the
maximum B-component?
a. 1.4 Tesla
b. 1.8 10
5
T
c. 2 10
6
T
d. 10
3
T
e. 1.6 10
10
T
4. Find the force exerted by reflecting sunlight off a reflecting aluminum sheet in space if
the area normal to the sunlight is 10,000 m
2
and the solar intensity is 1350 W/m
2
.
a. 0.72 N
b. 0.09 N
c. 9 N
d. 45 N
e. 0.18 N
5. What is the average value of the magnitude of the Poynting vector S at 1 meter from a
100-watt lightbulb radiating in all directions?
a. 1 W/m
2
b. 4 W/m
2
c. 2 W/m
2
d. 8 W/m
2
e. 12 W/m
2
2 Chapter 34
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
6. A 100-kW radio station emits EM waves in all directions from an antenna on top of a
mountain. What is the intensity of the signal at a distance of 10 km?
a. 8 10
5
W/m
2
b. 8 10
6
W/m
2
c. 3mW/m
2
d. 0.8 W/m
2
e. 2.5 10
5
W/m
2
7. Determine the amount of energy carried in 1 meter of a 3.5-milliwatt He-Ne laser beam if
the cross-sectional area of the beam is 5 10
6
m
2
.
a. 1.7 10
11
J
b. 3.3 10
6
J
c. 1.2 10
11
J
d. 2.3 10
6
J
e. 4.2 10
3
J
8. How much electromagnetic energy is contained per cubic meter near the Earth's surface if
the intensity of sunlight under clear skies is 1000 W/m
2
?
a. 3.3 10
6
J
b. 3.3 J
c. 0.003 J
d. 10
4
J
e. 3.0 10
5
J
9. At a distance of 10 km from a radio transmitter, the amplitude of the E-field is
.20 volts/meter. What is the total power emitted by the radio transmitter?
a. 10 kW
b. 67 kW
c. 140 kW
d. 245 kW
e. 21 kW
10. What is the maximum radiation pressure exerted by sunlight in space (S = 1350 W/m
2
) on
a flat black surface?
a. 2.25 10
5
Pa
b. 0.06 Pa
c. 7 10
4
Pa
d. 4.5 10
6
Pa
e. 9.0 10
6
Pa
11. What is the maximum radiation pressure exerted by sunlight in space (S = 1350 W/m
2
) on
a highly polished silver surface?
a. 1.4 10
2
Pa
b. 0.12 Pa
c. 9.0 10
6
Pa
d. 4.5 10
5
Pa
e. 2.3 10
6
Pa
Chapter 34 3
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
12. Find the frequency of X-rays of wavelength 1 A = 10
10
m.
a. 3 10
18
Hz
b. 3 10
10
MHz
c. 6 10
9
Hz
d. 3 10
8
Hz
e. 3 10
20
Hz
13. Green light has a wavelength of 5.4 10
7
m. What is the frequency of this EM-wave in
ai r?
a. 5.55 10
14
Hz
b. 6 10
11
Hz
c. 9 10
8
Hz
d. 3 10
10
MHz
e. 1.8 10
15
Hz
14. An FM radio station broadcasts at 98.6 MHz. What is the wavelength of the
radiowaves?
a. 60.8 m
b. 6.08 m
c. 3.04 m
d. 0.314 m
e. 0.33 cm
15. What should be the height of a dipole antenna (of dimensions 1/4 wavelength) if it is to
transmit 1200 kHz radiowaves?
a. 11.4 m
b. 60 cm
c. 1.12 m
d. 62.5 m
e. 250 m
16. The magnetic field of a plane-polarized electromagnetic wave moving in the z-direction
is given by B = 1.2 10
6
sin

z
240

t 10
7
8
in SI units. What is the maximum
E-field?
a. 1000 V/m
b. 180 V/m
c. 81 V/m
d. 360 V/m
e. 0.40 V/m
4 Chapter 34
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
17. The magnetic field of a plane-polarized electromagnetic wave moving in the z-direction
is given by B = 1.2 10
6
sin

z
240

t 10
7
8
in SI units. What is the frequency of the
wave?
a. 500 MHz
b. 250 kHz
c. 1.25 MHz
d. 10 mHz
e. 300 MHz
18. The magnetic field of a plane-polarized electromagnetic wave moving in the z-direction
is given by B = 1.2 10
6
sin

