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www.GOALias.blogspot.comsucceeded in producing and observing electromagneticwaves of much shorter wavelength (25 mm to 5 mm).His experiment, like that of Hertz’s, was confined to thelaboratory.At around the same time, Guglielmo Marconi in Italyfollowed Hertz’s work and succeeded in transmittingelectromagnetic waves over distances of many kilometres.Marconi’s experiment marks the beginning of the field ofcommunication using electromagnetic waves.8.3.2 Nature of electromagnetic wavesIt can be shown from Maxwell’s equations that electricand magnetic fields in an electromagnetic wave areperpendicular to each other, and to the direction ofpropagation. It appears reasonable, say from ourdiscussion of the displacement current. ConsiderFig. 8.2. The electric field inside the plates of the capacitoris directed perpendicular to the plates. The magneticfield this gives rise to via the displacement current isalong the perimeter of a circle parallel to the capacitorplates. So B and E are perpendicular in this case. Thisis a general feature.In Fig. 8.4, we show a typical example of a planeelectromagnetic wave propagating along the z direction(the fields are shown as a function of the z coordinate,at a given time t). The electric field E xis along the x-axis,and varies sinusoidally with z, at a given time. Themagnetic field B yis along the y-axis, and again variessinusoidally with z. The electric and magnetic fields E xand B yare perpendicular to each other, and to thedirection z of propagation. We can write E xand B yasfollows:E x= E 0sin (kz–ωt )[8.7(a)]B y= B 0sin (kz–ωt)[8.7(b)]Here k is related to the wave length λ of the wave by theusual equation2πk = (8.8)λand ω is the angular frequency. kis the magnitude of the wavevector (or propagation vector) kand its direction describes thedirection of propagation of thewave. The speed of propagationof the wave is (ω/k ). UsingEqs. [8.7(a) and (b)] for E xand B yand Maxwell’s equations, onefinds thatElectromagneticWavesHeinrich Rudolf Hertz(1857 – 1894) Germanphysicist who was thefirst to broadcast andreceive radio waves. Heproduced electromagneticwaves, sentthem through space, andmeasured their wavelengthand speed. Heshowed that the natureof their vibration,reflection and refractionwas the same as that oflight and heat waves,establishing theiridentity for the first time.He also pioneeredresearch on discharge ofelectricity through gases,and discovered thephotoelectric effect.HEINRICH RUDOLF HERTZ (1857–1894)FIGURE 8.4 A linearly polarised electromagnetic wave,propagating in the z-direction with the oscillating electric field Ealong the x-direction and the oscillating magnetic field B alongthe y-direction.275