AM stands for amplitude modulation and FM for frequency modulation.
With AM radio, the amplitude of signal (carrier wave) is varied to transmit various kinds of information about sound.
With FM radio, the frequency of signal is varied for the transmission.
FM uses higher frequency than AM. With FM, frequency is of the order of hundred MHz and with AM it is of the order of a few hundred to thousand kHz. I am not giving exact values here because it has more to do with government regulations than to science.
The strength i.e. intensity of signal depends on amplitude. Intensity is proportional to square of magnitude of amplitude. (Note: We need to take magnitude because the amplitude is the amplitude of electric field, which is a vector quantity.)
Because of various disturbances, the signal loses some strength. In other words, its amplitude changes. This affects the quality of the signal being transmitted. So, this is a problem with AM.
FM does not suffer from this problem because accurate value of amplitude is not so important for FM.
comment:
p_commentcount