The prior chapters dealt with what I feel are fairly important and fundamental concepts: forces of simplification, possibility and probability, and, primordial soup. Starting with this chapter, and several that follow, I want to touch on some of the key sciences and share some perspectives that I have on them. I believe that you will find them coming from viewpoint that is quite different and which might not often be expressed. The viewpoints are very germane to title of this book and are part of the overall rationale and explanation. There will be technical descriptions, but they will be for the purposes of giving a basic understanding of the subject and they will be intended for the lay person.

The first areas of science to receive this personal review are mathematics and physics. These are going to be combined and lumped together with courses, as well as recollections, from the four years I spent pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. By being an engineer, I feel I have a certain license to be able to make wisecracks and the odd derogatory remark about engineers. If one cannot poke some good-natured fun at themselves and their own profession, I do not know who can.

Now that you feel as though a proper introduction has been made, let us talk about something totally unrelated - English. I never developed a phobia for this subject until senior high school. What is the matter with engineers and the English language anyway? All engineers love to write (not). They are all gifted with amazing abilities to write clearly and succinctly. Spelling and grammar are second nature to an engineer. An engineer loves to receive a writing assignment and will tackle it with unbridled enthusiasm, completing it in short order. Unfortunately, if you have believed any of the previous statements you have not spent large amounts of quality time with a group of engineers. I have and I have lived to tell the tale.

As mentioned already, the subject of English started to sour with me in senior high. Using the best self-introspection that I can muster, I cannot explain why. The only thing I can possibly come up with, is that it is almost a required pre-requisite to becoming an engineer. Now, trying to put attempts at humor aside, people are born with certain natural abilities. I think that engineers tend to gravitate towards everything that is mathematical and logical. While I have nothing substantial to base this on, those same natural abilities do not seem to mix well with English and subjects of a similar genre. (no idea where that word came from)

Needless to say, while I was not a complete disaster, I did not do all that well with English and I managed to survive right through to grade 12. I may have exaggerated somewhat as there were times that the subject was entertaining. There were various books that were required to be read throughout the years and many were totally enjoyable and gratifying. It was probably the writing of essays and learning grammar that was the most difficult part. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to get started writing this material - it is something I have literally put off for years, using one mental excuse after another.

Getting an engineer to write is like pulling teeth. My ability at English was very painfully emphasized to me when all the grade 12 classes had to take two comprehensive university entrance tests. I have forgotten the fancy acronym for this type of university test, and to be frank, I do not even care to remember them. There was a half day test on mathematics and general knowledge, if it could be called that. Then there was the half day test on nothing but pure English. I have never suffered through anything quite as agonizing. The irony of it was that I actually found certain parts of the test humorous and I recall laughing to myself.

The English half day of the test started out simply enough. I guess they had to give the slower levels, such as myself, half a chance to get calibrated. After that, the test got progressively more difficult. I remember one potion of the test where they wanted to check your retention and recall abilities by having you read a short paragraph and then answering questions about it. The test had a time limit, so you had to work fast and you could not languish re-reading everything. Of course, the paragraphs started out being short and simple. Then they progressed to the lengthy and difficult.

My all-time favorite part of this English marathon were the tests on grammar and proper sentence structure. This also started out quite simply. To make matters even easier, so I thought, it was a multiple choice test. You read four or five sentences and you had to pick the correctly structured sentence. As I said, it began simply enough so that even I could spot the obvious sentences which were bad. However, it quickly got worse - much worse. Toward the end, the sentences were so lengthy, with so many commas, arrays of punctuation, and clauses with sub-clauses - just like this one. I had no idea in the least which one was right and which was wrong. This is where it got humorous and I can remember laughing to myself. Imagine reading through five incredibly long sentences, and I could not tell which one was wrong. They all looked and sounded good to me. It became so bad, that I even tried to compare sentences to see where the differences were from one to the other. I swear that some were identical and this is where it felt so pointless that I lost it and started to laugh. Imagine, it was taking forever for me to even tell the differences between some of them, never mind which one was incorrect.

Later the teachers explained some of the rationale behind the tests and its objectives. For the English one, I recall it being mentioned that you needed a superior grasp of the language especially if you wanted to go into a field such as law. That was it for me, my mind was instantly made up, and I there was no way I was going into law - they could go into that good field uncontested by the likes of myself. Furthermore, they could have it entirely to themselves for the foreseeable future. Grade twelve was the last I ever saw of English courses.

