The Physical Nature of Electromagnetic Waves

Frederick David Tombe,

Northern Ireland, United Kingdom,
[email protected]
12th January 2021

Abstract. Since Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell wrote his Treatise
in 1873, it has generally been believed that wireless electromagnetic
radiation consists of sinusoidally oscillating electric and magnetic fields,
perpendicular to each other and mutually perpendicular to the direction of
propagation. The reasons as to why Maxwell concluded these mutually
perpendicular orientations will now be investigated, as will the issue of the
relative phase in time as between these electric and magnetic disturbances.

The Electromagnetic Momentum

I. An analysis of the physical nature of electromagnetic waves begins in chapter

XX of Maxwell’s 1873 paper “A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” [1]. A
summary, translated into the more familiar modern vector notation and using SI
units, will now follow. (See the conversion chart at Appendix I)
At section 790, entitled ‘Plane Waves’, Maxwell begins by proposing the
existence of a plane wave moving with a front that is normal to the z-axis. He
begins by recalling the equation of magnetic induction, ∇×A = B, which had its
origins in the sea of molecular vortices that was explained in his earlier 1861
paper “On Physical Lines of Force” [2]. Although Maxwell was no longer
overtly promoting the sea of molecular vortices at this stage, the equation of
magnetic induction nevertheless still implies a rotation axis. The magnetic
induction vector, B, which Maxwell refers to as the magnetic disturbance, is an
axial vector representing the vorticity density of a circulating electromagnetic
momentum, denoted by the vector field, A.
The equation of magnetic induction tells us, that as well as being mutually
perpendicular, A and B will be in the same phase as each other in time since
there is no differential time-dependence involved in their mutual relationship.
Equation (13) is a projection of the three-dimensional vortex equation, ∇×A =
B, unto a two-dimensional xy-plane, with A being dependent only on the

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propagation direction, z. The vectors A and B both lie in this xy-plane, this
being the plane of the wave.

Magnetic and Electric Disturbances

II. In this investigation it is important that careful attention is paid to Maxwell’s

terminologies, since these can be the source of much confusion. At equation
(14), Maxwell introduces the reciprocal curl equation to ∇×A = B in the form of
Ampère’s Circuital Law, μJ = ∇×B = −∇2A, where μ is the magnetic
permeability of the luminiferous medium. Equation (14) is similarly reduced to
a two-dimensional projection in the xy-plane, and the electric disturbance, just
like the magnetic disturbance, B, is also in the plane of the wave. By the term
electric disturbance, Maxwell is referring to the electric current term, J. It
further follows from μJ = ∇×B, that J and B, as well as being mutually
perpendicular, will also be in the same time-phase, since they don’t possess a
differential time-dependent relationship with each other.

The Wave Equation in the Electromagnetic Momentum

III. Maxwell introduces the differential time-dependent relationship J = ∂D/∂t

as equation (15), where D is the electric displacement vector. This is necessary
because a wave equation cannot be derived on curls alone since curls only
involve spatial derivatives. The differential time-dependence involved in
equation (15) ensures that if J and D are sinusoidal functions in time, then they
will be out of time-phase with each other by ninety degrees. Hence, in such a
circumstance, while the electric disturbance, J, and the electric displacement,
D, will be out of phase with each other in time by ninety degrees, the electric
disturbance, J, will be in time-phase with the magnetic disturbance, B. At
equation (16), Maxwell writes the electric elasticity equation, D = εEK, where ε
is the electric permittivity of the luminiferous medium. The vector fields D and
EK are hence both parallel and in time-phase with each other. At equation (17),
Maxwell introduces the electromotive force equation, EK = −∂A/∂t, where EK is
the force induced by a time-changing magnetic field as per Faraday’s law of
induction. This is the other significant time derivative equation that is essential
to the derivation of the wave equation. In this context, the electric disturbance,
J, then becomes Maxwell’s displacement current and it becomes
indistinguishable in practice from the electromagnetic momentum, A, except for
the fact that displacement current is only significant in the dynamic state and
not in the steady state. See the article entitled, “Displacement Current and the
Electrotonic State” [3].

