Radio Wave Characteristics and Quality

Radio waves are used a lot throughout everyday life. Whenever you are listening to AM or FM radio, radio waves are being used. Radio waves are very important because they are used a lot for our communication. Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation. Also a radio wave has a much longer wavelength than does visible light. People listen to the radio each and every day, if you want the best sound quality you may want to listen to FM. If you want to listen to news or weather from a city further away you may want to try AM. The differences between FM and AM radio waves help explain these characteristics and are explained below.

FM stations sound better than AM stations. The advantage of FM radio stations is that it uses higher frequency with a larger range than AM. The frequency of FM radio waves goes from 88MHz to 108MHz for a total range of 20MHz. Whereas AM radio wave only range from 535 kHz to 1605kHz with a total range of 1070 kHz. The larger range for FM stations allows each station to have 150kHz versus only 10kHz for AM. Sound, especially music, sounds better in stereo and the larger bandwidth allows FM stations to broadcast more clearly and in stereo. Furthermore, AM radio waves are very similar to radio waves that occur from natural sources, like the sun, and are subject to higher levels of interference that can disrupt sound quality of AM station. The advantage of AM stations is that their large waves can travel further. The reason larger waves travel further is that they can pass through physical objects like hills, walls, and trees. The smaller FM waves do not travel as well through obstructions. Also radio waves work by bouncing back and fourth off of the earth’s surface and ionosphere, larger waves travel further in this way.

Radio waves are used very frequently throughout our life. Beyond AM and FM radio waves, there are many other ranges of radio waves used for various purposes. The characteristics of radio waves determine whether they are best suited for listening to music or having a simple conversation on a CB radio. Radio waves are very important because they are heavily relied on for communication and broadcasting information.

Sites Used:

http://illumin.usc.edu/article.php?articleID=85&page=4

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/physical_science/magnetism/em_radio_waves.html

http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/learn/radioastronomy/radiowaves

If I was a scientist I would want to be a dentist. A dentist is basically someone who performs a variety of dental procedures to diagonse and treat conditions of the mouth and teeth. Also dental schools require a minimum of 2 years of collage-level predental education prior to admittance. And most dental students have at least a bachelor's degree before entering dental school but a few applicants are accepted to dental school after 2 or 3 years of collage and complete their bachelor's degree while attending dental school. A dentist is appealing to me because dentists really get to help people and interact with new people each and every day. Also dentists get to do a lot of work with their hands. I enjoy doing little projects with my hands such as model airplanes, and puzzles. This job matches my interests becuase I would much rather be working with people rather than sitting at a desk alone working on papers all day. This job is great because you are constantly moving from room to room and meeting new people. When I get a job my goals are very simple they are to earn a good salary and enjoy what I do. I believe I would enjoy this job very much because I am a people person and I would get to basiclly be in control of everyone working in my office. Also the average dentists earns about $147,000 per year, this would be could because I would be able to purchase items I want to buy and be able to support my family. This job fits my learning style very well because I am a visual learner. Dentist work with lots of model teeth, x-rays, actual teeth, and even charts. The legacy dentists have left for future generations is to help promote oral hygiene.

Fingernail and Hair Growth Myth

It is a widely held belief around the world that your hair and fingernails continue to grow after you die. The reason so many people believe this is because after someone dies it appears that their hair and fingernails continue to grow longer then they originally were before they died. Others believe that this could not be possible because the body stops functioning completely after you die. In the 1959 movie the move The Tingler, a character states that your fingernails will continue to grow after you die. This is where the the myth may have come from.

The science behind the myth consists of your body dehydrating after you die witch shrinks your body a little bit (Natural Clocks). This website talks about your body dehydrating and how it affects the way your nails appear. Also as your body shrinks your skin gets pulled back and the nail looks like it has grown. In the image everything stops functioning and begins to de-hyrate after you die. But the nail (above the sterile matrix) stays the same length giving the optical illusion that it is still growing.

Although it appears that the nail has grown it really hasn't just the skin itself gets smaller and the nail and hair stay the same length. This gives an optical illusion that the nail and hair have grown. Fingernails and hair do not continue to grown after one's death.

http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/news_releases/viewRelease.php4?art=798

This website confirms that hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after one's death.

Image from

http://orgs.usd.edu/esci/age/content/natural_clocks/fingernails.html