Re: Where's the energy? (long)

Roy Lewallen <w7el@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[..]

> And you're right. I apologize. "Orthogonal" usually refers to
> spatial orientation, so when you said that he said they're
> orthogonal, my reaction was that it's correct. But I didn't look
> at the web page. I see by looking at it that he also says the two
> are in time quadrature, which of course is incorrect as you say.

> His "fundamental laws of physics" are certainly different from
> everyone else's. Thanks for providing a good example of the
> pitfalls of relying on the web for information.

> Again my apology. You do indeed have it right. Incidentally, it's
> not possible for a medium to have a purely reactive (imaginary) Z0
> at any non-zero frequency.

> Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Thanks very much, Roy. It was probably my mistake, using the word
"Orthogonal" when quadrature would probably have worked better.

Can you explain your last sentence? Why does this happen?

I have been following these threads with some interest, and I very
much appreciate your analysis, as it adds greatly to my
understanding. Thank you very much for taking the time to write so
clearly.

There is one point I still have trouble with. The concept of power
flowing in standing waves where the superposition goes to zero, and
yet the energy flow is unaffected and continues in opposite
directions on either side of the null point.

Anyway, I have googled until my fingers get sore, and I haven't
found a good explanation of why this happens. Everyone says it is
well understood from basic undergraduate theory, but the only
references I can find are from graduate studies in Quantum
Electrodynamics. This is not much help.

So I have to form some image in my mind of why these waves do not
interact. Here is a partial picture:

1. Electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light in whatever
medium they are in. For them to interact, there must be some advance
information they are about to collide. But that would require
transferring information faster than the speed of light, which is
forbidden.

2. The fields in electromagnetic waves are at right angles to the
direction of propagation. There is no longitudinal component, and
therefore the waves have no advance warning they are about to
collide. There is no vector component that is common to both that
would allow any interaction, so there is no way this can happen.

3. Photons carry no charge. They are not deflected by electrostatic
or electromagnetic fields, and do not interact with other photons.
Electromagnetic waves are made up of photons. Since photons do not
interact, EM waves also do not interact with each other.

The above concepts seem to make sense, and allow me to get some
sleep at night. Can you tell me if they are valid, and if there are
other ways of explaining this phenomenon?

Regards,

Mike Monett
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Analyzing Stub Matching with Reflection Coefficients
    ... Would you assert that photons can have an ... waves and photons can only ... interact with matter. ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.antenna)
  • Re: Exact value of Hydrogen line?
    ... Of course, any observatory that we build will at least be located inside the solar wind, and usually even inside the Earth's ionosphere, where the plasma frequency is even higher, which sets the lower limit on the frequency of astrophysical electromagnetic waves that we can ... possible to observe slow modulations in waves with higher frequencies, ...
    (sci.physics.research)
  • Re: Virtual Particles and Light Duality principle
    ... > interactions they propagate in localized fashion. ... > Unlike classical particles, classical waves are delocalized. ... > propagate in delocalized fashin and they interact ...
    (sci.physics)
  • Re: HAARP What Bandwidth? (was Re: Recording of HAARP and Moon Echo)
    ... That is not the case with waves. ... have are TWO RF signals on -essentially- the same frequency (ignoring ... The EM waves in space do not interact. ... Since it is the same signal the interaction in the antenna would be to ...
    (rec.radio.shortwave)
  • Re: accidental invention of light as a wave
    ... >> he noticed that the velocity of electromagnetic waves have the same ... > velocity measured, until after Maxwell's death. ... The wave nature of light was clearly demonstrated by both Thomas Young ...
    (sci.physics)
Loading