Is this a fair comparison? (Electromagnetic waves)

[tolove]

I remember having great confusion when I first read about electromagnetic waves. I remember being introduced to a historical text about ether when I was a child, and thinking it was an unsolved puzzle. I'd never really been able to shake the question "What does an electromagnetic wave propagate through?"

I was thinking today, though, is it fair to compare a simple particle mass to an electromagnetic wave? No one is confused about Newton's first law when we talk about baseballs and spaceships drifting through space. However, can we simply apply the concept of the first law of motion to electromagnetic waves, and view an electromagnetic wave as a baseball with strange properties?

Or is there a more complicated explanation as to why electromagnetic waves can propagate through space?

 

[mfb]

is it fair to compare a simple particle mass to an electromagnetic wave?

Compare them in which way? What do you mean with "fair"?

However, can we simply apply the concept of the first law of motion to electromagnetic waves, and view an electromagnetic wave as a baseball with strange properties?

An electromagnetic wave is not a baseball with strange properties, but it has a momentum.

Or is there a more complicated explanation as to why electromagnetic waves can propagate through space?

There is an easier explanation. The Maxwell equations.

 

[tolove]

Compare them in which way? What do you mean with "fair"?
An electromagnetic wave is not a baseball with strange properties, but it has a momentum.
There is an easier explanation. The Maxwell equations.

By "fair," I mean a conceptual view that is accurate "enough."

If electromagnetic waves have momentum, then they have a mass, and a velocity that cannot change (c)?

Along with the first law, matter will continue on through space unless interrupted, correct?

Is that the solution to the strange concept of why light can travel through a vacuum? It's just a mass like any other, only very small and with strange (quantum) properties.

 

[WannabeNewton]

No. An electromagnetic field has both linear and angular momentum but this doesn't imply it is some kind of matter.

 

[mfb]

If electromagnetic waves have momentum, then they have a mass

No they have not.

and a velocity that cannot change (c)?

In vacuum, that is right.

Along with the first law, matter will continue on through space unless interrupted, correct?

Sure, if no force acts on an object it will travel in a straight line.

Is that the solution to the strange concept of why light can travel through a vacuum? It's just a mass like any other, only very small and with strange (quantum) properties.

No it is not "a mass". It is not matter either.

 

[Jano L.]

However, can we simply apply the concept of the first law of motion to electromagnetic waves, and view an electromagnetic wave as a baseball with strange properties?

Guys above are right. Newton's first law for massive objects as intended and understood before electromagnetic theory has nothing to do with electromagnetic waves.

But I think there is a connection between the two cases, from the modern standpoint. The connection is the law of conservation of momentum. This is valid for combined system matter + EM fields and in special cases also separately both for small bodies (the first Newton law is its special case) and for EM radiation far from source (also special case, when no charged bodies are in sight).