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 Maxwell then combines these equations to derive the EM wave equation in
the electromagnetic momentum, A, at equation (19), with the speed of light
emerging through the well-known relationship, c2 = 1/με. Meanwhile it is
important to remember that the numerical value of ε is established
experimentally by discharging a capacitor, and that Maxwell relied on the 1855
Weber-Kohlrausch experiment, [4].

The Sinusoidal Solutions

IV. At equation (20), Maxwell presents plane wave solutions to the components
of the wave equation in the electromagnetic momentum, A. Next, he considers
the case of plane polarized light where A is parallel to the x-axis, and he
introduces the concept of magnetic force, H, through the equation, B = μH. It
follows therefore that B is parallel to H, and Maxwell concludes that H must be
parallel to the y-axis. This conclusion, however, hinges on the assumption that
we are dealing with plane waves in the xy-plane, along with the fact that we
already know that A and B are perpendicular to each other. Maxwell further
states that the electromotive force, EK, which drives the electric disturbance, J,
must be parallel to the x-axis, but it is unclear as to how he arrived at this
conclusion unless he was merely assuming that the electric disturbance, J,
which we know through Ampére’s circuital law to be perpendicular to B, would
naturally be parallel to the electromotive force, EK, which drives it. This may
not however be so where gyroscopics are involved.
Meanwhile we know from the equation B = μH, that B and H will be in
phase with each other in time since there is no differential time-dependence in
their mutual relationship. However, from Fig. 66, it would appear as though
Maxwell believes that the magnetic force, H, is in time-phase with the electric
displacement, D. But while the electric disturbance, J, is in time-phase with the
magnetic disturbance, B, and hence also with the magnetic force, H, we also
know from equations (15) and (16) that it is out of phase in time, by ninety
degrees, with both the electric displacement, D, and the electromotive force,
EK. It appears therefore that Maxwell has overlooked this fact and wrongly
ascribed the same time-phase to both the electric disturbance, J, and the
electric displacement, D, and hence wrongly ascribed the same time-phase to
both the magnetic force, H, and the electric displacement, D. This point can be
similarly argued from the electromagnetic induction equation, EK = −∂A/∂t, in
that, since EK and D are in time-phase with each other, and both are ninety
degrees out of phase in time with A, then since A is in time-phase with both B
and H, it follows that both B and H will be out of phase in time by ninety
degrees with both EK and D. But what we don’t know, is whether Maxwell’s
error was due to what has been stated in the above paragraph, or due, simply, to
his presumption that EM waves are plane waves.

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 Meanwhile, the modern textbooks perpetuate Maxwell’s presumption of
plane wave sinusoidal solutions in B and EK, and these solutions are then used
to apparently prove that B and EK are in time-phase with each other, as per
Maxwell’s Fig. 66. However, these sinusoidal solutions ignore the full three-
dimensional physical interrelationships between A, B, and EK, within the
context of the vortices through which they were initially defined, whereby A is
the circumferential momentum density, B is the vorticity density, and EK is the
circumferential force that causes the angular acceleration. The sinusoidal
solutions ignore the fact that an electromagnetic wave involves a chain reaction
of precessing vortices, in which the energy is exchanged between neighbouring
vortices when B is pointing along the direction of wave propagation. See
“Wireless Telegraphy Beyond the Near Magnetic Field” [5]. The textbook
solutions only consider the projection of B perpendicular to the direction of
propagation where it appears to have reached its maximum magnitude at the
same moment in time when EK reaches its maximum magnitude. In actual fact
though, B reaches its absolute maximum magnitude when it has rotated
downwards, parallel to the direction of propagation, and so EK and B are
actually out of phase in time by ninety degrees. This is exactly what we would
expect where EK represents the fine-grained force (torque) and B represents the
fine-grained (rotational) kinetic energy.
Returning to section 790 in Maxwell’s treatise and reading on beyond
Fig.66, Maxwell talks about a ray of plane polarized light containing both
magnetic disturbances and electric disturbances that are mutually perpendicular
to each other and he questions whether the plane of polarization is parallel to the
magnetic disturbance or to the electric disturbance. Further down in section 797,
he concludes that things best fit with Fresnel’s equations if the plane of
polarization is perpendicular to the electric disturbance. Some people have
difficulty with the concept of a polarization filter permitting two mutually
perpendicular disturbances to pass through. However, this problem is swiftly
solved once we realize that these vectors refer to mechanical parameters in tiny
electric dipolar fluid vortices that fill all of space [6], [7], and that the energy flow
mechanism in an electromagnetic wave possesses only a singular physical
nature. In radio waves, the vector fields, A, B, H, D, and EK, relate to these tiny
vortices. The magnetic field is only an axial vector field representing a vortex
rotation axis, and in a radio wave these tiny vortices are not remotely on the
scale of the wavelength of the actual radio wave itself. The magnetic fields
involved in radio waves, as well as constantly changing direction, are on the
picoscopic scale, and so they cannot therefore be detected by a compass in the
manner of a laboratory-scale steady state magnetic field.

