If sound waves travel by pushing particles back and forth, then how exactly do electromagnetic/radio waves travel through the vacuum of space and dense matter? Are they emitting… stuff? Or is there some… stuff even in the empty space that they push?

Question

If sound waves travel by pushing particles back and forth, then how exactly do electromagnetic/radio waves travel through the vacuum of space and dense matter? Are they emitting… stuff? Or is there some… stuff even in the empty space that they push?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Radio waves and EM waves are forms of light. Part of the EM spectrum. The travel at the speed of light. They have no mass and don’t travel in a medium like sound waves.