Why electromagnetic waves aren't affected by electric or magnetic fields

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 2K views
Denton
Messages
120
Reaction score
0
Why is it that electromagnetic waves, made up of constantly changing electric and magnetic fields are neither affected by electric or magnetic fields?...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
It's because Maxwell's equations are linear in the fields [itex]\vec E[/itex] and [itex]\vec B[/itex]. They contain no terms involving products of the fields or their derivatives.