Wavelength Calculator

Created by Luis Hoyos
Last updated: Jun 27, 2022

Welcome to our wavelength calculator, where you'll be able to calculate the wavelength of sound and light waves in different mediums. It is required, e.g., in the two-photon absorption equation to estimate the photon flux generated by a laser.

This calculator allows a lot of frequency units. Therefore, you can use it to calculate wavelength from MHz, kHz, and many other frequency prefixes.

If you already know the wave velocity and wavelength, you can use this calculator and know what is the frequency of any wave (i.e., the frequency of a light or sound wave).

Main properties of waves

The three main properties of waves are:

  • Wave velocity (v): this property describes how fast a wave propagates in a given medium and has speed units (i.e., meters per second). You can check our speed of sound calculator if you're interested in wave speed.

  • Wavelength (λ): distance over which the shape of a wave repeats. It has length units (i.e., meters) and depends on the medium in which a wave travels.

  • Frequency (f): indicates how many times (per a given time duration) the particles of a medium vibrate in the presence of a wave passing through it. The unit of frequency is Hertz or 1/second, and you can learn more about it in our frequency calculator

🔎 You can calculate the energy of a light wave by multiplying its frequency (in Hz) by the Planck constant (6.62607015×10-34 J/Hz)

Formula for wavelength

With the following equation, you can calculate the wavelength of a wave:

λ=vf\lambda = \frac{v}{f}

where:

  • λ\lambda — Wavelength;
  • vv — Wave speed;
  • ff — Wave frequency.

How to convert from MHz to wavelength

If you have a wave of known MHz frequency and want to know its wavelength, you can do it easily using the formula or our wavelength calculator.

Using the formula:

  1. Determine the speed of the wave.
  2. Convert from MHz to Hz. To do it, multiply the MHz frequency by 1000000.
  3. Once you know the wave speed and the frequency in Hz, input them in the wavelength formula: λ=v/f\lambda = v/f

Using this calculator:

  1. In the wavelength calculator, input the wave velocity, or select the present medium.
  2. In the wave frequency box, select MHz as the unit.
  3. Input the wave frequency in MHz.
  4. That's it. The calculator should provide the wavelength.
Luis Hoyos
Preset (optional)
light in vacuum
Wave velocity
m/s
Wave frequency
Hz
Wavelength (λ)
m
Wavenumber
1/
m
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