A linearly polarized electromagnetic wave going in the z-axis, with E denoting the electric field and perpendicular B denoting magnetic field

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In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy.^[1] Types of EMR include radio waves, microwaves, infrared, (visible) light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays, all of which are part of the electromagnetic spectrum.^[2]

Classically, electromagnetic radiation consists of electromagnetic waves, which are synchronized oscillations of electric and magnetic fields. Depending on the frequency of oscillation, different wavelengths of electromagnetic spectrum are produced. In a vacuum, electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, commonly denoted c. In homogeneous, isotropic media, the oscillations of the two fields are on average perpendicular to each other and perpendicular to the direction of energy and wave propagation, forming a transverse wave. The position of an electromagnetic wave within the electromagnetic spectrum can be characterized by either its frequency of oscillation or its wavelength. Electromagnetic waves of different frequency are called by different names since they have different sources and effects on matter. In order of increasing frequency and decreasing wavelength these are: radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays.^[3]

Electromagnetic waves are emitted by electrically charged particles undergoing acceleration,^[4][5] and these waves can subsequently interact with other charged particles, exerting force on them. EM waves carry energy, momentum, and angular momentum away from their source particle and can impart those quantities to matter with which they interact. Electromagnetic radiation is associated with those EM waves that are free to propagate themselves ("radiate") without the continuing influence of the moving charges that produced them, because they have achieved sufficient distance from those charges. Thus, EMR is sometimes referred to as the far field. In this language, the near field refers to EM fields near the charges and current that directly produced them, specifically electromagnetic induction and electrostatic induction phenomena.

In quantum mechanics, an alternate way of viewing EMR is that it consists of photons, uncharged elementary particles with zero rest mass which are the quanta of the electromagnetic field, responsible for all electromagnetic interactions.^[6] Quantum electrodynamics is the theory of how EMR interacts with matter on an atomic level.^[7] Quantum effects provide additional sources of EMR, such as the transition of electrons to lower energy levels in an atom and black-body radiation.^[8] The energy of an individual photon is quantized and is greater for photons of higher frequency. This relationship is given by Planck's equation E = hf, where E is the energy per photon, f is the frequency of the photon, and h is the Planck constant. A single gamma ray photon, for example, might carry ~100,000 times the energy of a single photon of visible light.

The effects of EMR upon chemical compounds and biological organisms depend both upon the radiation's power and its frequency. EMR of visible or lower frequencies (i.e., visible light, infrared, microwaves, and radio waves) is non-ionizing because its photons do not individually have enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules or to break chemical bonds. The effect of non-ionizing radiation on chemical systems and living tissue is primarily simply heating, through the combined energy transfer of many photons. In contrast, high frequency ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays are ionizing – individual photons of such high frequency have enough energy to ionize molecules or break chemical bonds. Ionizing radiation can cause chemical reactions and damage living cells beyond simply heating, and can be a health hazard.

Physics

Theory

The relative wavelengths of the electromagnetic waves of three different colours of light (blue, green, and red) with a distance scale in micrometers along the x-axis

Main articles: Maxwell's equations and Near and far field

Maxwell's equations

James Clerk Maxwell derived a wave form of the electric and magnetic equations, thus uncovering the wave-like nature of electric and magnetic fields and their symmetry. Because the speed of EM waves predicted by the wave equation coincided with the measured speed of light, Maxwell concluded that light itself is an EM wave.^[9][10] Maxwell's equations were confirmed by Heinrich Hertz through experiments with radio waves.^[11]

Near and far fields

Main articles: Near and far field and Liénard–Wiechert potential

In electromagnetic radiation (such as microwaves from an antenna, shown here) the term radiation applies only to the parts of the electromagnetic field that radiate into infinite space and decrease in intensity by an inverse-square law of power, such that the total energy that crosses through an imaginary sphere surrounding the source is the same regardless of the size of the sphere. Electromagnetic radiation thus reaches the far part of the electromagnetic field around a transmitter. A part of the near field (close to the transmitter) includes the changing electromagnetic field, but that is not electromagnetic radiation.

