Re: Energy-sucking EM antennas

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Gary Karshner wrote:

> Bill,
>         You have been spending a lot of time on the list of late, and I don't know
> if I should encourage it.

:)

I've been spending late nights at work, and get to write voluminous
answers to messages while my embedded code is compiling.  If I'm too close
to dominating the list, don't worry, tomorrow I go on vacation and will
not have any access to email for several whole days.



>         The neat thing about the electromagnetic spectrum is its
> tremendous range in wavelengths and that most effects can be scaled to
> different wavelengths. You ask how a tiny atom can absorb a much larger
> scale light wave. Scaling up to longer wavelengths, How does a tiny AM
> radio absorb a much longer AM radio wave?  Just a thought.

Just the right though!  When tuned to a station, the coil/capacitor
circuit in the AM radio absorbs a tiny bit of the signal.  It begins to
oscillate, although of course it is a "passive oscillator" which is being
driven from without.  As the oscillation grows, a vibrating magnetic field
appears in the volume around the ferrite coil inside the radio.  This
field is what changes the physics of the device and causes it to intercept
more energy than it should.  By "transmitting", the LC oscillator in the
front end of the AM radio becomes a more efficient receiver.  This sounds
crazy.  How can it be like that?  It's an extremely unsettling concept.
But then so is the idea of atoms which put out "EM nets" and capture more
photons than expected of such tiny objects.


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William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
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