4
 Conclusion

V. In his 1864 paper “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field”, [8],

Maxwell derived an electromagnetic wave equation in the magnetic
disturbance, B, while in his 1873 Treatise [1], he derived an electromagnetic
wave equation in the vector field, A, where A denotes the electromagnetic
momentum. In each case, Maxwell concluded that B, which is equal to μH, is in
the plane of the wave. In the 1873 Treatise, as per Fig.66, he further concluded
that the magnetic force, H, will be perpendicular to the electric displacement,
D, which will also be in the plane of the wave.
It has been suggested in “Wireless Telegraphy Beyond the Near Magnetic
Field” [5], that these vectors apply on the picoscopic scale in connection with
Maxwell’s molecular vortices, and that these vortices undergo a complete 180
degrees tumble (precession), and back up again, during the transit of an
electromagnetic wave pulse, with the precessional axis of the H field (H can be
used interchangeably with B in all of these arguments) being perpendicular to
the direction of propagation, and the direction of propagation being in the plane
of the precessing H vector. And this will be so, no matter what the relative
orientation is as between the direction of propagation and the prevailing
background magnetic field lines. This same paper, [5], additionally explains how
the act of precessing is crucial to the energy flow process in the EM wave, and
that the orientation of EK relative to H depends on the angle between the
direction of propagation and the prevailing background magnetic field lines.
Providing though, that we fix the parameters A, B, H, D, and EK within the
body of an individual vortex as it precesses, then in the context of an
electromagnetic wave, Maxwell will be correct, at least with respect to the
relative orientations of these parameters. B and H however will not in general
be perpendicular to the direction of the wave propagation. The plane wave
sinusoidal solutions in the textbooks truncate the full picture of the precessing
vortices as they precess on an axis perpendicular to the direction of propagation,
hence eliminating the z-components of B and H.
In the 1937 Encyclopaedia Britannica, an article entitled “Ether (in
physics)”, [9], appeared, written by Sir Oliver Lodge. Lodge states, in relation to
the speed of light, that,

“The most probable surmise or guess at present is that the ether is a perfectly
incompressible continuous fluid, in a state of fine-grained vortex motion,
circulating with that same enormous speed. For it has been partly, though as
yet incompletely, shown that such a vortex fluid would transmit waves of the
same general nature as light waves— i.e., periodic disturbances across the
line of propagation—and would transmit them at a rate of the same order of
magnitude as the vortex or circulation speed”.

5
 It is unclear in the article as to who was promoting this idea, but the idea
seems to have been shelved after the second world war. It’s difficult however to
believe that whoever wrote it was not on the right tracks. It would be interesting
to find out whose idea this was. According to Tesla, mankind knew long ago
that space was rendered into tiny whirls. In an unpublished article written in
1907, [10], Tesla states,

“Long ago he (mankind) recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a
primary substance, of a tenuity beyond conception and filling all space - the
Akasha or luminiferous ether - which is acted upon by the life-giving Prana
or creative force, calling into existence, in never ending cycles, all things and
phenomena. The primary substance, thrown into infinitesimal whirls of
prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the motion
ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance”.

