HOW HERTZ PRODUCED

RADIO PULSES
for Physical Science/ Grade 11
Quarter 4 / Week 6

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 FOREWORD

This Self-Learning Kit will serve a guide to students in studying

how the societal impacts of Hertz's research came quickly, far-
reaching, and may be considered ongoing if taken into account the
still expanding fields in which radio, radar, and other high-frequency
electromagnetic radiation are used. While not as powerful as the
development of electronics, it can be argued that radio has
transformed more lives than electronics because of the relative
ubiquity of radios compared to computers in the world.

This will be an aid in learning new ideas and enrich the existing
knowledge about scientific concepts. This is especially designed for
the needs of the senior high school students who are enrolled in
Physical Science. It is constructed based on the MELCs - Most
Essential Learning Competencies made by the Department of
Education (DepEd). This is a useful tool to maximize students’ learning
experiences by going through the content of this SLK and answer the
exercises about how Hertz produced radio waves.

Take care of this kit, have fun, and enjoy learning.

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OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson the learners are expected to:
K- discuss how Hertz produced radio pulses;
S- trace Hertz’s experiment on radio waves; and
A- infer the importance of the different uses of radio
waves in our daily activities.

LEARNING COMPETENCY

Describe how Hertz produced radio pulses

(S11/12PS-lvi-68)

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 I. WHAT HAPPENED

PRE-TEST
Matching Type: Match column A with column B and write only the letter of the
correct answer in your notebook.

A B

1. He was the first person to transmit and

A. Electromagnetic/Radio
receive controlled radio waves.
2. When did Hertz see an electrical spark Waves
and started a train of thought that would B. Heinrich Hertz
end up transforming the world?
3. It is a piece of an electrical apparatus. C. Magnetic induction
4. It is a piece of an electrical equipment. D. Reiss spirals
5. Spirals produced electric sparks by a
E. October 1886
process called _____.
6. In Hertz’s circuit, the vibrations produced F. Induction coil
were not sound but vibrations of ______. G. Electric charge
7. It is the unit of frequency.
H. Hertz
8. What is the frequency of vibration in Hertz
experiment? I. 100 MHz
9. As predicted by Maxwell, the oscillating J. Early 1900s
electric charge produced is known as
_______.
10. When did the technically minded people
build their own spark transmitted at
home?

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 II. WHAT I NEED TO KNOW

How did Heinrich Hertz Discover Radio Waves?

Figure 1: Heinrich Hertz and Radio Waves

https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

“I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical
application.”

HEINRICH HERTZ (1890)

In November 1886 Heinrich Hertz became the first person to transmit and receive
controlled radio waves. Considering how indispensable his wireless transmissions
quickly became, it seems a little odd looking back that he had no practical
purpose in mind for the radio or Hertzian waves he discovered. His research was
focused solely on discovering if James Clerk Maxwell’s 1864 theory of
electromagnetism was correct.

A Young Man in a Hurry

The first time Hertz thought seriously about proving Maxwell’s theory was in 1879,
when he was a 22 year-old student in Berlin. He decided against it. It seemed
too hard, and anyway he wanted to concentrate on completing his doctorate.
In 1883, after getting his first lecturing job, he revisited Maxwell’s theory. He wrote
an impressive paper, reworking the theory mathematically.

In 1885 he moved to the University of Karlsruhe as a full professor of Experimental

Physics. Now he decided that the time was ripe to look for a way to prove
Maxwell’s theory. In October 1886 Hertz saw an electrical spark which started a
train of thought that would end up transforming the world.

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 Figure 2: Riess Spirals where Hertz saw sparks fly between the small metals balls.
https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

Hertz had been demonstrating a piece of electrical apparatus called Riess

spirals to students. The spirals produced electric sparks by a process called
magnetic induction. The sparks flew between spark-gaps, the small gaps in
circuits.

Hertz became fascinated by sparks

He started generating them using a piece of electrical equipment called an
induction coil. (A car’s spark plugs are powered by an induction coil. The
induction coil transforms low voltage dc electricity coming from a car’s battery
into high voltage ac electricity. This electricity crosses a small air gap at regular
intervals as a spark – i.e. you have a spark plug.)

The diagram below shows an induction coil connected to a spark-gap.

