Open AccessThe bending of electric waves round a conducting obstacle
Publication year - 1903
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9126
pISSN - 0370-1662
DOI - 10.1098/rspl.1902.0094
Subject(s) - obstacle , physics , surface (topology) , classical mechanics , point (geometry) , shadow (psychology) , surface wave , expression (computer science) , mechanics , motion (physics) , mechanical wave , love wave , acoustics , mathematics , longitudinal wave , wave propagation , optics , computer science , geometry , psychology , political science , law , psychotherapist , programming language
1. The mathematical theory of the formation of a shadow when waves impinge on an obstacle rests on an application of Huygens’ principle, which may be stated in the form that, if a closed surface S be drawn, enclosing all the sources of the waves, the circumstances that obtain at any point outside this surface at a definite time can be expressed in terms of the state of affairs at the surface S at previous times. For waves of sound, the usual analytical expression involves a knowledge of both the velocity potential of the motion and the velocity normal to the surface S at each point of it for all time; for electric waves, which may be taken to include waves of light, it requires a knowledge of both the electric and magnetic forces tangential to the surface S for all time.