Maxwell's equations established that some charges and currents (sources) produce local electromagnetic fields near them that do not radiate. Currents directly produce magnetic fields, but such fields of a magnetic-dipole–type that dies out with distance from the current. In a similar manner, moving charges pushed apart in a conductor by a changing electrical potential (such as in an antenna) produce an electric-dipole–type electrical field, but this also declines with distance. These fields make up the near field. Neither of these behaviours is responsible for EM radiation. Instead, they only efficiently transfer energy to a receiver very close to the source, such as inside a transformer. The near field has strong effects its source, with any energy withdrawn by a receiver causing increased load (decreased electrical reactance) on the source. The near field does not propagate freely into space, carrying energy away without a distance limit, but rather oscillates, returning its energy to the transmitter if it is not absorbed by a receiver.^[12]

By contrast, the far field is composed of radiation that is free of the transmitter, in the sense that the transmitter requires the same power to send changes in the field out regardless of whether anything absorbs the signal, e.g. a radio station does not need to increase its power when more receivers use the signal. This far part of the electromagnetic field is electromagnetic radiation. The far fields propagate (radiate) without allowing the transmitter to affect them. This causes them to be independent in the sense that their existence and their energy, after they have left the transmitter, is completely independent of both transmitter and receiver. Due to conservation of energy, the amount of power passing through any spherical surface drawn around the source is the same. Because such a surface has an area proportional to the square of its distance from the source, the power density of EM radiation from an isotropic source decreases with the inverse square of the distance from the source; this is called the inverse-square law. This is in contrast to dipole parts of the EM field, the near field, which varies in intensity according to an inverse cube power law, and thus does not transport a conserved amount of energy over distances but instead fades with distance, with its energy (as noted) rapidly returning to the transmitter or absorbed by a nearby receiver (such as a transformer secondary coil).

In the Liénard–Wiechert potential formulation of the electric and magnetic fields due to motion of a single particle (according to Maxwell's equations), the terms associated with acceleration of the particle are those that are responsible for the part of the field that is regarded as electromagnetic radiation. By contrast, the term associated with the changing static electric field of the particle and the magnetic term that results from the particle's uniform velocity are both associated with the near field, and do not comprise electromagnetic radiation.

Properties

Electromagnetic waves can be imagined as a self-propagating transverse oscillating wave of electric and magnetic fields. This 3D animation shows a plane linearly polarized wave propagating from left to right. The electric and magnetic fields in such a wave are in-phase with each other, reaching minima and maxima together.

Electric and magnetic fields obey the properties of superposition. Thus, a field due to any particular particle or time-varying electric or magnetic field contributes to the fields present in the same space due to other causes. Further, as they are vector fields, all magnetic and electric field vectors add together according to vector addition.^[13] For example, in optics two or more coherent light waves may interact and by constructive or destructive interference yield a resultant irradiance deviating from the sum of the component irradiances of the individual light waves.^[14]

The electromagnetic fields of light are not affected by traveling through static electric or magnetic fields in a linear medium such as a vacuum. However, in nonlinear media, such as some crystals, interactions can occur between light and static electric and magnetic fields—these interactions include the Faraday effect and the Kerr effect.^[15][16]

In refraction, a wave crossing from one medium to another of different density alters its speed and direction upon entering the new medium. The ratio of the refractive indices of the media determines the degree of refraction, and is summarized by Snell's law. Light of composite wavelengths (natural sunlight) disperses into a visible spectrum passing through a prism, because of the wavelength-dependent refractive index of the prism material (dispersion); that is, each component wave within the composite light is bent a different amount.^[17]

EM radiation exhibits both wave properties and particle properties at the same time (see wave-particle duality). Both wave and particle characteristics have been confirmed in many experiments. Wave characteristics are more apparent when EM radiation is measured over relatively large timescales and over large distances while particle characteristics are more evident when measuring small timescales and distances. For example, when electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by matter, particle-like properties will be more obvious when the average number of photons in the cube of the relevant wavelength is much smaller than 1. It is not so difficult to experimentally observe non-uniform deposition of energy when light is absorbed, however this alone is not evidence of "particulate" behavior. Rather, it reflects the quantum nature of matter.^[18] Demonstrating that the light itself is quantized, not merely its interaction with matter, is a more subtle affair.

