What causes electric and magnetic fields to oscillate, making light?

330 views

What causes electric and magnetic fields to oscillate, making light?

In: 2

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A stationary charge has an electric field around it. If the charge moves, the field can’t move around with it instantaneously. (That would mean information about where the source charge is is travelling faster the speed of light.) But the moving charge does generate a magnetic field.

One way to think about this radiation is that it’s essentially propagating the perturbation in the electric/magnetic fields outward.

So any time you have an electric or magnetic field interact with a charged particle, because the particle moves, there’s a change in the electric/magnetic field.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.