Glenn Elert
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The Physics Factbook™
Edited by Glenn Elert -- Written by his students
An educational, Fair Use website
topic index | author index | special index
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) | Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| ULF waves (geomagnetic pulsations). Space Physics Textbook of Oulu. | "Geomagnetic pulsations; i.e., ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves cover roughly the frequency range from 1 mHz to 1 Hz." | 1011–108 m |
| Gravity and Magnetics Committee. Gravity and Terms for the 4th Edition of the SEG Encyclopedic Dictionary. Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG). | "micropulsations: Small amplitude fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field, usually in the frequency range from 0.01 to 3 Hz and usually with amplitudes less than 10 nT." | 1010–108 m |
| McGreevy, Stephen P. More about Natural ELF/VLF Radio. Natural Radio. | "… ULF is below 300 Hz radio-freqs., (though opinion differs when it comes to the terms ULF and ELF -- most agree that ULF refers to below 300 Hz toward below 1 Hz -- really LOW frequencies!)" | 106–108 m |
| Heirtzler, James R. "The Longest Electromagnetic Wave." Scientific American. March 1962. | "As an example, at one end of the spectrum, electromagnetic waves with frequencies of 10-2 Hz (which corresponds to a period of 100 s and to a wavelength of about 5000 Earth radii) have been detected at the Earth's center." | 1010 m |
| Military Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations. Federation of American Scientists. | "ULF: ultra low frequency (300-0 Hz)" | 106 m–infinity |
The electromagnetic spectrum is a continuum of all electromagnetic waves arrangedaccording to frequency and wavelength. All electromagnetic waves travel at thespeed of light (c = 3.0 × 108 m/s) in a vacuum.There seem to be no upper and lower limits to the frequency or wavelength of electromagneticwaves and no gaps in the spectrum. However, electromagnetic waves have been observedwith incredibly long wavelengths -- these waves are known as ultra low frequency(ULF) waves, or micropulsations. Since frequency and wavelength are inverselyproportional (v = fλ, forelectromagnetic waves c = fλ),the name "ultra low frequency"is equivalent to "ultra long wavelength"-- although nobody refers to them as such. The range of wavelengths which referto ULF waves is disputable, and different sources cite different ranges. The consensusseems to be that the wavelength of the longest electromagnetic wave is in therange from 106 to 1011 M. However, it is not impossibleto discover a wave with a wavelength approaching infinity.
ULF waves seem to have extraterrestrial sources (they seem to "resultfrom interactions between plasma emitted from the sun (solar wind) and the Earth's[magnetic] field"). Geomagnetic pulsations were first observed by BalfourStewart in 1859, and he published his findings in 1861. Some people are interestedin the sounds produced by ULF waves, VLF waves (very low frequency), and ELF waves(extremely low frequency). There is also speculation and research into the possibilitythat micropulsations may have an affect on people's health and on women's menstrualcycles.
Rachel Shapiro -- 2001
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