
Receiving Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic waves carry energy away from their source, similar to a sound wave carrying energy away from a standing wave on a guitar string. An antenna for receiving EM signals works in reverse. And like antennas that produce EM waves, receiver antennas are specially designed to resonate at particular frequencies.
An incoming electromagnetic wave accelerates electrons in the antenna, setting up a standing wave. If the radio or TV is switched on, electrical components pick up and amplify the signal formed by the accelerating electrons. The signal is then converted to audio and/or video format. Sometimes big receiver dishes are used to focus the signal onto an antenna.
In fact, charges radiate whenever they are accelerated. When designing circuits, we often assume that energy does not quickly escape AC circuits, and mostly this is true. A broadcast antenna is specially designed to enhance the rate of electromagnetic radiation, and shielding is necessary to keep the radiation close to zero. Some familiar phenomena are based on the production of electromagnetic waves by varying currents. Your microwave oven, for example, sends electromagnetic waves, called microwaves, from a concealed antenna that has an oscillating current imposed on it.
Electromagnetic waves carry energy away from their source, similar to a sound wave carrying energy away from a standing wave on a guitar string. An antenna for receiving EM signals works in reverse. And like antennas that produce EM waves, receiver antennas are specially designed to resonate at particular frequencies.
An incoming electromagnetic wave accelerates electrons in the antenna, setting up a standing wave. If the radio or TV is switched on, electrical components pick up and amplify the signal formed by the accelerating electrons. The signal is then converted to audio and/or video format. Sometimes big receiver dishes are used to focus the signal onto an antenna.
In fact, charges radiate whenever they are accelerated. When designing circuits, we often assume that energy does not quickly escape AC circuits, and mostly this is true. A broadcast antenna is specially designed to enhance the rate of electromagnetic radiation, and shielding is necessary to keep the radiation close to zero. Some familiar phenomena are based on the production of electromagnetic waves by varying currents. Your microwave oven, for example, sends electromagnetic waves, called microwaves, from a concealed antenna that has an oscillating current imposed on it.

- RESONANCE
Radio Reception and Frequency resonance
Different Chromophores resonate to different colors and wavelengths frequencies.
Consider how your radio plucks out one station of hundreds in the air. This is frequency resonance at its finest. Radios are devices that use electromagnetic fields of particular frequencies. Setting the dial on your radio to 101.5, involves selecting a frequency of 101,500,000 cycles per second.
Radios illustrate an aspect of resonance that we have not talked about yet: Selectivity.
Selectivity: Out of a mixture of vibrations, however complicated, the systems w/ natural or resonant frequencies ONLY respond to those particular frequencies. For example, if you have a table full of tuning forks and strike ONE of them, ONLY the tuning forks with resonant frequencies that MATCH will ring and vibrate. This is why piano tuners sometimes use many tuning forks to make sure the piano is hitting the right note.
This is why you want a red light therapy system with multiple frequencies so that all of your cells can receive the energy needed, as different cells have different resonant frequencies.
Back to selectivity... Radios are more complicated but the principle is the same only now we have circuits instead of tuning forks. But for teaching purposes the tuning fork metaphor as that is a little easier to grasp.
Quantum Antennas = E=hv (Photoelectric Effect)

Antenna's Create Life on Earth - Molecular Antenna's
Our very lives depend on antennas. Not the man made antennas you are thinking of, but ones much smaller, that operate on visible light, not radio waves. Their design is much cleverer than our brute force metal antennas!
It turns out that the amount of sunlight that is received by the earth is simply not enough to sustain life without amplification of light (tech details follow). So, to get the light-intensity plants need, they build their own antennas. Once plants have these antennas, they get the focused power they need to breath in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. This oxygen out-take into the atmosphere is what makes the earth habitable to us humans.
So how does this all work? Recall light is just another Electro-Magnetic (radio wave) signal, just one we can see. The plant antennas are called Light Harvesting Antennas, and they are the key to photosynthesis. The above image shows the crux of the matter. To the left you see the antenna system schematically. It consists of patches of chlorophyl, shown in green, that arise in the so-called thylakoid. When a light photon comes in the antenna collects all the photons onto the reaction center (dark green). The reaction center is where the photon is converted to electrical energy. For human built antennas we call this the antenna feed.
**Antenna Feed: In a radio receiver, the incoming radio waves excite tiny alternating currents in the antenna, and the feed system delivers this current to the receiver, which processes the signal.
Our very lives depend on antennas. Not the man made antennas you are thinking of, but ones much smaller, that operate on visible light, not radio waves. Their design is much cleverer than our brute force metal antennas!
It turns out that the amount of sunlight that is received by the earth is simply not enough to sustain life without amplification of light (tech details follow). So, to get the light-intensity plants need, they build their own antennas. Once plants have these antennas, they get the focused power they need to breath in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. This oxygen out-take into the atmosphere is what makes the earth habitable to us humans.
