B A Aničin 2008 Eur. J. Phys. 29 15 doi:10.1088/0143-0807/29/1/002
B A Aničin
Show affiliationsIt is well known that the discoverer of radio waves, Heinrich Hertz, was the first man to apply Maxwell's electrodynamic theory to a problem in radio wave propagation. In this paper, we scrutinize his near-field lines of force using computers and his theory. In one of his four figures, a feature was found which was not to be obtained by computation. This feature, a self-intersecting line of force, more or less a figure of eight, appears strange to the eye. The clarity of the original work by H Hertz on electromagnetic waves should be of great value in both physics and engineering courses. This holds in particular for his Q function, almost completely forgotten today.
41.20.Jb Electromagnetic wave propagation; radiowave propagation
Issue 1 (January 2008)
Received 30 May 2007, in final form 12 July 2007
Published 21 November 2007
B A Aničin 2008 Eur. J. Phys. 29 15
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