By the way, the mathematics and general knowledge test went comparatively better - but nothing I felt overly thrilled about. I went into electrical engineering for a number of different reasons that may be disclosed as we go. What later shocked me was that no one warned me about the almost absolute requirement to have a superior ability at mathematics. It was shear good fortune and blessings that I was good at mathematics, otherwise I am quite certain I would have been slaughtered. After I finished my fourth year in electrical, I recollect looking back and being awestruck by the amount of pure, shear, complicated math, physics and theory that was involved. Mathematics did not stop after some first year university courses. No, we continued full tilt and in-depth with subjects like: linear algebra, calculus, differential equations, applied numerical analysis, and so on. Calculus did not stop after one year. They were not happy until we had three solid years of it and that we could do complex calculus in all three dimensions simultaneously - integral calculus involving the variables of space and time, and with limits that could range from minus infinity to positive infinity.

Here is a good one. Who remembers from high school the definition of an imaginary number? Dumb one, eh? Who cares? Well there is a concept in mathematics of an imaginary number. An example is to try and take the square root of a negative number - it cannot be done and does not exist, except in theory. Well give the concept of an imaginary number to electrical engineers and watch them run with it. We have a special definition and concept of the square root of minus one, and we give it the definition "j" (the letter "i" is used in mathematics, but engineers reserve this letter to mean electrical current). You will have to take my word on it, but imaginary numbers are used beyond belief by electrical engineers. We dealt steadily with the real and imaginary components of electrical currents, voltages, and so on. Believe it or not, the imaginary components could not be ignored and are the only way to obtain a correct value.

Yes, I sure was lucky to be good at mathematics and even more fortunate to have some excellent professors on these courses for the first several years of university. There were two math professors that I will never forget and who had the ability to teach the subject so clearly that it came across like music from a conductor leading a symphony. The first professor taught linear algebra and this area of math included a number of specialty topics, but the most emphasis seemed to be placed on the fancy manipulation of complex matrices. Engineers like matrices. They look like a huge table of numbers, but may have x, y, z and other variables instead of simple numbers. There are all kinds of tricks and neat rules for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing a large matrix against another one.

Other than the outstanding teaching abilities of this professor, there was another unique ability he had - he could print on the blackboards faster than any human could write. We would be in the large engineering theatre, that could hold several hundred students, and the front wall was nothing but blackboard. He could print, fire up formulas and theorems, and his caulk would click and fire against that blackboard like a machine gun. If you paused a moment to daydream, think, or chat, you fell almost hopelessly behind. Students would laugh and call out, "Whoa, please slow down!". Anyway, that professor ruined me for life. I was so inspired and impressed by his skill to print so fast and neatly, that I became determined to imitate his ability. It took awhile to shake the habit of handwriting, but I am afraid I did it. I was known amongst our section for having some of the neatest printed notes around. To this day, I can no longer do handwriting and I print absolutely everything except my signature.

The second professor to be described taught us calculus. He was truly memorable and unbelievable. Not only was he writing his own textbook on the subject, but he would come into that same huge lecture theatre without a single page of notes or reference material. He then began to teach calculus for the entire lecture without skipping a beat. The way he taught came across as clear as a bell, the way he imparted the subject was truly unbelievable and you could not help but learn and understand. I credit these two professors for the A+ and A that I received in the courses.

The calculus professor was also unflappable. In the winter we remember him coming in and walking across the lecture floor in a full suit and knee-high rubber boots on. Engineering students have a very bad predisposition and are notorious for organizing small to hugely elaborate practical jokes. Well, some fellows decided to pull a practical joke and test the mettle of our calculus professor. As mentioned earlier, this lecture hall had a huge line of blackboards across the front wall. However, there was a unique section in the middle where you could pull up one large section of blackboard from the floor level, and raise it to write on, and then push it up so it went over your head. The professor was busy writing and deriving calculus formulas. All kinds of figures totally filled the center blackboard. Well, he pulled up the floor level blackboard so he could use it next. It is hidden behind a pocket wall and you cannot see what is on it.

