/sci/ - Science & Math

It seems like there is some confusion around what exactly a wave is. I think this stems from the fact that the person arguing against wave particle duality has never taken a course in E&M, quantum mechanics, or PDE's. A wave is something that obeys the wave equation, which is a partial differential equation. Pic related, an abbreviated derivation of a wave equation for electric field from Maxwell's equations. A similar derivation can find a wave equation for magnetic field as well. Because the magnetic and electric fields obey wave equations, they are waves. The values of the electric and magnetic fields are related by Maxwell's equations, so the electric and magnetic waves evolve together, making an electromagnetic wave. This wave is called light. The thing that is "waving" is the magnitude of the two fields.