Jim Kelley wrote:
I said it because waves do
not, according to the definition of the word, 'act upon one another'.

But they can act upon one another, Jim. The Florida State web
page says so. The Melles-Groit web page says so. It says their
energy components are redistributed. How can their energy
components be redistributed if they have no effect on each
other? You really need to join me in the s-parameter analysis.

b1 = s11(a1) + s12(a2)

That's phasor math proving that components of waves a1 and
a2 have an effect on b1 and therefore on each other. Every
time two coherent waves are collinear in the same direction
in a transmission line, they have an effect on each other.
It's called interference, either constructive or destructive.

If Hecht actually weighed in on the subject, he would agree with Roy.

Good grief, Jim, now you are mind-fornicating Hecht. Hecht
would certainly not agree with your obviously false assertions.

His use of the term caused you to infer something that he, I assure
you, did not intend to imply.

Your assurance and three bucks will get me a cup of Starbucks.

Take a look at the interference pattern created in space by two,
separated, coherent, point sources of light. The light waves
propagating from each point sources have absolutely no effect on each
other as they pass through one another, alternately interfering
destructively and constructively as they continue to propagate totally
unaffected by the process.

Yes, because they are not collinear. If they don't intersect,
they also don't interfere. You can find billions of cases where
they don't interfere. That doesn't mean they don't ever interfere.

Just as illustrated on the Florida State web page, when coherent
waves are also collinear, as they are in a transmission line, they
merge into the total wave and cease to exist as separate wave
components.

b1 = s11(a1) + s12(a2)

s11(a1) and s12(a2) lose their identities and merge into b1.
If your statements were true, an s-parameter analysis wouldn't
be valid but it is. Therefore, your statements are false. That's
why you need to wade through an s-parameter analysis because
you don't understand what happens or comprehend the physics
behind it.

It doesn't matter which direction they're traveling;

On the contrary, coherent waves traveling in the same direction
in a transmission line are *collinear*. They merge and permanently
interfere with each other thus proving your strange assertions to
be false.

I've already made the differences as clear as I possibly can in every
way I can think of, Cecil.

But you are uttering assertions that are patently false. Given
two coherent waves traveling in the same direction in a Z0
transmission line, with equal magnitudes, V, and equal phases,
0 deg, what is the total magnitude? Do you even know how to do
phasor math?

V at 0 deg + V at 0 deg = ____________________________

If you need help, ask your supervisor what the answer is.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com