When he pulled up the blackboard - there in full view of the entire class was a naked centerfold from a magazine taped to it. The class gave a short gasp and then everyone burst into laughter. To show you how quick and intelligent that professor was, he paused for an instant, reflected pensively, and said, "We will raise this figure for future reference." He calmly raised the board to the overhead position and carried on writing and teaching like absolutely nothing happened. There was stunned silence and we laughed because of his witty and quick comeback. Many students, including myself, expected him to get angry and rip the centerfold down. He would not give us the satisfaction of seeing his temper flare and he outwitted everyone. We sat in awe and amazement. The professor was never the subject of a practical joke from our class again.

For first year chemistry, we had to walk over from the engineering buildings to the science buildings and yet a different lecture theatre. Chemistry and its professor were not nearly in the same league. Students can sometimes be merciless. In terms of practical jokes and rude behavior, it was endless for the poor chemistry professor and I cannot explain exactly why this was so.

Before I get on with the intended message of this chapter, there are a few more items that need to be explained about engineering and some of my past memories. The first has to do with the definition of engineering. Although I had a great interest in electronics, and this was my primary reason for going into the field, I had no idea what the definition of engineering really was. Finally, and maybe in my second year, there was a kindly professor who asked the class if we knew and there were no intelligent responses. While I cannot remember the words exactly, the professor stated the definition of engineering was the practical application of science and mathematics to the safety and to the betterment of the human race. The dictionary has a much more refined definition than this, but that definition is the one which stayed with me. I recall his further explanations on how science works on the raw frontiers, doing pure research, and seeking new discoveries. Sometimes they are not content to put them into use and want to move on to the next discovery. Other times, the time may just not be right or even possible to put the discovery into practical use.

He said it was the job of engineers to fully understand the discoveries of science and know all the laws and theories. Then, it was their responsibility to put them safely into practical processes, devices, structures, machines, and the like. The safety portion of the message was quite heavily emphasized. He said that many people would be dependent for their safety upon the thoroughness of the designs created by engineers.

In Canada, there is an engineering ceremony in your fourth and final year that occurs shortly before the graduation ceremonies. It is called the iron ring ceremony. The actual ceremony is not to be disclosed in detail to others and we are also asked to take an oath. The remembrance from this ceremony is that a Canadian engineer wears an iron ring on the little finger of their working hand. The ring is supposed to contain a portion of iron from an old bridge that failed due to poor design. We are presented with a written certificate of the ritual and words of the oath we must sign. I just re-read that oath, which you can tell was composed in early English, and the words are very sensitive to the care and safety in an engineer’s work, respect for others and fellow engineers, fair earning of wages, regard to reputation, and more than one religious reference that included God.

There are many engineering disciplines in which undergraduate degrees may be obtained. The common degrees are: aerospace, agricultural, biomedical, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, geological, and mechanical, to name a few.

The previous descriptions and reminiscing may be good background, but we need to progress toward the intent and purpose of this chapter. The specific purpose of the chapter is to consider some unique and powerful laws and theories of sciences such as physics and mathematics. Several of the next chapters will be contrasted and compared against them in an unusual way.

Engineering is being as part of my explanations for two reasons. First, it is something in which I have been trained, that I have specific knowledge and experience in, and, it is something in which I have confidence about my ability to explain correctly. The second reason is that Engineering can be considered the vehicle by which some of sciences take their established laws and theories and put them into actuality.

There are laws and theories of science that cannot be put into practical reality and everyday use for human beings. While it may appear strange to use, some such examples might be those involved in astrophysics. Theories on black holes in space would not be a good assignment for a recent graduate engineer to reduce into practice within one year. On the other hand, there are many laws and theories that are totally proven and put into everyday use. For instance, all of Isaac Newton’s physical laws on gravitational forces are fully understood and very repeatable. That is why they are sometimes referred to as laws as opposed to theories. Gravity, velocity, acceleration, and planetary orbits are all fully understood because of Newton. If you do not believe this, you likely do not like to ride in elevators, airplanes, and do not believe a spacecraft can be launched to another planet, its trajectory fully planned, and its arrival timed within hours.

As an aside, many people do not realize that Newton was a mathematician as well as a physicist and that in the seventeenth century he was a co-discoverer of calculus as a new field of mathematics. He formulated the three laws of motion and from them he derived the universal law of gravitation.

To summarize, engineering is a good litmus test. If engineers cannot take a law, or theory, and make it function in a practical, consistent and reliable way, there is something seriously missing. There may be an important or critical material that is not yet developed or available to enable the theory, there could be a subtle flaw within the theory, or, worse yet, they may be something fundamentally wrong with the theory.

