What causes electric and magnetic fields to oscillate, making light?
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EM waves are caused by accelerating charges, like an AC voltage applied to a long piece of metal (antennae). With light and higher energy rays up to X rays, they are created by electrons rapidly gaining and losing energy in an atom.
Electrons more or less “orbit” a positively charged nucleus. To pull an electron away from the positive nucleus, you need to add energy. When an electron falls back closer to the nucleus, it gives off energy in the form of light, or more specifically the orbital energy difference. In the case of a plasma, due to the thermal motion of atoms, electrons are constantly being pulled out of their orbitals and falling back in, so constantly gaining energy and losing energy and creating a glow of light.
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