Interference is a characteristic phenomenon exhibited by waves. When two electromagnetic waves interact with their peaks and troughs coinciding, a resulting wave with enhanced amplitude is produced. This is known as constructive interference. In this case, the two waves interacting are in phase with each other.

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...

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...

Consider a plane wavefront traveling in position x-direction with a constant speed. This wavefront can be utilized to obtain the relationship between electric and magnetic fields with the help of Faraday's law.

A household microwave and lasers are examples of standing electromagnetic waves in a cavity. When two conducting metal plates are placed parallel at the nodal planes, it creates a cavity where standing waves are formed. The cavity between the two planes is analogous to a stretched string held at the points x = 0 and x = L. Here, the distance 'L' between the two planes must be an integer multiple of half of the wavelength. The wavelengths that satisfy this condition are given by:

James Clerk Maxwell formulated a single theory combining all the electric and magnetic effects scientists knew during that time, calling the phenomena his theory predicted “Electromagnetic waves”. He brought together all the work that had been done by brilliant physicists such as Oersted, Coulomb, Gauss, and Faraday and added his own insights to develop the overarching theory of electromagnetism. Maxwell’s equations, combined with the Lorentz force law, encompass all the laws of electricity and...