What is the difference between X rays and Microwaves?

Answer 1

The only difference is the frequency (or the wavelength, depending on which way you look at it). They are both part of the electromagnetic spectrum, as is visible light. For any wave, the wave speed is the frequency multiplied by the wavelength. So:

c = νλ

Where c is the wave speed in metres per second (m s-1), ν (the Greek letter nu) is the frequency in Hertz (s-1, also called cycles per second), and λ (the Greek letter lambda) is the wavelength in metres (m).

In a vacuum, the wave speed is constant at around 3.0 x 108 m s-1 (being the speed of light in a vacuum). So the wavelength is inversely proportional to the frequency.

X-rays have frequencies ranging from 3 x 1016 Hz to 3 x 1019 Hz, which gives them wavelengths ranging from 1 x 10-11 m to 1 x 10-8 m. This means they have higher frequencies (and shorter wavelengths) than visible light. Microwaves have frequencies ranging from around 1 x 109 Hz to 3 x 1011 Hz, so their wavelengths range from 1 x 10-3 m to 3 x 10-1 m. They have lower frequencies (and therefore longer wavelengths) than visible light.

The energy transferred by waves is proportional to the frequency. Since X-rays have higher frequencies than microwaves, they carry more energy. This is really the only difference between them.

Answer 2

Microwaves do not have more energy than X rays. They have less energy. X rays pass through your food material and so do not heat the same. Microwave has got less energy and they end up giving energy to the food. That makes the food getting cooked.

Answer 3

X-ray :-Wavelength is 10 to 0.01 nm and energy is 120 eV to 120 keV.

Microwaves:-wavelength is 1mm to 1m and energy is varied .

Here m is metre, mm is millimetre and nm is nanometer.

Answer 4

Nope. All EM (electromagnetic) spectra have a top speed of 299 million meters a second in a vacuum.

Answer 5

The number of rays is irrelevant, there can be one X-ray and one microwave ray. However each X-ray contains more energy than each microwave ray.