NOTE: Above figures include non-CSI data. last updated: Sept. 23, 2015 data sources. California Solar Statistics (CSS) is the official public reporting site of the California Solar Initiative (CSI), presented jointly by the CSI Program Administrators and the California Public Utilities Commission.
Sound can travel through air, water, or solids, but it can't travel through a vacuum. It needs the medium to help it travel. Other examples include water waves, seismic waves, and waves traveling through a spring. Electromagnetic waves are waves that can travel through a vacuum (empty space). They don't need a medium or matter. They travel through electrical and magnetic fields that are generated by charged particles. Examples of electromagnetic waves include light, microwaves, radio waves, and X-rays.
Light is not the only example of an electromagnetic wave. Other electromagnetic waves include the microwaves you use to heat up leftovers for dinner, and the radio waves that are broadcast from radio stations.roperties of electromagnetic waves. Something interesting about light, and electromagnetic waves in general, is that no medium is required for the wave to travel through. Other waves, such as sound waves, can not travel through a vacuum. An electromagnetic wave is perfectly happy to do that.