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So when light passes through convex lense it converges.Light is EMR.Do radio waves refract through a lense?

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Or does the index of refraction make such an occurence negligible.

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  1. They can, if you have a big enough lens. What s the wave length of radio waves? What can be big enough to form a lens that will refract them?

    A galaxy in perfect alignment with the earth and a far distant  radio source behind it. With light, such a feature is called an Einstein ring.


  2. Short answer; yes, radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation and they do refract slightly when they pass through a convex lens.

    The index of refraction of simple lenses varies according to the wavelength of light used though (that is how a prism reveals a rainbow) and radio waves have such long wavelengths that the effect is negligible.  Notice red and longer wavelenghts do not bend as much as the blue and violet light in a prism.

    There are achromatic lenses that eliminate the abberation caused by the above effect however.

  3. sure do, as long as the lens in question is still clear to the radio wavelength electromagnetic spectrum. have you noticed that the glass covering the infra red reciever on your remote is black? it is opaque to the visible spectrum, but it is clear in the infra red, so the infra red signal can pass through to reach the reciever on the tv. so as long as the lens wont absorb the radiowaves, which depends on quantum mechanics, it will refract just like any other EM wave. as the amount of refraction depends on the wavelength in a similar index of refraction a radio wave will bend less than a light wave, as radio waves are of a longer wavelength.

    but why does a normal lens not cause the light to be split into a spectrum as it passes through? because all light rays regardless of wavelength pass through the same focal point it would follow that a radio wave would pass througth that focal point as well, so it would be refracted in a similar manner to light

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