Jim Kelley wrote:

Roy Lewallen wrote:

Jim Kelley wrote:


Hi Roy -

It's certainly true that a moving charge generates a magnetic field,
so perhaps I'm reading it wrong. But it appears to me that Mr.
Bailey is arguing here that an electron cannot be compelled to move
simply by the application of an electric field. Do you think that is
what he is saying? Do you agree?



No, I don't believe he's saying that. He says,

The small electric vector acts on the internal electrons of
the conductor and impresses a direction force, tending to drive the
electrons along the skin of the conductor in the direction of the
electric vector. . .


Yes. But then he goes on to say,

How, then, is the electric vector from the electromagnetic wave going
to put these electrons in motion?


That's what I was referring to. Do you understand why he would pose
this question if he believed he had already given the answer in the
paragraph you quoted? He shoulda quit while he was ahead maybe? ;-)

Well, it's obvious that an electric field can move an electron. The
Lorentz force law tells us how much force results from a given E field,
and we can get the resulting acceleration from Newtonian physics. An
everyday example is an oscilloscope deflection system which uses an
electric field to deflect electrons. (Actually, modern digital scopes
typically use raster displays with magnetic deflection -- but many of
still have older analog types with electric field deflection.)

But if the antenna conductor were perfect, no E field at all could exist
at the wire surface regardless of the amplitude of the E field of the
oncoming wave. The wave's E field therefore couldn't directly influence
the electrons in the (perfect) conductor. Only the H field of the wave,
then, can induce a current in the perfect conductor. The direct
influence of the E field on an imperfect conductor would be highly
dependent on the conductivity of the wire, and I'd guess it would be
very small compared to the influence of the H field from a typical
oncoming wave on an electron in a good conductor. Maybe that's what he
was saying.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL