Cecil Moore wrote:
Dave wrote:
Cecil, as an engineer you should stick with standard vocabulary.

Just trying to appease the physicists, Dave. They are
arguing that it is not power until work is done. They
say that since reflected energy is not doing any work,
it cannot be reflected power. Therefore, reflected
power doesn't exist. It's purely semantics. The very
essence of an EM wave is its energy content.

So the real question is: Since standing waves obviously
exist and just as obviously cannot exist without two
coherent waves traveling in opposite directions, does
reflected energy exist? (That question seems to cause their
skivvies to get all bunched up.)

I will just be happy when they admit that reflected
EM waves possess a certain amount of energy that cannot
stand still and according to the theory of relativity
must necessarily travel at the speed of light.


Cecil,

Physicists know when power is equal to work and when it represents
undissipated flow of energy. No need to keep beating that dead horse.

I must have missed class the day they talked about obviousness. Why is
it "obvious" that standing waves cannot exist without coherent traveling
waves? Do you believe that traveling waves are somehow more pure or more
fundamental than standing waves?

Have you ever tried working out the mathematical details of the wave
equation when loaded with a standing wave trial solution? Did it explode
or otherwise fail? (Hint, the answer should be "no".)

The question of standing waves or traveling waves is purely one of
mathematical convenience. The physical phenomena are identical
regardless of your choice. Indeed, this is the point that seems to
always trip you. There is no added information from manipulating the
form of the equations. That is the sort of thing, if done carelessly,
that leads to adding power waves and other nonsense.

73,
Gene
W4SZ