Thursday 23 January 2020

electromagnetic radiation - Radio antenna producing waves in the visible spectrum



If a radio could produce waves in the visible light spectrum, what would the result be?


This is a thought experiment that I've pondered for a few years now. I realize there are a few/many real-world constraints, but if we lifted these constraints for the sake of thought, what could we expect?


Personally, I don't see why we wouldn't observe visible light emitting from the antenna, disregarding any light from Blackbody Radiation.



Answer



You might want to have a look at Does light induce an electric current in a conductor?. It's probably impossible for a radio aerial to emit visible light as the frequency of light is around the plasma frequency of the metal that the aerial is made of.


We're not really supposed to address hypothetical questions, but if you could find some material with a high enough plasma frequency (remember this applies to everything in the circuit) then the emitted light would just be light. You'd see the aerial glowing.


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