Related Concept Videos

Propagation of Waves01:07

Propagation of Waves

When a wave propagates from one medium to another, part of it may get reflected in the first medium, and part of it may get transmitted to the second medium. In such a case, the interface of the two mediums can be considered as a boundary that is neither fixed nor free.
Consider a scenario where a wave propagates from a string of low linear mass density to a string of high linear mass density. In such a case, the reflected wave is out of phase with respect to the incident wave, however the...
Propagation Speed of Electromagnetic Waves01:30

Propagation Speed of Electromagnetic Waves

Electromagnetic waves are consistent with Ampere's law. Assuming there is no conduction current Ampere's law is given as:
Gradient Fields01:27

Gradient Fields

A gradient field is a vector field derived from a scalar field. A scalar field assigns a single numerical value to every point in space, such as temperature, pressure, or electric potential. The gradient field describes how that value changes from point to point. It gives both the direction of the fastest increase and the rate of change in that direction.For a scalar field f(x, y), the gradient is written as\begin{equation*}\nabla f=\left\langle \jfrac{\partial f}{\partial x},\jfrac{\partial...
Velocity and Acceleration of a Wave00:51

Velocity and Acceleration of a Wave

A wave propagates through a medium with a constant speed, known as a wave velocity. It is different from the speed of the particles of the medium, which is not constant. In addition, the velocity of the medium is perpendicular to the velocity of the wave. The variable speed of the particles of the medium implies that there must be acceleration associated with it. 
The velocity of the particles can be obtained by taking the partial derivative of the position equation with respect to time. We can...
Plane Electromagnetic Waves I01:30

Plane Electromagnetic Waves I

The existence of combined electric and magnetic fields that propagate through space as electromagnetic (EM) waves is the most significant prediction of Maxwell's equations. As Maxwell's equations hold in free space, the predicted electromagnetic waves do not require a medium for their propagation. An EM wave comprises an electric field, defined as the force per charge on a stationary charge, and a magnetic field, which is the force per charge on a moving charge.
The EM field is assumed to be a...
Electromagnetic Waves in Matter01:30

Electromagnetic Waves in Matter

Electromagnetic waves can travel in the vacuum as well as in matter. For example light, which is an electromagnetic wave, can travel through air, water, or glass.
Consider the electromagnetic wave passing through a dielectric medium. In such a case, Maxwell's equations get modified. In Ampere's law, ε0 , the dielectric permittivity of free space is replaced with ε, the permittivity of dielectric. Also, the vacuum permeability μ0 is replaced by the permeability of the medium, μ.
Furthermore, the...