Some experiments display both the wave and particle natures of electromagnetic waves, such as the self-interference of a single photon.^[19] When a single photon is sent through an interferometer, it passes through both paths, interfering with itself, as waves do, yet is detected by a photomultiplier or other sensitive detector only once.

A quantum theory of the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter such as electrons is described by the theory of quantum electrodynamics.

Electromagnetic waves can be polarized, reflected, refracted, or diffracted, and can interfere with each other.^[20][21][22]

Wave model

Representation of the electric field vector of a wave of circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation

In homogeneous, isotropic media, electromagnetic radiation is a transverse wave,^[23] meaning that its oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of energy transfer and travel. It comes from the following equations:

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\nabla \cdot \mathbf {E} &=0\\\nabla \cdot \mathbf {B} &=0\end{aligned}}}$$

These equations predicate that any electromagnetic wave must be a transverse wave, where the electric field E and the magnetic field B are both perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.

The electric and magnetic parts of the field in an electromagnetic wave stand in a fixed ratio of strengths to satisfy the two Maxwell equations that specify how one is produced from the other. In dissipation-less (lossless) media, these E and B fields are also in phase, with both reaching maxima and minima at the same points in space (see illustrations). In the far-field EM radiation which is described by the two source-free Maxwell curl operator equations, a time-change in one type of field is proportional to the curl of the other. These derivatives require that the E and B fields in EMR are in-phase (see mathematics section below). An important aspect of light's nature is its frequency. The frequency of a wave is its rate of oscillation and is measured in hertz, the SI unit of frequency, where one hertz is equal to one oscillation per second. Light usually has multiple frequencies that sum to form the resultant wave. Different frequencies undergo different angles of refraction, a phenomenon known as dispersion.

A monochromatic wave (a wave of a single frequency) consists of successive troughs and crests, and the distance between two adjacent crests or troughs is called the wavelength. Waves of the electromagnetic spectrum vary in size, from very long radio waves longer than a continent to very short gamma rays smaller than atom nuclei. Frequency is inversely proportional to wavelength, according to the equation:^[24]

${\displaystyle \displaystyle v=f\lambda }$

where v is the speed of the wave (c in a vacuum or less in other media), f is the frequency and λ is the wavelength. As waves cross boundaries between different media, their speeds change but their frequencies remain constant.

Electromagnetic waves in free space must be solutions of Maxwell's electromagnetic wave equation. Two main classes of solutions are known, namely plane waves and spherical waves. The plane waves may be viewed as the limiting case of spherical waves at a very large (ideally infinite) distance from the source. Both types of waves can have a waveform which is an arbitrary time function (so long as it is sufficiently differentiable to conform to the wave equation). As with any time function, this can be decomposed by means of Fourier analysis into its frequency spectrum, or individual sinusoidal components, each of which contains a single frequency, amplitude and phase. Such a component wave is said to be monochromatic. A monochromatic electromagnetic wave can be characterized by its frequency or wavelength, its peak amplitude, its phase relative to some reference phase, its direction of propagation, and its polarization.

