1. Size of a Wave Rick Graziani Cabrillo College

2. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu2 Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec or 300,000,000 meters/sec (approx.) 1 second 186,000 miles Mile: 0Mile: 186,000 Speed of Light Start here End here 1 mile 5,280 feet per mile; so 186,000 miles = 982,080,000 feet 63,360 inches per mile; so 186,000 miles = 11,784,960,000 inches

3. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu3 Wavelength http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/wavelength.html Speed of the wave = Frequency x Wavelength Wavelength = Speed of the wave / Frequency 10.93 feet = 982,080,000 feet / 90,000,000 All About Wavelength

4. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu4 Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec Length of rope 186,000 miles long 1 second Mile: 0, beginning of rope 0 seconds After 1/2 second After 1 second Mile: 186,000, end of rope Length of rope 186,000 miles long traveling at the speed of light, 186,000 miles/second In 1 second we would see the entire length of rope go by. 0 second Speed of Light 1 second

5. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu5 Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec Length of rope 186,000 miles long Mile: 0, beginning of rope Mile: 186,000, end of rope So, if 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second, traveling at the speed of light…. The length of the wave would be 186,000 miles long (300,000,000 meters). 1 second0 second Speed of Light – 1 Hz 186,000 miles

6. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu6 Length of rope 186,000 miles long Mile: 0, beginning of rope Mile: 186,000, end of rope 2 Hz is 2 cycles per second, traveling at the speed of light…. The length of each wave would be 186,000/2 or 93,000 miles long (150,000,000 meters). 1 second0 second Speed of Light – 2 Hz 93,000 miles Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec

7. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu7 11,784,960,000 inches in a mile 1 Hz wave = 11,784,960,000 inches (11 billion inches) 2 Hz wave = 11,784,960,000 / 2 = 6 billion inches (give or take) What would a wave the size of 11 GHz wave be? Speed of Light – Let’s do inches 11,784,960,000 inches 6,000,000,000 inches

8. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu8 What would a wave the size of 11 GHz wave be? Size of the rope divided by the number of pieces = size of each piece About 1 inch! (11,784,960,000 inches / 11,000,000,000 pieces or cycles or Hz) Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 11 billion equal pieces. Each piece is 1 inch, 11 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second. Speed of Light – Lets do inches 1 second0 second … 12 11 billion Length of rope 186,000 miles long Mile: 0, beginning of rope Mile: 186,000, end of rope 1 inch Length of rope 11.8 billion inches long

9. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu9 What would a wave the size of 1 GHz wave be? 11 inches! (Actually, 11.8 inches because we rounded off values.) (approx.: 11,784,960,000 inches / 1,000,000,000) Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 1 billion equal pieces. Each piece is 11 inches, 1 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second. Speed of Light – Lets do inches 1 second0 second … 12 1 billion Length of rope 186,000 miles long Mile: 0, beginning of rope Mile: 186,000, end of rope 11.8 inches Length of rope 11.8 billion inches long

10. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu10 RADM Grace Hopper Grace Hopper, “Mother of Cobol” The size of a nanosecond, 11.8 inches The distance the speed of light travels in a billionth of a second.

11. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu11 Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 2.4 billion equal pieces. Each piece is 4.8 inches or 12 cm (.12 meters) (approx.: 11,784,960,000 inches / 2,400,000,000) 2.4 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second. Size of a 2.4 GHz WLAN wave 1 second0 second … 12 2.4 billion Length of rope 186,000 miles long Mile: 0, beginning of rope Mile: 186,000, end of rope 4.8 inches Length of rope 11.8 billion inches long

12. Rick Graziani graziani@cabrillo.edu12 Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 5.8 billion equal pieces. Each piece is 2 inches or 5 cm (.05 meters) (approx.: 11,784,960,000 inches / 5,800,000,000) 5.8 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second. Size of a 5.8 GHz WLAN wave 1 second0 second … 12 5.8 billion Length of rope 186,000 miles long Mile: 0, beginning of rope Mile: 186,000, end of rope 2 inches Length of rope 11.8 billion inches long

13. End of Size of a Wave Rick Graziani Cabrillo College