- #1
jchodak2
- 5
- 0
I'm have some conceptual problems with electric fields and waves. When I think of electromagnetic waves I imagine field lines emanating from a charge that is oscillating, consequently causing the field lines to oscillate. In diagrams showing field lines, the electric field runs parallel with the field lines, yet with diagrams showing electromagnetic waves the electric field is perpendicular to the direction the wave propagates. Why isn't there a component of the electric field that runs parallel with the wave?