Gene Fuller wrote:
Changing the topic again? So soon?

No, just asking questions, Gene, like any grasshopper
worshiping at the feet of a guru is supposed to.
Please stop avoiding the questions with non-technical
diversions.

Do Maxwell's laws abide by the superposition principle?
It is a question with a simple yes/no answer. If they
do abide by the superposition principle, the forward
wave and reflected wave can be analyzed separately
and then superposed. Every individual wave component,
e.g. s11(a1), s12(a2), s21(a2), and s22(a2) can be
analyzed separately and then superposed. What do you get
when you apply Maxwell's equations to s11(a1)? Hopefully,
the same voltage, current, and energy as any other valid
analysis. If not, there's a distinct problem that needs
to be solved.

You made a claim about optical physicists. I pointed out that your claim
is simply not correct.

And I asked you to explain why it is not correct and
you very carefully avoided answering. One wonders why.

I doubt that
many here would expect different physical principles to apply to the two
wavelength regimes.

My point exactly, Gene. The two fields should agree in
every way (except lingo). If you switch from voltage and
current to EM fields, nothing should change. But when you
admit that, you are forced to admit that voltages and
currents associated with EM waves are bound by a set of
restrictions, one of them being that they must at all
times, travel at c(VF) and cannot, by definition, stand
still as long as they exist as EM waves.

Intensity, irradiance, and Poynting vectors are just
different names for the same physical phenomenon. To
assert that power density in a transmission line doesn't
obey the same rules as light intensity is just nonsense.
The energy content of component waves has been known for
decades in the field of optics and it applies just as
well to RF waves as it does to light waves.

The physics does not change, but the mathematical convenience does
change.

My point exactly! No matter what the mathematical convenience,
(except for the lingo) the two fields should agree in every way.
When they appear to disagree, there is a contradiction somewhere.
Seems to me, in the quest to fit EM waves into the voltage and
current mold, some have forgotten that EM waves are not DC.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com