Physics 1051 Lecture 24

Electromagnetic Waves

Recommended Problems
Fishbane, Chapter 34, Problems 7,10,14,16,21,24,30

The story so far

So far we have talked about oscillations and waves, electric forces and fields, and magnetic forces and fields. In the next couple of lectures we use all of this material to develop a description of electromagnetic waves.

What do we know about electricity and magnetism?

Charged particles produce electric fields Moving charges produce magnetic fields Electric fields cause a force on a charged particle Magnetic fields cause a force on moving charges particles

What do we know about electricity and magnetism?

The electric flux through a closed surface is proportional to the charge inside the surface (Gausss Law). & & Q E dA ! I 0 This says that electric fields are due to electric charges. Electric field lines begin and end at charges. We can use it to show that the electric field of a point charge is proportional to 1/r2.

What do we know about electricity and magnetism?

The magnetic flux through a closed surface is zero.

& & B dA ! 0

This says that there are no magnetic monopoles, and that magnetic field lines have no beginning or end.

What do we know about electricity and magnetism?

Integrating the magnetic field around a closed path gives a result that is proportional to the current enclosed by the path. (Ampres Law) & & B ds ! Q0 I enc This says that magnetic fields are caused by currents. There is another part to this that we have not discussed: Magnetic fields can also be caused by changing electric fields. Including this mathematically would give us another term on the rhs that included the time derivative of a surface integral of the electric field. I will spare you the details.

What do we know about electricity and magnetism?

Changed in magnetic flux cause an induced emf. (Faradays Law).
d* I! dt & & & & d E ds !  B dA dt surface

This says that changing magnetic fields produce an electric potential, or in other words changing magnetic fields produce an electric field.

What do we know about electricity and magnetism?

These laws show that there is a strong connection between electricity and magnetism. In fact electricity and magnetism are two aspects of the same phenomenon, which we can call electromagnetism. The electric and magnetic fields are coupled they depend on each other. In a vacuum, if we have no electric charges and no electric currents, then the equations weve written down above are perfectly symmetric with respect to E and B. This means that E and B behave the same.

Maxwells Equations
The equations weve written down here are a form of Maxwells Equations. Maxwell saw that all of these electromagnetic phenomena could be described in a single mathematical framework. The solution to Maxwells equations in a vacuum turns out to be traveling waves both the electric and magnetic field propagate through space in the form of waves.

Electromagnetic Waves

The plane wave solutions to Maxwells Equations have the following form

& & & E (r , t ) ! E0 sin kx  [ t & & & B (r , t ) ! B0 sin kx  [ t

where E0 and B0 are the amplitudes of the electric and magnetic components of the wave. k is the wave number of the electromagnetic waves. (Really it should be a vector pointing in the direction of propagation of the wave.) 2T k ! wave number k! P P = wave length 2T [! ! 2Tf f ! frequency T

Maxwells equations tell us several things: The electric and magnetic fields propagate as traveling waves These waves travel at the speed of light. The speed of the waves is given by

v!

1 !c Q0 I 0

The electric and magnetic fields are always perpendicular to each other. & &

E0 B0 ! 0

The amplitudes of the fields are also related:

E ! cB

Electromagnetic Waves
Maxwells equations, published in 1864, had far reaching consequences. They showed in detail how electricity and magnetism were connected. Maxwells equations predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves, which traveled with the speed of light. Maxwell conjectured that light was a form of electromagnetic radiation. In 1887 Heinrich Hertz produced radio waves and from the measured frequency and wavelength confirmed Maxwells conjecture.

Electromagnetic Spectrum
Radio Waves Microwaves Infrared Visible light Ultraviolet X-rays Gamma rays

Example 1
Fishbane, Chapter34, Problem 5 If the electric field for a plane electromagnetic wave is given by

Ex ! 0 E y ! E0 cos(kz  [ t ) & what are B and the direction of propagation of the

wave?

Example 2
Fishbane, Chapter34, Problem 61. Use dimensional analysis to show that

1 Q0 I 0
has the dimensions of speed.

Electromagnetic Energy
Electromagnetic waves carry energy and can transport energy from one place to another. The energy carried by an electromagnetic waves is shared equally between the magnetic field part of the wave and the electric field part of the wave. The average value of the total energy density in the wave is

I 0 E0 1 2 u! ! B0 2 2Q0

Intensity and Energy Transport

Since electromagnetic fields represent a form of energy, and electromagnetic waves propagate through space, then electromagnetic waves transport energy. Consider a segment of a circular beam of circular light of radius R. How much energy is transported across a surface in time (t?
x

Volume of beam crossing surface in time (t

(V ! A(x ! Ac(t

Energy transported across surface in time (t

(U ! u(V ! Auc (t
R

We define the intensity of the beam as the energy transported across a surface per unit time per unit area

1 (U I! A (t ! uc

Electromagnetic Energy
The power per unit area delivered by an electromagentic wave to a surface perpendicular to the direction of propagation is
cI 0 E0 E0 B0 c 2 I ! cu ! ! B0 ! 2 2Q0 2Q0
2

This is called the intensity of the em wave.

Example
The intensity of sunlight on the earths surface is approximately 1 kW/m2. Calculate the energy density of sunlight at the earths surface. Estimate the amplitude of the electric and magnetic fields of the sunlight striking the earth.

I ! uc I u! c 10 ! J m -3 3 v 108 ! 3.3 v 106 J m-3

3

To calculate the amplitude of the electric field we use the relation

To calculate the amplitude of the magnetic field we use the relation E0 !c B0 Thus we obtain E0 B0 ! c 864 ! 8 T 3v 10 ! 2.87 v 10 6 T

I 0E 0 u} 2
Thus we obtain

2u E} I0 } 2 v 3.3 v 106 8.85 v 10 12 V m-1

} 864 V m -1

Example 3
A typical laser pointer has a power of around 0.5 mW and a beam width of around 1mm. Calculate the intensity of the beam. Calculate the amplitude of the electric and magnetic fields of the beam.

Production of EM Waves
Electromagnetic waves are produced by creating an oscillating electric or magnetic field. Charges oscillating in a linear antenna will produce an oscillating electric field. An oscillating electric field will produce an oscillating magnetic field. This produces a wave which travels away from the source with the speed of light.

There are other types of antenna. For example the loop antenna, uses an oscillating current to produce a oscillating magnetic field.