1. They can travel through a vacuum: Unlike sound waves, which require a medium to travel, electromagnetic waves can propagate through the emptiness of space. This is how we receive light and heat from the sun.
2. They are transverse waves: This means that the oscillations of the wave are perpendicular to the direction the wave is traveling. Imagine a rope tied to a post. If you shake the rope up and down, the wave that travels along the rope is transverse. Electromagnetic waves have both an electric and a magnetic component that oscillate perpendicular to the direction of travel.