And in the 1910 E.T. Whittaker chronology of aether history, [11], it reads,

“All space, according to the younger Bernoulli, is permeated by a fluid aether,

containing an immense number of excessively small whirlpools. The elasticity
which the aether appears to possess, and in virtue of which it is able to
transmit vibrations, is really due to the presence of these whirlpools; for,
owing to centrifugal force, each whirlpool is continually striving to dilate, and
so presses against the neighbouring whirlpools.

And so, it is concluded that wireless electromagnetic radiation is a

sinusoidal fine-grained vortex-gyroscopic process, that while plane polarizable,
cannot be accurately described in terms of being exclusively transverse or
longitudinal. EK and H are mutually perpendicular within an individual vortex
while being out of phase with each other by ninety degrees in time. The
situation is different however in the case of a DC transmission line pulse. This
will be a non-sinusoidal propagation where the electric field is an electrostatic
ES field in time-phase with the magnetic H field, with both fields being
measurable on the laboratory scale [12].

References

[1] Maxwell, J.C., “A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” Volume II, Chapter XX,
‘Plane Waves’, Section 790, pp. 389-390, (1873)
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Treatise_on_Electricity_and_Magnetism/Part_IV/Chapter_XX

[2] Maxwell, J.C., “On Physical Lines of Force”, Philosophical Magazine, Volume XXI,
Fourth Series, Part II, eqn. 55, London, (1861)
http://vacuum-physics.com/Maxwell/maxwell_oplf.pdf

6
[3] Tombe, F.D., “Displacement Current and the Electrotonic State”, (2008)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303112543_Displacement_Current_and_the_Electrotonic_S
tate

[4] Tombe, F.D., “The 1855 Weber-Kohlrausch Experiment (The Speed of Light)”, (2019)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332411168_The_1855_Weber-
Kohlrausch_Experiment_The_Speed_of_Light

[5] Tombe, F.D., “Wireless Radiation Beyond the Near Magnetic Field”, (2019)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335169091_Wireless_Radiation_Beyond_the_Near_Magnet
ic_Field

[6] Tombe, F.D., “The Double Helix Theory of the Magnetic Field”, (2006)
Galilean Electrodynamics, Volume 24, Number 2, p.34, (March/April 2013)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295010637_The_Double_Helix_Theory_of_the_Magnetic_
Field

[7] Tombe, F.D., “The Double Helix and the Electron-Positron Aether”, (2017)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319914395_The_Double_Helix_and_the_Electron-
Positron_Aether

[8] Maxwell, J.C., “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field”, Philos. Trans. Roy.
Soc. London 155, pp 459-512 (1865). Abstract: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
13, pp. 531—536, (1864).
The derivation of the electromagnetic wave equation in H begins on page 497 in the first link.
Then see the note at the top of page 499 in the second link.
http://www.zpenergy.com/downloads/Maxwell_1864_4.pdf
http://www.zpenergy.com/downloads/Maxwell_1864_5.pdf

[9] Lodge, Sir Oliver, “Ether (in physics)”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Fourteenth Edition,
Volume 8, Pages 751-755, (1937)
The quote below is in relation to the speed of light,
“The most probable surmise or guess at present is that the ether is a perfectly
incompressible continuous fluid, in a state of fine-grained vortex motion, circulating with
that same enormous speed. For it has been partly, though as yet incompletely, shown that
such a vortex fluid would transmit waves of the same general nature as light waves— i.e.,
periodic disturbances across the line of propagation—and would transmit them at a rate of
the same order of magnitude as the vortex or circulation speed”
The article then goes on to cite Lord Kelvin, “The Vortex Theory of Ether,” Phil. Mag.
(1887) and Math. and Phys. Papers, vol. iv. and passim; also G. F. FitzGerald, Proc. Roy.
Dub. Soc. (1899), or Collected Papers, pp. 154, 238, 472.
http://gsjournal.net/Science-
Journals/Historical%20PapersMechanics%20/%20Electrodynamics/Download/4105

