Waves have far more to them than just their frequency

[Alexey86]

Hello! I've watched a science video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmzwM76V0o), which includes the following passage (1.31 – 2.02), "Light is amazing. It’s also very weird. It travels in waves, and as it interacts with particles and materials, it scatters and shifts. Even we can’t actually see those light waves in motion, so mush of what we observe in the world around us is rooted in the physical properties that defines those waves, like how we can observe certain frequencies of light as colors. But waves have far more to them than just their frequency, and microscopy has combined the resourcefulness of many different sciences to use light to give us different ways to peer into the microbial world."

I can't remember ever coming across such a construction. Is "to them" necessary? What if I say, "But waves have far more than just their frequency"?

 

[GoesStation]

The sentence means there's a lot more to discover about waves than just their frequency. To them adds the meaning that I've written as "to discover".

 

[Alexey86]

Can I use it when describing people? For example, "She is smart, but she has far more to her than just her intellect."

 

[GoesStation]

Can I use it when describing people? For example, "She is smart, but she has far more to her than just her intellect."

Yes. Your version is fine, but I think most people would say there's far more to her.

 

[jutfrank]

The semi-fixed expression you're missing has the basic construction: more to + pronoun + [than (just) + NP]

The element I've labelled 'pronoun' can actually be another kind of noun phrase, but it is very typically a pronoun.

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

There's more to her than just her intellect. She's brilliant. She's bold. She's brash. She's beautiful.