You said that some rooms in the physics building are made with metal to specific…

You said that some rooms in the physics building are made with metal to specifically keep electromagnetic waves out. How does that work?

Some experiments are so sensitive to electromagnetic waves that they must be performed inside “Faraday cages”. A Faraday cage is a metal or metal screen box. Its walls conduct electricity and act as mirrors for electromagnetic waves. As long as a wave has a wavelength significantly longer than the largest hole in the walls, that wave will be reflected and will not enter the box. This reflection occurs because the wave’s electric field pushes charges inside the metal walls and causes those charges to accelerate. These accelerating charges redirect (absorb and reemit) the wave in a new direction—a mirror reflection. Just as a box made of metal mirrors will keep light out, a box made with metal walls will keep electromagnetic waves out.

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