[10] O’Neill, John J., “PRODIGAL GENIUS, Biography of Nikola Tesla”, Long Island,
New York, 15th July 1944, Fourth Part, paragraph 23, quoting Tesla from his 1907 paper
“Man’s Greatest Achievement” which was published in 1930 in the Milwaukee Sentinel,
“Long ago he (mankind) recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a primary
substance, of a tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the Ākāśa or luminiferous
ether, which is acted upon by the life-giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence,
in never ending cycles, all things and phenomena. The primary substance, thrown into

7
infinitesimal whirls of prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the
motion ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance.”
http://www.rastko.rs/istorija/tesla/oniell-tesla.html
http://www.ascension-research.org/tesla.html

[11] Whittaker, E.T., “A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity”, Chapter 4,
pages 100-102, (1910)
“All space, according to the younger Bernoulli, is permeated by a fluid aether, containing
an immense number of excessively small whirlpools. The elasticity which the aether
appears to possess, and in virtue of which it is able to transmit vibrations, is really due to
the presence of these whirlpools; for, owing to centrifugal force, each whirlpool is
continually striving to dilate, and so presses against the neighbouring whirlpools. It will be
seen that Bernoulli is a thorough Cartesian in spirit; not only does he reject action at a
distance, but he insists that even the elasticity of his aether shall be explicable in terms of
matter and motion. This aggregate of small vortices, or " fine-grained turbulent motion,"
as it came to be called a century and a half later,* is interspersed with solid corpuscles,
whose dimensions are small compared with their distances apart. These are pushed about
by the whirlpools whenever the aether is disturbed, but never travel far from their original
positions. A source of light communicates to its surroundings a disturbance which
condenses the nearest whirlpools; these by their condensation displace the contiguous
corpuscles from their equilibrium position; and these in turn produce condensations in the
whirlpools next beyond them, so that vibrations are propagated in every direction from the
luminous point. It is curious that Bernoulli speaks of these vibrations as longitudinal, and
actually contrasts them with those of a stretched cord, which, "when it is slightly displaced
from its rectilinear form, and then let go, performs transverse vibrations in a direction at
right angles to the direction of the cord." When it is remembered that the objection to
longitudinal vibrations, on the score of polarization, had already been clearly stated by
Newton, and that Bernoulli's aether closely resembles that which Maxwell invented in
1861-2 for the express purpose of securing transversality of vibration, one feels that
perhaps no man ever so narrowly missed a great discovery. Bernoulli explained refraction
by combining these ideas with those of his father. Within the pores of ponderable bodies
the whirlpools are compressed, so the centrifugal force must vary in intensity from one
medium to another. Thus a corpuscle situated in the interface between two media is acted
on by a greater elastic force from one medium than from the other; and by applying the
triangle of forces to find the- conditions of its equilibrium, the law of Snell and Descartes
may be obtained. * Cf . Lord Kelvin's vortex-sponge aether, described later in this work.”

[12] Tombe, F.D., “The Deeper Physical Nature of Electric Current”, (2022)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363887411_The_Deeper_Physical_Nature_of_Electric_Cur
rent

Appendix I
(Conversion Chart)

Electromagnetic Momentum, A → F, G, H

Magnetic Disturbance, - - - -, B → a, b, c

Magnetic Permeability, - - - , μ → μ

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Electric Disturbance, - - - - -, J → u, v, w

Electric Displacement, - - - -, D → f, g, h

Electric Permittivity, - - - - -, ε → K/4π

Electromotive Force, - - - - -, EK → P, Q, R

Magnetic Force, y-axis, - - - , Hy → (1/μ)dF/dz (B = μH = ∇×A)