Digital vs. Analog Signals and Electromagnetic Waves

Vocabulary practice cards covering electromagnetic wave types, analog versus digital signals, signal conversion, and communication methods from the lecture notes.

Electromagnetic Waves

A family of waves that can transfer energy through space and travel through a vacuum.

Radio Waves

A type of electromagnetic wave capable of traveling through a vacuum to transmit information in systems such as spacecraft, satellites, and Wi-Fi.

Microwaves

A type of electromagnetic radiation used in cooking, radar, telephone transmission, and other communication signals.

Infrared

A type of electromagnetic radiation that transmits heat from sources such as the sun, fires, and radiators.

Visible Light

The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation that makes things able to be seen by the human eye.

Ultraviolet

A type of electromagnetic radiation that is absorbed by the skin and utilized in fluorescent tubes.

X-rays

A form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation used to view the inside of bodies and physical objects.

Gamma Rays

A form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation used in medicine for killing cancer cells.

Analog Signal

A representation or analogy of information conveyed with continuous data, forming a smooth wave with an infinite set of possible values.

Digital Signal

A signal in which continuous data is converted into a series of noncontinuous digits (such as ones and zeros) sent in segments.

Vinyl

A plastic material used to make phonograph records, designed with microscopic grooves that guide a player's needle.

Cartridge

The component of a record player that converts mechanical needle vibrations into an electrical signal.

Noisy Signal

A deteriorated analog signal that produces static, occurring when transmission travels too far from a broadcast tower or experiences distortion.

Binary Code

A digital representation composed of strings of ones and zeros that computers read to process and store data.

Sampling

The process of measuring points along an analog wave and assigning each point a numerical value based on its amplitude to store it digitally.

Encryption

The process of scrambling digital information prior to transmission so that only the intended recipient can read it.

Morse Code

A communication system that translates alphanumeric characters into sequences of short and long pulses, dots and dashes, or blinks.

Jeremiah Denton

A naval pilot shot down in July 1965 and imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton who blinked the word T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse code during a televised interview on May 2, 1966.