Physics talks about electromagnetic wave just like a water wave,but what is an electromagnetic wave?

Question

a moving magnetic field combining with a moving electric field?
A definiton about another unexplained definition?

All waves by definition need a medium for the force to move in the wave.

Was maxwell's assumtion right?Electric field dont just fly into space to meet a magnetic field which also flew into space.And then the two combing to form light.Circuitry in a conductor of electricity is not the same phenomena as what happens in space time.?

A magnetic field is a medium

So out of Maxwell came the 'Poyting Vector"
Therefore it was concluded that light is an electric and magnetic field combination. I do not think so!

Answer 1

An electric field spreading in wave like fashion thru space at a speed of light with it's direction and intensity at any point in space oscillating back and forth.James clerk's Maxwell's theory in 1864 suggested that light is such a wave.

Answer 2

An electromagnetic wave is a set of self propagating, orthogonally positioned, electric and magnetic fields.
An EM wave does not require a medium in which to propagate since the moving ("fluxing" if you will) electric field will generate a magnetic field, and a moving magnetic field generates an electric field. Using this explanation, it can been seen that an EM wave (unlike a water wave or a sound wave) does not require a medium, EM wave can propagate even through a vacuum.

Maxwell's Laws of electromagnetism are the basis for this this self propagating explanation.

Think of an electromagnet....an electric current (moving charged particles) created a magnetic field. If you align the polarities of the magnetic fields generated by coiling the wire around, you can induce some object (like an Iron nail) to become a magnet.
Now think of the opposite situation....a coil of wire in which a magnet is passes through. As the magnet moves through the wire coil, the moving magnetic field induces an electric current in the wire.
In light, one field generated the next field as the light propagates orthogonally to both orthogonally positioned fields.

Answer 3

Basically, it is light in the first place. Light is the release of photons, or packets of energy called quanta, from electrons when switching to a lower energy state. This can be caused by electricity's (flow of electrons) interaction with a magnetic field, which alters the electron's energy state, thus releasing said photons.

The reason it is called a wave is because it displays wave characteristics such as diffraction, reflection, and wavelengths. If it is a wave, then why is is it also made of particles? Sorry to answer your question with another one, but scientists debate this. The discovery that light is made of particles is fairly recent relative to the wave theorys proposal.

Answer 4

Electromagnetic radiation is a transverse waveform. in reality the wave is produced because magnetic fields take a finite time to interrupt down. at the same time as the periodic time of an alternating contemporary turns into shorter than the crumple time for its linked magnetic field, the magnetic field turns into loose status and is therefore repelled from the electricity conductor through the arising magnetic field, which will be of an similar polarity. Like poles repel. when you consider that variable electro-magnetic fields have an linked transverse "E-field", that still turns into indifferent and repelled. The unexplained area of this simplistic theory is the very incontrovertible truth that, everywhere alongside the advancing electromagnetic wavefront, round emissions will be experienced (Huygen's Theorem, which has been verified to be truth, by skill of the kind of Fresnel Lenses). it will be fairly defined in gases, yet no longer in a vacuum! for this reason the "invention" of the Aether...........

Answer 5

its the electric and magnet waves travelling together. think of a simple sin wave going up and down. Elctromagnetic will have this but also at a 90 degree angle will have a second wave one is electric and one is magnetic.

This will give you some great info and some images as to what it woud look like

http://images.google.com/images?num=100&hl=en&lr=lang_en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=electromagnetic%20wave&btnG=Search&sa=N&tab=wi

Answer 6

every thing in the universe behaves as a wave at a particular situation and some behave as a wave always.


Wave is just a disturbance created in the medium just like when u throw stone in a calm water u disturb it and get waves .

like that electromagentic wave is a combination of magentic energy and electrical energy moving in the form of waves which r perpendicular to eachother during their movement.

Answer 7

The wave is a disturbance in the medium .
There are 2 types of waves:
1-Electromagnetic waves:these are waves which can propagate through vacuum and don't need a medium to propagate through such as:light waves-radio waves-Xrays.
2-Mechanical waves : these are waves which cannot propagate through vacuum and need a medium to propagate through such as:-transverse waves:water waves
-longitudinal waves:sound waves