Connexions module: m12884 1

The Electromagnetic Wave

Equation ∗

Paul Padley
This work is produced by The Connexions Project and licensed under the
†
Creative Commons Attribution License

Abstract
We derive the electromagnetic wave equation from Maxwell's equations.

1 The E&M Wave Equation

Lets recall Maxwell's equations in dierential form
→ → →

∇ × E = − ∂∂tB
→ → → →

∇ × B = µ0 J +0 ∂∂tE
→ → ρ
∇ · E= 0
→ →
∇ · B= 0

In free space there are no charges or currents these become:

→ → →

∇ × E = − ∂∂tB
→ → →

∇ × B = µ0 0 ∂∂tE
→ →
∇ · E= 0
→ →
∇ · B= 0

Lets take the time derivative of →

→ → ∂B
∇ × E= −
∂t
→ →
→ ∂E ∂2 B
∇× =− 2
∂t ∂t
→
→ → → ∂2 B
∇ × ∇ × B = −µ0 0 2
∂t
∗ Version 1.1: Jul 19, 2005 2:40 pm GMT-5
† http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

http://cnx.org/content/m12884/1.1/
Connexions module: m12884 2

but recall → → → → → → → → →
∇ × ∇ × C =∇ ∇ · C − ∇ · ∇ C
→ →
so using that and ∇ · B = 0 we get
→
2
→ ∂2 B
∇ B = µ0 0 2
∂t
This is the 3d wave equation! Note that is a second time derivative on one side and a second space derivative
on the other side It is left as an exercise to show that
→
→ ∂2 E
∇2 E = µ0 0
∂t2
we also see from this equation that the speed of light in vacuum is
1
c= √
µ0 0

http://cnx.org/content/m12884/1.1/