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How do electromagnetic waves propagate? How can electric and magnetic fields be

ID: 1502386 • Letter: H

Question

How do electromagnetic waves propagate? How can electric and magnetic fields be generated in free space?

I have an exam on Friday and I am a little confused on this conceptually. This is what I have come up with, but I feel like I'm not really answering the two questions:

Electromagnetic waves are transverse waves, meaning that the oscillations of the wave are perpendicular to the direction of movement (moving along x direction means oscillations occur in y direction). These waves are waves of fields (changing magnetic and electric), not matter, and therefore they can propagate through empty space. They are produced by accelerating charges and therefore they propagate through space at the speed of light, 3.00X108 m/s. Electric fields and magnetic fields can be generated in free space because a change in a magnetic field produces an electric field, and a change in electric current, or a change in the electric field produces a magnetic field. Due to the fact that these two fields are constantly going back and forth and occur naturally on earth, they generate EM waves in free space.

Is there any other vital information I am missing on this topic? Thank you!

Explanation / Answer

To produce the EM waves , a charge can be moved at some acceleration since an accelerating charge produce both electric and magnetic field .

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