Question

How can I calculate the wavelength of radio waves?

Answer 1

To calculate the wavelength of a radio wave, you will be using the equation: Speed of a wave = wavelength X frequency.

Since radio waves are electromagnetic waves and travel at 2.997 X `10^8` meters/second, then you will need to know the frequency of the radio wave.

If the radio wave is on an FM station, these are in Megahertz. A megahertz is one million hertz. If the radio wave is from an AM radio station, these are in kilohertz (there are one thousand hertz in a kilohertz). Hertz are waves/second. Hertz is usually the label for the frequency of electromagnetic waves.

To conclude, to determine the wavelength of a radio wave, you take the speed and divide it by the frequency.

Typical radio wave frequencies are about `88~108` `"MHz"`. The wavelength is thus typically about `3.41xx10^9` `~` `2.78xx10^9` `"nm"`.

Hope this helps and thanks for your question.