Question

Where is energy stored in electromagnetic waves?

Answer 1

Hint:When attempting questions based on energy, keep in mind all the various types of theorems like conservation of energy, and keep in mind the various concepts surrounding electro-magnetic waves and how and what factors can affect the energy stored in said electromagnetic waves.

Complete step-by-step solution:
Before attempting the question given above, let us revise our concepts on what electromagnetic waves are all about. Electromagnetic waves or EM waves as we say for easier understanding and simplification, are waves which are a resultant of vibrations between an electric and a magnetic field, hence the name electromagnetic waves. In other words we can say that electromagnetic waves are composed of oscillating both magnetic and electric fields.
EM waves are a resultant of both electric and magnetic fields, and are hence perpendicular to each other, because of which they are deflected neither by electric field nor by the magnetic fields. However, these waves are capable of showing interference and/or diffraction. These waves can travel through virtually anything; be it air , solid materials like wood or steel, or even vacuum. Something special about these waves is that they don’t need a medium to be propagated or to travel from one place to another, unlike mechanical waves which always need a medium to travel.
The highest point of these EM waves is known as crest, whilst the lowest point came to be known as trough. These waves can be split into a range of frequencies, which is known as the electromagnetic spectrum. Some examples of these EM waves are microwaves, gamma rays, x-rays, radio waves et cetera.
Since we earlier stated that electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to each other, that is perpendicular to the direction the wave travels, it means that the EM wave is a transverse wave.
And hence energy of the said EM wave is thus stored in the electric and magnetic fields themselves.

Note: When we talk about EM waves, we come on the topic of Electromagnetic spectrum which is the entire distribution of electromagnetic radiation according to frequency or wavelength. Although all electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, they do so at a wide range of frequencies, wavelengths, and photon energies.