Figure 3: Hertz’ Spark Testing Circuit Diagram

https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

Playing around a little with this apparatus, Hertz connected a secondary spark-
gap to the existing spark-gap, as shown. He used the induction coil to generate
high voltage AC electricity, producing a series of sparks at regular intervals at
the main spark-gap. Hertz found that when sparks flew across the main gap,
sparks also usually flew across the secondary gap – that is between points A and
B in the image; Hertz called these side - sparks.

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 He varied the position of connection point C on the side-circuit. The only way
he could stop side-sparks being produced was to arrange the apparatus so
the length of wire CA was the same as CB. Given that the electricity was AC,
this suggested to Hertz that voltage waves were separately racing through the
wire along paths CA and CB.

If the distances CA and CB were the same, then the same voltage must reach
points A and B at the same time. The electrical waves in CA and CB were said to
be in phase with one another, so sparks could not be generated. Sparks could
only be generated if there was a large voltage difference between points A
and B.

Figure 4.a: Distances CA and CB are equal. Voltage waves reach the spark-gap in phase with
one-another. There is no voltage difference between A and B, so no sparks jump over the gap.
https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

Figure 4.b: Distances CA and CB are NOT equal. Voltage waves reach the spark-gap out of
phase another. There is a voltage difference between A and B, so sparks jump over the gap.
https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

Perfectly Behaved Electric Waves

Hertz did more experiments which revealed that the sparking at the main gap
was producing beautifully regular electrical waves, whose behavior was
predictable.

He pictured waves of electric charge moving back and forth, creating a

standing wave within the wire. In other words, he believed the circuit was
vibrating like a tuning fork at its natural, resonant frequency. He thought he now
had a circuit in resonance.

Of course, in Hertz’s circuit the vibrations were not of sound, they were vibrations
of electric charge. It’s worth bearing in mind that resonance is not actually

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needed for electromagnetic waves to be produced – they’re produced
whenever electric charges are accelerated.

The importance of resonance is that if a receiver has the same resonant

frequency as a transmitter, the incoming electromagnetic waves have a much
stronger effect on it. This is similar to the situation in which an opera singer
shatters a champagne glass because its resonant frequency is the same as the
note she sings.

Being aware that the frequency of electrical vibrations and hence resonance is
determined by electrical properties called inductance and capacitance, Hertz
looked more closely at these factors in the circuit.

Figure 5: Breaking away the hard-wired connection

https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

He identified that a phenomenon called self-induction was taking place in the

wires. This allowed him to deduce that the electric vibrations had an
extraordinarily high frequency.

Hertz decided to break the hard-wired connection between the main spark
circuit and the side-spark circuit, as shown in the image. He also arranged the
capacitance and inductance of the main circuit so its resonant frequency was
100 million times a second. Today we would write this vibration frequency as 100
MHz. (The unit of frequency is, of course, the hertz (Hz), named in Heinrich Hertz’s
honor.)

According to Maxwell’s theory, the main circuit would then radiate

electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of about a meter. The actual
apparatus is shown below.

Producing and Detecting Radio Waves

In November 1886 Hertz put together his spark-gap transmitter, which he hoped
would transmit electromagnetic waves.
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 Figure 6: Hertz’s spark-gap transmitter. At the ends are two hollow zinc spheres of diameter 30
cm which are 3 m apart. These act as capacitors. 2 mm thick copper wire is run from the spheres
into the middle, where there is a spark-gap. Today we would describe this oscillator as a half-
wave dipole antenna.
Source: https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

For his receiver he used a length of copper wire in the shape of a rectangle
whose dimensions were 120 cm by 80 cm. The wire had its own spark-gap.
Hertz applied high voltage AC electricity across the central spark-gap of the
transmitter, creating sparks. The sparks caused violent pulses of electric current
within the copper wires leading out to the zinc spheres. As Maxwell had
predicted, the oscillating electric charges produced electromagnetic waves –
radio waves – which spread out at the speed of light through the air around the
wire. Hertz detected the waves with his copper wire receiver – sparks jumped
across its spark gap, even though it was as far as 1.5 meters away from the
transmitter. These sparks were caused by the arrival of electromagnetic waves
from the transmitter generating violent electrical vibrations in the receiver.

This was an experimental triumph. Hertz had produced and detected radio
waves. Strangely, though, he did not appreciate the monumental practical
importance of his discovery. In fact, Hertz’s waves would soon change the
world. By 1896 Guglielmo Marconi had been granted a patent for wireless
communications. By 1901 he had made a wireless transmission across the
Atlantic Ocean from Britain to Canada. By the early 1900s technically minded
people were building their own spark transmitters at home. Even children got in
on the act, with instructions to build a transmitter appearing in a craft book for
boys in 1917.

