The unit of is:
(Where is the intensity of an electromagnetic wave, and is the speed of light)
- A
- B
- C
- D
The unit of is:
(Where is the intensity of an electromagnetic wave, and is the speed of light)
Correct answer:D
Standard Method
Given: The expression is .
Find: The unit of the given expression.
For an electromagnetic wave, the intensity is
Substituting this into the given expression,
Hence,
The unit of electric field is , equivalently .
Therefore, the unit of the given expression is . The correct option is D.
Unit Analysis
Given: is intensity, is permittivity of free space, and is the speed of light.
Find: The unit of .
Using the units:
From electromagnetic wave theory, the expression corresponds to the electric field magnitude. Therefore its SI unit must be the unit of electric field.
So the required unit is .
The solution also concludes that the correct option is D.
Treating as an unfamiliar standalone expression and doing random unit manipulation. This is wrong because the expression is directly obtained from the intensity formula of an electromagnetic wave. First identify that , then relate the expression to .
Confusing the unit of electric field with potential or force units such as or . This is wrong because the electric field has unit force per unit charge, namely . Always recall the standard SI unit of electric field before matching options.
Ignoring the square root and comparing the unit of directly with the answer choices. This is wrong because the square root changes the final dimension. Simplify the expression fully before selecting the unit.
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