Why are electromagnetic waves called waves even though they don't travel through a medium?

ljudskija7s

ljudskija7s

Answered question

2022-08-13

Why are electromagnetic waves called waves even though they don't travel through a medium?

Answer & Explanation

Clare Chung

Clare Chung

Beginner2022-08-14Added 9 answers

The definition of a wave is not that it is the oscillation of a medium. Waves are called waves because they are solutions to a wave equation, which is, for a generic "excitation" A ( t , x ) depending on the time t and some spatial coordinate x R n , of the general form
2 A t 2 = c 2 Δ A
where Δ is the Laplacian for the spatial coordinate. The wave equation, in turn, is called a wave equation because it is precisely the equation that governs the archetypical system where a wave occurs - that of masses linearly connected by springs.
While a wave equation may arise from considering a medium, a medium is not necessary for a wave equation to occur, as Maxwell's equations and the disproof of almost all luminiferous aether theories show.

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