Are all the frequency ranges of the elecromagnetic spectrum based on electromotive force?

Question

If so, the frequencies consist of electrons (mass) jumping from atom to atom -- right? So how can mass pass through our bodies seemingly harmlessly? I've noticed that the higher frequencies tend to be the ones that do harm us. What is it about the speed of a wave that damages our bodies? Is it the frictional heat of the atoms having to slow down so quickly when they reach our "denser than air" bodies?

Answer 1

Whoa, let's sort out this question, you're actually talking about several different things. First of all, yes, the entire electromagnetic spectrum involves the electromotive force. But electrons themselves are not examples of the electromagnetic spectrum, even though in quantum theory they are represented by waves. Certain particles, such as neutrinos, which are now suspected to have mass, do in fact pass through our bodies "harmlessly", because 1) they are uncharged, and 2) their mode of interaction with matter through the electroweak force makes it extremely rare that they would actually "collide" with anything. Now, exploding bombs that produce shock waves that damages our bodies, again, are not examples of the electromotive force in action, but ordinary air being compressed and moving along like sound waves. The speed, in fact, is the speed of sound. What makes an explosion destructive is the degree of overpressure, or pressure differential, across the shock wave. And destruction to bodies by this overpressure occurs so rapidly, it's not really a matter of friction, but more by net mechanical force. Now, it's possible to damage or kill people using electromagnetic waves, which is the theory behind high energy focused microwaves, or even lasers, but this time it's a matter of absorption of energy, rather than a mechanical interaction as with shock waves from ordinary explosions.

Answer 2

The electromagnetic spectrum consists of an electric field and a magnetic field in the form of a wave moving through anything including a vacuum. It has absolutely nothing to do with mass or electrons hopping around. If you needed mass for electromagnetic waves to move, we'd never get light or heat from the sun trough the vacuum of space.