Which of the following radiations has the highest wave number?

Which of the following radiations has the highest wave number?
  1. X-rays
  2. Microwaves
  3. I.R. rays
  4. Radio Waves

Solution

Electromagnetic radiation is classified into types according to the frequency of the wave. These types include, in order of increasing frequency, radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays.
The frequency is the inverse of wavelength. Hence, in the order of increasing wavelength, the waves are Gamma rays $( < 1 \mathrm{~nm}), \mathrm{X}$-rays $(1-10 \mathrm{~nm})$, infrared rays $\left(700-10^{5} \mathrm{~nm}ight)$, microwaves $\left(10^{5}-10^{8} \mathrm{~nm}ight)$ radio waves $\left(>10^{8} \mathrm{~nm}ight)$

As the wavenumber is directly proportional to the frequency and is inversely proportional to the wave length, the more the wave length, the less the wave number ^

Asked in: JEE-TOPICTESTS-CHEMISTRY

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