What are wake turbulence categories and how do they influence required separation?

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Wake turbulence categories reflect aircraft weight and the strength of the wingtip vortices they generate. Heavier aircraft create stronger, longer-lasting wake vortices, so air traffic management requires greater spacing behind them to give vortices time to dissipate and for the following aircraft to pass through safely. Medium-weight aircraft produce less wake than heavies but more than lights, so the required separation behind a medium is intermediate. Light aircraft generate the weakest wake, so the spacing behind them is the smallest, though still designed to stay clear of any lingering vortices. The statement with three categories—heavy, medium, and light—and the rule that heavier aircraft require greater spacing behind them matches how wake turbulence is handled. Choices that suggest different categories or reverse the spacing relationship don’t fit this real-world behavior.