- #1
Clavis
As I understand it, the ratio of the electric field strength to the magnetic field strength at any point in a propagating electromagnetic plane wave is equal to the speed of light. How can the electric and magnetic field be perpendicular to each other yet still validate the E = cB equation? A vector (B) multiplied by a scalar (c) should always yield a different size vector (E) in the same direction as the original. I'm thinking the solution may lie with some directional contribution that must be implied with the speed of light corresponding to the wave's propagation direction.