We are going to start with physics and the fundamental forces in the universe. Do not panic and do not let your palms get sweaty. We are going to start real slow and easy, so stick close with me on this one and it will not get so complicated that you cannot fully understand the topic. Out of the fundamental forces in the universe, there is one set that I know the best and they are the forces of electromagnetism. You would be hard-pressed to find electrical engineers who would state that they do not understand electromagnetism. Those forces are what its all about and form the underpinnings for their entire field of studies.

I decided to take electrical engineering because of my fascination with electronics. I wanted to know how each and every component involved in an electronic circuit worked and I wanted to be able to design the circuits myself. As my studies were in the early 1970’s, the University of Manitoba at that time had many courses and options that you could elect in your third and also your final fourth year. Due to industry in the Province, there appeared to be two paths of electives you could take. Courses in electrical machines, energy conversion, and various ‘higher voltage’ options seemed to target a person towards the hydro-electric industry. In Manitoba, this is a very significant industry, with sophisticated transmission lines from northern dams and generation facilities. The major rivers flowing into Hudson Bay provide power for the entire province and more than enough surplus for export to neighboring provinces and north central states in the US.

The path that interested me the most included the electives on electronics, digital theory, signal analysis, and communication theory. This path, if one could call it that, was geared towards the telecommunications industry, also a major employer in the province. In addition to all of the math courses, there were plenty of others that were compulsory and these included: chemistry, physics, thermodynamics, and mechanics (to do with forces, not car parts).

In the first several years, it seemed to me that it was possible to study and understand how everything worked. This coincided with the deep down desire that I had to fully understand everything from the ‘ground up’. In the later years, the professors explained that this becomes impossible for one person to comprehend it all. You had to start treating devices, or entire areas, as ‘black boxes’. You had to be satisfied to learn around the black box. The inputs and outputs interfacing to the black box were learned as well as the basic process the black box performed. To learn the internal details of exactly how the black box functioned and operated would be too much. You would get bogged down in the details and fail at the big picture, so to say.

The reality and immensity of science finally set in on me. It was continually amazing, in that the more you knew, the smarter you become, and the more complicated it seemed to become. This appeared to be the reality of science. Young people have a phrase today that can sum it up pretty well when you are not happy with the reality of a situation - reality bites.

In terms of the courses I was taking, a strange and unexpected set of circumstances happened to me at university. Electrical engineers had to take courses in electric fields and then general field theory, as these were part of the underpinnings I spoke of. Coupled with the calculus that you needed to understand it, these courses eventually got you into compulsory electromagnetic theory in your third year. This is as mathematical as it gets. It was not for the faint of heart and some students could pass out at the mere mention of the subject. Other than being really good in math, I cannot explain why I excelled and actually became interested in this area of engineering. I had gone for the interest in electronics. Even my engineering friends looked at me strangely and said, "How can you like that stuff? Your taking ‘what’ in fourth year!". Instead of avoiding it like the plague, I found myself taking wave propagation (nothing to do with water) along with microwave circuits and devices. I even did my fourth year thesis on the design equations and the actual build of a microwave transistor oscillator. Resistors, capacitors, and inductors are common components that you would physically find in a radio or television. At microwave frequencies these components ‘disappeared’ and instead became different circuit line widths, lengths and other geometries around the transistor.

So what is all this electromagnetic radiation stuff about? Why is it important? You will be surprised at how pervasive and important it is in your life. If you live in any type of modern community you cannot avoid electromagnetic forces. In order to avoid them you would need to be alone in a remote uninhabited part of the world with just the clothing on your back. Even then, you are not truly avoiding them, only the devices would be missing. Electromagnetic radiation is constantly bombarding you anyway and you would have a hard time avoiding it anywhere in the universe. What is it exactly and why would I find this subject so incredibly remarkable?

Let us start with simple examples and explanations. If you live in a modern community, your home is serviced by electrical transmission lines bringing power to your home. Even if you use solar or wind power you are not avoiding the conversion and transmission of this energy. If you have any form of telecommunications coming into your home, electromagnetic radiation theory is involved. Any electrical motor, any generator, and any device that you touch or use that is powered by a battery, or by electricity, operates totally under the control of electromagnetic theory: from your CD player, to your toaster, and to your high tech multimedia center. Everything designed by an electrical, electronic, or computer engineer functions and behaves totally under the description and control of the laws and forces of electromagnetism. So what is it?