So how does this all work? Recall light is just another Electro-Magnetic (radio wave) signal, just one we can see. The plant antennas are called Light Harvesting Antennas, and they are the key to photosynthesis. The above image shows the crux of the matter. To the left you see the antenna system schematically. It consists of patches of chlorophyl, shown in green, that arise in the so-called thylakoid. When a light photon comes in the antenna collects all the photons onto the reaction center (dark green). The reaction center is where the photon is converted to electrical energy. For human built antennas we call this the antenna feed.
**Antenna Feed: In a radio receiver, the incoming radio waves excite tiny alternating currents in the antenna, and the feed system delivers this current to the receiver, which processes the signal.
Solar Panels
When photons, or particles of light, hit the thin layer of silicon on the top of a solar panel, they knock electrons off the silicon atoms. This PV charge creates an electric current (specifically, direct current or DC), which is captured by the wiring in solar panels.
How Solar Panels Work
Before we answer which wavelength do solar panels use, we need to understand how solar panels work
It turns out that solar panels can act like one half of a planar antenna (a patch antenna), to both receive and transmit electromagnetic waves (radio waves) as an antenna, and also generate power.
engineeringforchange.org/news/solar-powered-antennae-for-off-grid-communications
https://www.solarpowerauthority.com/is-the-future-of-solar-a-tiny-antenna/
==
When photons, or particles of light, hit the thin layer of silicon on the top of a solar panel, they knock electrons off the silicon atoms. This PV charge creates an electric current (specifically, direct current or DC), which is captured by the wiring in solar panels.
How Solar Panels Work
Before we answer which wavelength do solar panels use, we need to understand how solar panels work
It turns out that solar panels can act like one half of a planar antenna (a patch antenna), to both receive and transmit electromagnetic waves (radio waves) as an antenna, and also generate power.
engineeringforchange.org/news/solar-powered-antennae-for-off-grid-communications
https://www.solarpowerauthority.com/is-the-future-of-solar-a-tiny-antenna/
==
Photosynthesis - Photoelectric Effect
Chlorophyll's job in a plant is to absorb light—usually sunlight. The energy absorbed from light is transferred to two kinds of energy-storing molecules. Through photosynthesis, the plant uses the stored energy to convert carbon dioxide (absorbed from the air) and water into glucose, a type of sugar.
In plants, the so-called "light" reactions occur within the chloroplast thylakoids, where the aforementioned chlorophyll pigments reside. When light energy reaches the pigment molecules, it energizes the electrons within them, and these electrons are shunted to an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane. Every step in the electron transport chain then brings each electron to a lower energy state and harnesses its energy by producing ATP and NADPH. Meanwhile, each chlorophyll molecule replaces its lost electron with an electron from water; this process essentially splits water molecules to produce oxygen.
Solar panels use what is called the photovoltaic effect to generate electricity from sunlight. When photons (particles of light) hit the solar panel, they knock electrons loose from the atoms in the silicon cells. These electrons flow through the material to create an electric current. The more photons that hit the solar panel, the more electricity is produced.
The spectrum of sunlight ranges from about 380 nm (violet light) to about 750 nm (red light). Solar panels are designed to absorb sunlight in a specific range of wavelengths. This range is known as the solar panel's "band-gap."
By absorbing sunlight in a specific band-gap, solar panels can create an electric field. This electric field is used to generate electricity. The band-gap of a solar panel determines the wavelength of light that it can absorb. The band-gap of a solar panel is usually between 400 nm and 1100 nm. The most common type of solar panel has a band gap of around 850 nm.
Chlorophyll's job in a plant is to absorb light—usually sunlight. The energy absorbed from light is transferred to two kinds of energy-storing molecules. Through photosynthesis, the plant uses the stored energy to convert carbon dioxide (absorbed from the air) and water into glucose, a type of sugar.
In plants, the so-called "light" reactions occur within the chloroplast thylakoids, where the aforementioned chlorophyll pigments reside. When light energy reaches the pigment molecules, it energizes the electrons within them, and these electrons are shunted to an electron transport chain in the thylakoid membrane. Every step in the electron transport chain then brings each electron to a lower energy state and harnesses its energy by producing ATP and NADPH. Meanwhile, each chlorophyll molecule replaces its lost electron with an electron from water; this process essentially splits water molecules to produce oxygen.
Solar panels use what is called the photovoltaic effect to generate electricity from sunlight. When photons (particles of light) hit the solar panel, they knock electrons loose from the atoms in the silicon cells. These electrons flow through the material to create an electric current. The more photons that hit the solar panel, the more electricity is produced.
The spectrum of sunlight ranges from about 380 nm (violet light) to about 750 nm (red light). Solar panels are designed to absorb sunlight in a specific range of wavelengths. This range is known as the solar panel's "band-gap."
By absorbing sunlight in a specific band-gap, solar panels can create an electric field. This electric field is used to generate electricity. The band-gap of a solar panel determines the wavelength of light that it can absorb. The band-gap of a solar panel is usually between 400 nm and 1100 nm. The most common type of solar panel has a band gap of around 850 nm.
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