Classical electromagnetic waves

Classical electromagnetic waves

The quantum particle of light is called a photon. Light has both a wave-like and [url=http://www.utsource.net/CAPACITOR VARIABLE.html]CAPACITOR VARIABLE[/url] a particle-like nature. In other words, light can appear to be made of photons in some experiments and light can act like waves in other experiments. The dynamics STRZ4479 of classical electromagnetic waves are completely determined by Maxwell's equations, the classical description of electrodynamics. In the absence of sources, Maxwell's equations can be written as wave equations in the electric SIE20031 and magnetic field vectors. Maxwell's equations thus describe, among other things, the wave-like properties of light. When classical (coherent or thermal) light is incident on a photographic plate or CCD, the average number of hits, dots, or clicks STK795-815 per unit time that result is approximately proportional to the square of the electromagnetic fields of the light. By formal analogy, the wavefunction of a material particle can be used to find the probability density by taking its absolute-value squared. Unlike electromagnetic X802478-003 fields, quantum-mechanical wavefunctions are complex. (Often in the case of EM fields complex notation is used for convenience, but it is understood that in actual fact the fields are real. On the contrary, wavefunctions are genuinely complex.)