Interference is the superposition of two or more waves resulting in a new wave pattern. If the fields have components in the same direction, they constructively interfere, while opposite directions cause destructive interference. An example of interference caused by EMR is electromagnetic interference (EMI) or as it is more commonly known as, radio-frequency interference (RFI). Additionally, multiple polarization signals can be combined (i.e. interfered) to form new states of polarization, which is known as parallel polarization state generation.^[25]

The energy in electromagnetic waves is sometimes called radiant energy.^[26][27][28]

History of discovery

Electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths other than those of visible light were discovered in the early 19th century. The discovery of infrared radiation is ascribed to astronomer William Herschel, who published his results in 1800 before the Royal Society of London.^[38] Herschel used a glass prism to refract light from the Sun and detected invisible rays that caused heating beyond the red part of the spectrum, through an increase in the temperature recorded with a thermometer. These "calorific rays" were later termed infrared.^[39]

In 1801, German physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter discovered ultraviolet in an experiment similar to Herschel's, using sunlight and a glass prism. Ritter noted that invisible rays near the violet edge of a solar spectrum dispersed by a triangular prism darkened silver chloride preparations more quickly than did the nearby violet light. Ritter's experiments were an early precursor to what would become photography. Ritter noted that the ultraviolet rays (which at first were called "chemical rays") were capable of causing chemical reactions.^[40][41]

James Clerk Maxwell
(1831–1879)

In 1862–64 James Clerk Maxwell developed equations for the electromagnetic field which suggested that waves in the field would travel with a speed that was very close to the known speed of light. Maxwell therefore suggested that visible light (as well as invisible infrared and ultraviolet rays by inference) all consisted of propagating disturbances (or radiation) in the electromagnetic field. Radio waves were first produced deliberately by Heinrich Hertz in 1887, using electrical circuits calculated to produce oscillations at a much lower frequency than that of visible light, following recipes for producing oscillating charges and currents suggested by Maxwell's equations. Hertz also developed ways to detect these waves, and produced and characterized what were later termed radio waves and microwaves.^{[42]: 286, 7}

Wilhelm Röntgen discovered and named X-rays. After experimenting with high voltages applied to an evacuated tube on 8 November 1895, he noticed a fluorescence on a nearby plate of coated glass. In one month, he discovered X-rays' main properties.^[42]: 307

The last portion of the EM spectrum to be discovered was associated with radioactivity. Henri Becquerel found that uranium salts caused fogging of an unexposed photographic plate through a covering paper in a manner similar to X-rays, and Marie Curie discovered that only certain elements gave off these rays of energy, soon discovering the intense radiation of radium. The radiation from pitchblende was differentiated into alpha rays (alpha particles) and beta rays (beta particles) by Ernest Rutherford through simple experimentation in 1899, but these proved to be charged particulate types of radiation. However, in 1900 the French scientist Paul Villard discovered a third neutrally charged and especially penetrating type of radiation from radium, and after he described it, Rutherford realized it must be yet a third type of radiation, which in 1903 Rutherford named gamma rays. In 1910 British physicist William Henry Bragg demonstrated that gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation, not particles, and in 1914 Rutherford and Edward Andrade measured their wavelengths, finding that they were similar to X-rays but with shorter wavelengths and higher frequency, although a 'cross-over' between X and gamma rays makes it possible to have X-rays with a higher energy (and hence shorter wavelength) than gamma rays and vice versa. The origin of the ray differentiates them, gamma rays tend to be natural phenomena originating from the unstable nucleus of an atom and X-rays are electrically generated (and hence man-made) unless they are as a result of bremsstrahlung X-radiation caused by the interaction of fast moving particles (such as beta particles) colliding with certain materials, usually of higher atomic numbers.^{[42]: 308, 9}

Electromagnetic spectrum

Electromagnetic spectrum with visible light highlighted. The bottom graph (visible spectrum) shows wavelength in units of nanometres (nm).

Legend:
γ = Gamma rays

HX = Hard X-rays
SX = Soft X-Rays

EUV = Extreme-ultraviolet
NUV = Near-ultraviolet

Visible light (colored bands)

NIR = Near-infrared
MIR = Mid-infrared
FIR = Far-infrared

EHF = Extremely high frequency (microwaves)
SHF = Super-high frequency (microwaves)

UHF = Ultrahigh frequency (radio waves)
VHF = Very high frequency (radio)
HF = High frequency (radio)
MF = Medium frequency (radio)
LF = Low frequency (radio)
VLF = Very low frequency (radio)
VF = Voice frequency
ULF = Ultra-low frequency (radio)
SLF = Super-low frequency (radio)
ELF = Extremely low frequency (radio)

EM radiation (the designation 'radiation' excludes static electric and magnetic and near fields) is classified by wavelength into radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Arbitrary electromagnetic waves can be expressed by Fourier analysis in terms of sinusoidal waves (monochromatic radiation), which in turn can each be classified into these regions of the EMR spectrum.