We have all heard of electrical terms such as voltages and currents. To keep focused and simple, I will talk about electrical currents. The simplest definition I can provide you with is that an electrical current is the flow of electrons through a wire. It can be as simple and as weak as a current that flows from a battery and powers a radio or a small bulb. The current and flow of electrons can be as large and as dangerous as that which enters your stove and is converted into huge amounts of heat energy. What is interesting is that the current and flow of any electrons in a wire generates an electromagnetic field. In its most raw and observable form, this is principle that makes electrical motors, generators, electro-magnets, and the speakers in your sound system work. When an electrical current flows through a conductor there are electric and magnetic fields generated around that current that you cannot see. Even a bolt of lightening generates a huge electromagnetic field capable of disturbing all the fields around it. This is what causes interference to your television and radio signals, or causes the hair on your neck to rise. Maybe you have experienced the circumstance when you are in an automobile approaching electrical transmission lines and towers that are carrying very high voltages and currents. These lines are also generating substantial electromagnetic fields. You may have your car radio on and the automobile may pass a certain position and you notice a disturbance in the broadcast. This is another example of the force of electromagnetism.

Electromagnetic fields may be very weak and not extend far into the space surrounding the conductor, or, they may be very strong and extend great distances. There are electromagnetic door locks and plates so strong that you cannot humanly open the door. Unfortunately, it is very hard to visualize these fields. There are cases where there is a very plain electrical field and it operates with lines of force that are straight and simple. More complex fields need to be visualized as waves and radiating curved lines. You have likely seen pictures of iron filings aligning themselves in arcs connecting around the poles of a magnet. Cathode ray tubes used in computer monitors and televisions have more complex fields as well. They are a good example of how well engineers can design and control the fields to write the electron beam(s) from the back neck of the tube onto the front face of the screen. So, this is the simple story about electrical currents and electromagnetic fields. What is the big deal?

The deal gets bigger when we talk about frequency. The meaning of the word frequency should be easy to explain. The simplest picture I can portray is an oscillating set of waves. One example of a higher frequency would be the tight and rapid rippling waves on the surface of a pond. Compare this to the lower frequency and widely spaced waves on an ocean. The other very common example is sound waves and their associated frequencies. The common frequency range that the human ear can hear is vibrations of sound waves from 15 to 20,000 hertz. Hertz is not a complicated term and is also abbreviated as Hz. It is the unit of measure for frequency and is simply the number of complete cycles of a wave (wave top to wave top) that occur in one second of time. The term hertz and the phrase ‘cycles per second’ are interchangeable. Very low rumbling sounds would be in the 15 hertz range and high pitched shrill sounds would be at the 20,000 hertz range. This is nice, so what?

Well, electrical current can oscillate in cycles and can vary in frequency according to the above definition as well. The varying currents flowing in a wire generate varying electric and magnetic fields. Believe it not, this is where frequencies, electrical currents, and electromagnetic waves will become incredibly interesting. Direct current, or DC, has a frequency of zero and this is the type of current a battery provides. Typical household current, however, is referred to as alternating current, or AC. In North America for instance, the AC that is provided by the utility companies flows at 60 hertz, quite a low frequency.

Very strange and unusual things happen when you increase the frequency of the currents and the resulting electromagnetic fields. At low power levels and low frequencies, the fields and forces are very content to stay close to the wires and are almost non-existent. The power wires in your home, say at 60 hertz, do not radiate great distances. Engineers work with much higher frequencies for a lot of the devices you commonly use. In North America, an example is the AM and FM radio frequency bands that you may commonly listen to. The AM frequency band is approximately centered around 1000 kilohertz (abbreviated 1000 KHz). A kilohertz is one thousand hertz (a kilo equals one thousand). So to fully write out that AM frequency in long hand it would be 1,000,000 hertz. The FM band is centered around 100 Megahertz (abbreviated 100 MHz). Mega equals one million, so to write this FM frequency in longhand it would be 100,000,000 hertz. This frequency, at 100 million cycles per second, is a lot of oscillations, or vibrations, in one second of time.

