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Energy density and flux of a plane electromagnetic wave
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Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge
/
2023
/
ib
/
Paper 1
/
15D
/
d
/
Solution
Created
2026-09-24
Updated
2026-10-03
View more
The source-
free
equations
imply
k
⋅
E
0
=
0
,
ω
=
c
∣
k
∣
, and
B
=
ω
k
×
E
0
sin
(
k
⋅
x
−
ω
t
)
.
(1)
Therefore
S
=
μ
0
ω
E
0
×
(
k
×
E
0
)
sin
2
(
k
⋅
x
−
ω
t
)
=
ϵ
0
c
∣
E
0
∣
2
sin
2
(
k
⋅
x
−
ω
t
)
k
.
(2)
It is parallel to
k
, and its period
average
is
⟨
S
⟩
=
2
1
ϵ
0
c
∣
E
0
∣
2
k
.
(3)
The
average
electric and
magnetic energy
densities
are equal:
⟨
u
E
⟩
=
⟨
u
B
⟩
=
4
1
ϵ
0
∣
E
0
∣
2
.
(4)
Hence
⟨
u
⟩
=
ϵ
0
∣
E
0
∣
2
/2
and
⟨
S
⟩
=
c
⟨
u
⟩
k
,
as
summarized by
energy density and flux of a plane electromagnetic wave
.
Total
articles
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