For certain classes of EM waves, the waveform is most usefully treated as random, and then spectral analysis must be done by slightly different mathematical techniques appropriate to random or stochastic processes. In such cases, the individual frequency components are represented in terms of their power content, and the phase information is not preserved. Such a representation is called the power spectral density of the random process. Random electromagnetic radiation requiring this kind of analysis is, for example, encountered in the interior of stars, and in certain other very wideband forms of radiation such as the Zero point wave field of the electromagnetic vacuum.

The behavior of EM radiation and its interaction with matter depends on its frequency, and changes qualitatively as the frequency changes. Lower frequencies have longer wavelengths, and higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and are associated with photons of higher energy. There is no fundamental limit known to these wavelengths or energies, at either end of the spectrum, although photons with energies near the Planck energy or exceeding it (far too high to have ever been observed) will require new physical theories to describe.

Atmosphere and magnetosphere

Rough plot of Earth's atmospheric absorption and scattering (or opacity) of various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation

Most UV and X-rays are blocked by absorption first from molecular nitrogen, and then (for wavelengths in the upper UV) from the electronic excitation of dioxygen and finally ozone at the mid-range of UV. Only 30% of the Sun's ultraviolet light reaches the ground, and almost all of this is well transmitted.

Visible light is well transmitted in air, as it is not energetic enough to excite nitrogen, oxygen, or ozone, but too energetic to excite molecular vibrational frequencies of water vapor.

Absorption bands in the infrared are due to modes of vibrational excitation in water vapor. However, at energies too low to excite water vapor, the atmosphere becomes transparent again, allowing free transmission of most microwave and radio waves. ^[47]

Finally, at radio wavelengths longer than 10 m or so (about 30 MHz), the air in the lower atmosphere remains transparent to radio, but plasma in certain layers of the ionosphere begins to interact with radio waves (see skywave). This property allows some longer wavelengths (100 m or 3 MHz) to be reflected and results in shortwave radio beyond line-of-sight. However, certain ionospheric effects begin to block incoming radiowaves from space, when their frequency is less than about 10 MHz (wavelength longer than about 30 m).^[48]

Thermal and electromagnetic radiation as a form of heat

The basic structure of matter involves charged particles bound together. When electromagnetic radiation impinges on matter, it causes the charged particles to oscillate and gain energy. The ultimate fate of this energy depends on the context. It could be immediately re-radiated and appear as scattered, reflected, or transmitted radiation. It may get dissipated into other microscopic motions within the matter, coming to thermal equilibrium and manifesting itself as thermal energy, or even kinetic energy, in the material. With a few exceptions related to high-energy photons (such as fluorescence, harmonic generation, photochemical reactions, the photovoltaic effect for ionizing radiations at far ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma radiation), absorbed electromagnetic radiation simply deposits its energy by heating the material. This happens for infrared, microwave and radio wave radiation. Intense radio waves can thermally burn living tissue and can cook food. In addition to infrared lasers, sufficiently intense visible and ultraviolet lasers can easily set paper afire.^[49]

Ionizing radiation creates high-speed electrons in a material and breaks chemical bonds, but after these electrons collide many times with other atoms eventually most of the energy becomes thermal energy all in a tiny fraction of a second. This process makes ionizing radiation far more dangerous per unit of energy than non-ionizing radiation. This caveat also applies to UV, even though almost all of it is not ionizing, because UV can damage molecules due to electronic excitation, which is far greater per unit energy than heating effects.^[49]