Figure 7: A ‘Build at Home’ Spark-Gap Transmitter

https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/Fi

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 Goodbye to Sparks
By the late 1920s most radio transmitters were using vacuum tubes rather than
sparks to generate radio waves. And then the vacuum tubes were abandoned
in favor of transistors. Scientists and engineers have continued to innovate
quickly in the field of radio technology. Radio, television, satellite
communications, mobile phones, radar, and many other inventions and
gadgets have made Hertz’s discovery an indispensable part of modern life.

Performance Task

How will you infer the importance of radio waves in our daily life? Cite
some situations. Write your answer in the notebook.

Rubrics
4 Good Incorrect, unclear discussions
7 Very Good Incomplete, correct discussions
10 Best Complete, correct and clearly discussed

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 III. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

POST TEST

Directions: Identify what/who is referred to in the given statements below and

answer in your notebook.
____ 1. He was the first person to transmit and receive controlled radio waves.
____ 2. When did Hertz observe an electrical spark that enabled him to start a
train of thought that it would possibly end up transforming the world.
____ 3. A piece of electrical apparatus used by Hertz to produce electric sparks
by magnetic induction is known as _____.
____ 4. It is a piece of electrical equipment used by Hertz to produce sparks with
electricity that crosses a small air gap at regular intervals.
____ 5. Spirals produced electric sparks by a process called ____.
____ 6. In Hertz’s circuit, the vibrations produced were not sound but
vibrations of _______.
____ 7. The unit of frequency is ________.
____ 8. The frequency of vibration in Hertz’ experiment is ______.
____9. As predicted by Maxwell, oscillating electric charges
produced ___________.
____10. The year when technically minded people were building
their own spark transmitted at home.

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 References

Caintic, H. E. Physical science. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc., 2016

Heinrich Hertz Electric Waves Macmillan and Co., 1893

Heinrich Hertz Produces and Detects Radio Waves in 1888 |

Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/e
ncyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/heinrich-hertz- produces-
and-detects-radio-waves-1888

Top Scientists. How Heinrich Hertz Discovered Radio Waves. Famousscientists.org.

https://www.famousscientists.org/how-hertz-discovered-radio-waves/

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL

SENEN PRISCILLO P. PAULIN, CESO V

Schools Division Superintendent

JOELYZA M. ARCILLA EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

MARCELO K. PALISPIS EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

NILITA L. RAGAY EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent / CID Chief

ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMS)

ARNOLD R. JUNGCO
PSDS – Division Science Coordinator

MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)

ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)

JOAN Y. BUBULI
Writer
Noelyn Siapno
Lay – Out Artists
_______________________________

ALPHA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR
EUFRATES G. ANSOK
JOAN Y. BUBULI
MA. OFELIA BUSCATO
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
DEXTER D. PAIRA

BETA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR - BESAS
JOAN Y. BUBULI - VALENCIA
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
PETER PAUL A. PATRON
THOMAS JOGIE U. TOLEDO

DISCLAIMER

The information, activities and assessments used in this material are designed to provide accessible learning
modality to the teachers and learners of the Division of Negros Oriental. The contents of this module are carefully
researched, chosen, and evaluated to comply with the set learning competencies. The writers and evaluator were clearly
instructed to give credits to information and illustrations used to substantiate this material. All content is subject to
copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written consent from the division .

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 SYNOPSIS
This Self-Learning Kit deals on how the societal
impacts of Hertz's research came quickly,
we’re far-reaching, and may be considered
ongoing if taking into account the still
expanding fields in which radio, radar,
and other high-frequency electromagnetic
radiation are used. While not as powerful as
the development of electronics, it can be
argued that radio has transformed more lives
than electronics because of the relative
ubiquity of radios compared to computers in
the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JOAN YUN BUBULI, Ed.D. is currently teaching at Sumaliring

High School, Senior High Dept. of Sumaliring, Siaton, Negros
Oriental. She teaches Earth & Life Science, Physical Science
and General Biology. She obtained her Bachelor of Secondary
Education major in General Science at Foundation University-
Dumaguete City. She took up Master of Arts in Education major
in General Science and also her Post graduate studies in Doctor
of Education major in Administration at the same institution.

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