JohnnyCanuck t1_j9nem4p wrote on February 23, 2023 at 5:23 AM

Reply to comment by Ethan-Wakefield in What does it mean for light to be an excitation in the electromagnetic field? by Ethan-Wakefield

Yeah it’s difficult or impossible to have an intuitive sense of this. This might help though:

Electricity and magnetism are fundamentally linked to each other. They are not exactly the same but they work in similar ways.

A radio antenna works by accelerating the electrons in the metal back and forth. You could theoretically make a radio signal by doing the same with a magnet, but it would be much, much harder since you would have to move the whole mass of the magnet back and forth, not just some of the electrons.

JohnnyCanuck t1_j9nak5p wrote on February 23, 2023 at 4:45 AM

Reply to What does it mean for light to be an excitation in the electromagnetic field? by Ethan-Wakefield

An accelerating magnet does, just not at a wavelength that you can see. Keep in mind that the electromagnetic spectrum (light) includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, UV, X-rays, and gamma rays. If you wave a magnet around, the emissions are going to be at the sub-radio end of the spectrum.