Infrared radiation in the spectral distribution of a black body is usually considered a form of heat, since it has an equivalent temperature and is associated with an entropy change per unit of thermal energy. However, "heat" is a technical term in physics and thermodynamics and is often confused with thermal energy. Any type of electromagnetic energy can be transformed into thermal energy in interaction with matter. Thus, any electromagnetic radiation can "heat" (in the sense of increase the thermal energy temperature of) a material, when it is absorbed.^[50]

The inverse or time-reversed process of absorption is thermal radiation. Much of the thermal energy in matter consists of random motion of charged particles, and this energy can be radiated away from the matter. The resulting radiation may subsequently be absorbed by another piece of matter, with the deposited energy heating the material.^[51]

The electromagnetic radiation in an opaque cavity at thermal equilibrium is effectively a form of thermal energy, having maximum radiation entropy.^[52]

Biological effects

Bioelectromagnetics is the study of the interactions and effects of EM radiation on living organisms. The effects of electromagnetic radiation upon living cells, including those in humans, depends upon the radiation's power and frequency. For low-frequency radiation (radio waves to visible light) the best-understood effects are those due to radiation power alone, acting through heating when radiation is absorbed. For these thermal effects, frequency is important as it affects the intensity of the radiation and penetration into the organism (for example, microwaves penetrate better than infrared). It is widely accepted that low frequency fields that are too weak to cause significant heating could not possibly have any biological effect.^[53]

Some research suggests that weaker non-thermal electromagnetic fields (including weak ELF magnetic fields, although the latter does not strictly qualify as EM radiation^[53][54][55]) and modulated RF and microwave fields can have biological effects, though the significance of this is unclear.^[56][57]

The World Health Organization has classified radio frequency electromagnetic radiation as Group 2B – possibly carcinogenic.^[58][59] This group contains possible carcinogens such as lead, DDT, and styrene. For example, epidemiological studies looking for a relationship between cell phone use and brain cancer development have been largely inconclusive, save to demonstrate that the effect, if it exists, cannot be a large one.

At higher frequencies (visible and beyond), the effects of individual photons begin to become important, as these now have enough energy individually to directly or indirectly damage biological molecules.^[60] All UV frequencies have been classed as Group 1 carcinogens by the World Health Organization. Ultraviolet radiation from sun exposure is the primary cause of skin cancer.^[61][62]

Thus, at UV frequencies and higher (and probably somewhat also in the visible range),^[46] electromagnetic radiation does more damage to biological systems than simple heating predicts. This is most obvious in the "far" (or "extreme") ultraviolet. UV, with X-ray and gamma radiation, are referred to as ionizing radiation due to the ability of photons of this radiation to produce ions and free radicals in materials (including living tissue). Since such radiation can severely damage life at energy levels that produce little heating, it is considered far more dangerous (in terms of damage-produced per unit of energy, or power) than the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Derivation from electromagnetic theory

Electromagnetic waves are predicted by the classical laws of electricity and magnetism, known as Maxwell's equations. There are nontrivial solutions of the homogeneous Maxwell's equations (without charges or currents), describing waves of changing electric and magnetic fields. Beginning with Maxwell's equations in free space:

$${\displaystyle \nabla \cdot \mathbf {E} =0}$$

(1)

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \mathbf {E} =-{\frac {\partial \mathbf {B} }{\partial t}}}$$

(2)

$${\displaystyle \nabla \cdot \mathbf {B} =0}$$

(3)

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \mathbf {B} =\mu _{0}\varepsilon _{0}{\frac {\partial \mathbf {E} }{\partial t}}}$$

(4)

where

• ${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} }$ and ${\displaystyle \mathbf {B} }$ are the electric field (measured in V/m or N/C) and the magnetic field (measured in T or Wb/m²), respectively;
• ${\displaystyle \nabla \cdot \mathbf {X} }$ yields the divergence and ${\displaystyle \nabla \times \mathbf {X} }$ the curl of a vector field ${\displaystyle \mathbf {X}$ ;}
• ${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial \mathbf {B} }{\partial t}}}$ and ${\displaystyle {\frac {\partial \mathbf {E} }{\partial t}}}$ are partial derivatives (rate of change in time, with location fixed) of the magnetic and electric field;
• ${\displaystyle \mu _{0}}$ is the permeability of a vacuum (4π × 10⁻⁷ H/m), and ${\displaystyle \varepsilon _{0}}$ is the permittivity of a vacuum (8.85 × 10⁻¹² F/m);