This is not the amazing part though. Large numbers such as this are impressive, but what is incredible is the changing properties of the electromagnetic radiation as you increase the frequency. At the radio frequencies just described, the electromagnetic fields are no longer content to stay close to the wires. By applying higher power levels and using a simple wire antenna, the electromagnetic fields, which are sometimes referred to as waves, radiate great distances into the surrounding space. Who has not seen a simple diagram of a tower antenna and emitted radio signals pictured as circular waves radiating out from the antenna. Different frequencies radiate and behave in different manners. Some radiate outwards and literally are reflected and bounce back off of upper layers of the atmosphere. Under unique atmospheric conditions, they are sometimes capable of skipping and covering great distances across the Earth. Shortwave (high frequency) radio signals are capable of being transmitted continent to continent.

The rough frequency range we discussed covers everything from AM and FM radio, to television signals, and to the cellular telephone that broadcasts to the closest cell receiver which retransmits and connects you into the complete telecommunications network. What happens when you go higher in frequency?

Well, the electromagnetic radiation starts to behave differently and the next major level in the electromagnetic spectrum, is called microwaves. (spectrum refers to a range of frequencies) Microwaves typically start in the gigahertz (GHz) range and a giga equates to one billion. One billion oscillations, or cycles per second, is really a lot. Microwaves propagate differently and in a more narrow or ‘focused’ manner. It is no longer efficient to use a simple wire as an antenna. Instead, the antenna becomes a parabolic dish, with different diameters being more efficient at different microwave frequencies. The dishes must be aimed and positioned for the best reception and transmission of signals. Line-of-sight is a term that is used and explains why the dishes are placed as high as possible to get over the curvature of the Earth and why there are relay dishes pointing to each other on hills and mountain tops. Microwaves must be used with caution because at high power they are capable of passing through organic matter, vibrating water molecules, and, due to the increased vibrations, heat is generated.

Even though I have had all this high-tech education, my family constantly jokes that I am the very last in the neighborhood to adopt and buy any of it. My claim is this lack is mainly due to financial reasons. I also use another excuse in that I know what the best specifications would be, which equates to buying better equipment, and even greater difficulties in terms of affordability. However, the family ridicule continues to be directed towards me unabated. We are the last to get cable TV, a VCR, a microwave oven, a good stereo system, and so on. We still do not have a cellular telephone. There are lots of personal reasons for myself not having one. Cost is one, purpose to remain continuously ‘connected’ is another, and the frequencies right next to my head is yet another. I would not mind the receive mode, as I know these power levels are already very low by the time they reach me. It is the transmit mode being next to my head that I wonder about.

Going higher up in frequency takes us into infrared radiation. Higher yet, and the electric and magnetic fields decide to propagate in the form of visible light. That is correct - visible light. The same radiation, with only its frequency changing, goes from radio waves, to microwaves, right into light waves. Lasers and light are harnessed by electrical engineers for fiber optic communications, to optical recorders, and compact disk players using laser diodes. The radiation is no longer loosely ‘focused’ like microwaves but they are traveling in a totally straight line. The frequency of visible light is extremely high. The number of zeros gets to cumbersome and engineers have long run out of the kilo’s, mega’s, and giga’s. To make it simple, a microwave frequency of 1 gigahertz is a 1 followed by 9 zeros. The frequency of visible light is in the range of a 1 followed by 15 zeros.

The electromagnetic spectrum does not stop here and increases in frequency from visible light to ultraviolet, X rays, and to gamma rays. Gamma rays have a frequency of a 1 followed by 22 zeros. Now, this is what I call vibrating.

This is what fascinates me every time I give it some serious thought and what I find amazing about electromagnetism. All of these forces from DC, radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X rays, and gamma rays are all the same type of force. The only thing that makes them different, so to say, is their frequency. That is what is amazing for me - they are all the same form of electromagnetic energy, just in a different frequency and displaying wildly different properties. One type is used to listen to music signals broadcast through the atmosphere, another is used to light your room, and yet another will pass through your body to display the pattern of your bones on photographic film.

Another surprising feature of all these electromagnetic waves is that it does not matter what the frequency or wavelength is, or what method of propagation is used, the waves all travel at exactly the same speed. In a vacuum, that speed is about 186,000 miles per second and is commonly known as the speed of light. Light or radio signals traveling from a spacecraft heading to Mars all get back to Earth at the same time and are going the same speed.

By the way, it is a good thing that our eyes are only equipped with the capability of detecting the visible light spectrum. If we could ‘see’ the entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiation we might have trouble seeing the proverbial ‘hand in front of our face’. There are so many radio frequency and numerous other fields around us that you would be completely overwhelmed if you were able to see them all.