z
240

t 10
7
8
in SI units. What is the wavelength of
the EM wave?
a. 120 m
b. 240 m
c. 60 m
d. 100 m
e. 360 m
19. The magnetic field of a plane-polarized electromagnetic wave moving in the z-direction
is given by B = 1.2 10
6
sin

z
240

t 10
7
8
in SI units. What is the speed of the EM
wave?
a. 3 10
8
m/s
b. 100 m/s
c. 10
6
m/s
d. 2 10
7
m/s
e. 2 10
8
m/s
20. The magnetic field of a plane-polarized electromagnetic wave moving in the z-direction
is given by B = 1.2 10
6
sin

z
240

t 10
7
8
in SI units. Find the average power per
square meter carried by the EM wave.
a. 720 W
b. 172 W
c. 500 W
d. 2 10
7
W
e. 86 W
Chapter 34 5
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
21. A loop antenna consists of 500 loops of copper wire, 10 cm in diameter. If an incoming EM
wave has a frequency 1000 kHz and has a B-vector (maximum magnitude of 10
10
T), what
is the induced voltage (rms) in the loop?
a. 33.4 mV
b. 0.007 V
c. 1.74 mV
d. 22.4 mV
e. 2.34 mV
22. A solar cell has a light-gathering area of 10 cm
2
and produces 0.2 A at 0.8 V (DC) when
illuminated with S = 1000 W/m
2
sunlight. What is the efficiency of the solar cell?
a. 16%
b. 7%
c. 23%
d. 4%
e. 32%
Conceptual Problems
23. Near the surface of the planet, the Earth's magnetic field is about 0.5 10
4
T. How much
energy is stored in 1 m
3
of the atmosphere because of this field?
24. The sun radiates energy at a rate of 3.86 10
26
W. Its radius is 7.0 10
8
m. If the distance
from the Earth to the sun is 1.5 10
11
m, what is the intensity of solar radiation at the
top of the Earth's atmosphere?
25. A possible means of spaceflight is to place a perfectly reflecting aluminized sheet into
Earth orbit and use the light from the sun to push this solar sail. If a huge sail of area
6 10
5
m
2
and mass 6000 kg were placed into orbit and turned toward the sun, what would
be the force exerted on the sail? (Assume a solar intensity of 1380 W/m
2
.)
26. High frequency alternating current is passed through a solenoid that contains a solid
copper core insulated from the coils of the solenoid. Which statement is correct?
a. A copper core remains cool no matter what the frequency of the current in the solenoid
is.
b. The copper core remains cool because the induced emf is parallel to the solenoid axis
and fluctuates rapidly.
c. The copper core heats up because an emf parallel to the solenoid axis is induced in the
core.
d. The copper core heats up because circular currents around its axis are induced in the
core.
e. The copper core heats up because the electric field induced in the copper is parallel to
the magnetic field produced by the solenoid.
6 Chapter 34
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
27. In an electromagnetic wave, 1) how are the electric and magnetic field directions related
and 2) how is the direction of travel determined from their directions? (c is the velocity
of the light wave.)
a. E || B;
c
c
=
E B
|E B|
.
b. E || B;
c
c
=
B E
|B E|
.
c. E B;
c
c
=
E B
|E B|
.
d. E B;
c
c
=
B E
|B E|
.
e. E = B/c;
c
c
=
B E
|B E|
.
28. The intensity of radiation reaching the earth from the sun is 1350 W/m
2
. The earth's
radius is 6.4 10
6
m. How big a force does this radiation exert on the earth? (Assume it is
all absorbed.)
a. 5.8 10
8
N
b. 1.2 10
9
N
c. 2.3 10
9
N
d. 4.6 10
9
N
e. 1.7 10
17
N
Chapter 34 1
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
Chapter 34
Electromagnetic Waves
1. Answer: d
2. Answer: b
3. Answer: c
4. Answer: b
5. Answer: d
6. Answer: a
7. Answer: c
8. Answer: a
9. Answer: b
10. Answer: d
11. Answer: c
12. Answer: a
13. Answer: a
14. Answer: c
15. Answer: d
16. Answer: d
17. Answer: c
18. Answer: b
19. Answer: a
20. Answer: b
21. Answer: c
22. Answer: a
23. Answer: 10
3
J
2 Chapter 34
2000 by Harcourt College Publishers. All rights reserved.
24. Answer: 1350 W/m
2
25. Answer: 5.52 N
26. Answer: d
27. Answer: c
28. Answer: a