Besides the trivial solution

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} =\mathbf {B} =\mathbf {0} ,}$$

useful solutions can be derived with the following vector identity, valid for all vectors ${\displaystyle \mathbf {A} }$ in some vector field:

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \left(\nabla \times \mathbf {A} \right)=\nabla \left(\nabla \cdot \mathbf {A} \right)-\nabla ^{2}\mathbf {A} .}$$

Taking the curl of the second Maxwell equation (2) yields:

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \left(\nabla \times \mathbf {E} \right)=\nabla \times \left(-{\frac {\partial \mathbf {B} }{\partial t}}\right)}$$

(5)

Evaluating the left hand side of (5) with the above identity and simplifying using (1), yields:

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \left(\nabla \times \mathbf {E} \right)=\nabla \left(\nabla \cdot \mathbf {E} \right)-\nabla ^{2}\mathbf {E} =-\nabla ^{2}\mathbf {E} .}$$

(6)

Evaluating the right hand side of (5) by exchanging the sequence of derivatives and inserting the fourth Maxwell equation (4), yields:

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \left(-{\frac {\partial \mathbf {B} }{\partial t}}\right)=-{\frac {\partial }{\partial t}}\left(\nabla \times \mathbf {B} \right)=-\mu _{0}\varepsilon _{0}{\frac {\partial ^{2}\mathbf {E} }{\partial t^{2}}}}$$

(7)

Combining (6) and (7) again, gives a vector-valued differential equation for the electric field, solving the homogeneous Maxwell equations:

Taking the curl of the fourth Maxwell equation (4) results in a similar differential equation for a magnetic field solving the homogeneous Maxwell equations:

Both differential equations have the form of the general wave equation for waves propagating with speed ${\displaystyle c_{0},}$ where ${\displaystyle f}$ is a function of time and location, which gives the amplitude of the wave at some time at a certain location:

$${\displaystyle \nabla ^{2}f={\frac {1}{{c_{0}}^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}f}{\partial t^{2}}}}$$

This is also written as:

$${\displaystyle \Box f=0}$$

where ${\displaystyle \Box }$ denotes the so-called d'Alembert operator, which in Cartesian coordinates is given as:

$${\displaystyle \Box =\nabla ^{2}-{\frac {1}{{c_{0}}^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}={\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial x^{2}}}+{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial y^{2}}}+{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial z^{2}}}-{\frac {1}{{c_{0}}^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}\ }$$

Comparing the terms for the speed of propagation, yields in the case of the electric and magnetic fields:

$${\displaystyle c_{0}={\frac {1}{\sqrt {\mu _{0}\varepsilon _{0}}}}.}$$

This is the speed of light in vacuum. Thus Maxwell's equations connect the vacuum permittivity ${\displaystyle \varepsilon _{0}}$, the vacuum permeability ${\displaystyle \mu _{0}}$, and the speed of light, c₀, via the above equation. This relationship had been discovered by Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Rudolf Kohlrausch prior to the development of Maxwell's electrodynamics, however Maxwell was the first to produce a field theory consistent with waves traveling at the speed of light.

These are only two equations versus the original four, so more information pertains to these waves hidden within Maxwell's equations. A generic vector wave for the electric field has the form

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} =\mathbf {E} _{0}f{\left({\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {x} -c_{0}t\right)}}$$

Here, ${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} _{0}}$ is a constant vector, ${\displaystyle f}$ is any second differentiable function, ${\displaystyle {\hat {\mathbf {k} }}}$ is a unit vector in the direction of propagation, and ${\displaystyle {\mathbf {x} }}$ is a position vector. ${\displaystyle f{\left({\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {x} -c_{0}t\right)}}$ is a generic solution to the wave equation. In other words,

$${\displaystyle \nabla ^{2}f{\left({\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {x} -c_{0}t\right)}={\frac {1}{{c_{0}}^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}}{\partial t^{2}}}f{\left({\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {x} -c_{0}t\right)},}$$

for a generic wave traveling in the ${\displaystyle {\hat {\mathbf {k} }}}$ direction.

From the first of Maxwell's equations, we get

$${\displaystyle \nabla \cdot \mathbf {E} ={\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {E} _{0}f'{\left({\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {x} -c_{0}t\right)}=0}$$

Thus,

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} \cdot {\hat {\mathbf {k} }}=0}$$

which implies that the electric field is orthogonal to the direction the wave propagates. The second of Maxwell's equations yields the magnetic field, namely,

$${\displaystyle \nabla \times \mathbf {E} ={\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\times \mathbf {E} _{0}f'{\left({\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\cdot \mathbf {x} -c_{0}t\right)}=-{\frac {\partial \mathbf {B} }{\partial t}}}$$

Thus,

$${\displaystyle \mathbf {B} ={\frac {1}{c_{0}}}{\hat {\mathbf {k} }}\times \mathbf {E} }$$

The remaining equations will be satisfied by this choice of ${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} ,\mathbf {B} }$.

The electric and magnetic field waves in the far-field travel at the speed of light. They have a special restricted orientation and proportional magnitudes, ${\displaystyle E_{0}=c_{0}B_{0}}$, which can be seen immediately from the Poynting vector. The electric field, magnetic field, and direction of wave propagation are all orthogonal, and the wave propagates in the same direction as ${\displaystyle \mathbf {E} \times \mathbf {B} }$. Also, E and B far-fields in free space, which as wave solutions depend primarily on these two Maxwell equations, are in-phase with each other. This is guaranteed since the generic wave solution is first order in both space and time, and the curl operator on one side of these equations results in first-order spatial derivatives of the wave solution, while the time-derivative on the other side of the equations, which gives the other field, is first-order in time, resulting in the same phase shift for both fields in each mathematical operation.

From the viewpoint of an electromagnetic wave traveling forward, the electric field might be oscillating up and down, while the magnetic field oscillates right and left. This picture can be rotated with the electric field oscillating right and left and the magnetic field oscillating down and up. This is a different solution that is traveling in the same direction. This arbitrariness in the orientation with respect to propagation direction is known as polarization. On a quantum level, it is described as photon polarization. The direction of the polarization is defined as the direction of the electric field.

More general forms of the second-order wave equations given above are available, allowing for both non-vacuum propagation media and sources. Many competing derivations exist, all with varying levels of approximation and intended applications. One very general example is a form of the electric field equation,^[65] which was factorized into a pair of explicitly directional wave equations, and then efficiently reduced into a single uni-directional wave equation by means of a simple slow-evolution approximation.

See also

References

• "Light: Electromagnetic waves, the electromagnetic spectrum and photons (article)". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2 May 2021.

Further reading

• Hecht, Eugene (2001). Optics (4th ed.). Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-8053-8566-3.
• Serway, Raymond A.; Jewett, John W. (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers (6th ed.). Brooks Cole. ISBN 978-0-534-40842-8.
• Tipler, Paul (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Electricity, Magnetism, Light, and Elementary Modern Physics (5th ed.). W. H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-0810-0.
• Reitz, John; Milford, Frederick; Christy, Robert (1992). Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory (4th ed.). Addison Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-52624-0.
• Jackson, John David (1999). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-30932-1.
• Allen Taflove and Susan C. Hagness (2005). Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, 3rd ed. Artech House Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58053-832-9.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Pictured Electro-Magnetic Waves

• The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. I Ch. 28: Electromagnetic Radiation
• Media related to Electromagnetic radiation at Wikimedia Commons
• Electromagnetic Waves from Maxwell's Equations on Project PHYSNET.
• "Electromagnetic radiation" in the Encyclopædia Britannica