ABSTRACT
In 1865, the great Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves (EMWs). His prediction led to the development of wireless communication and to a deeper understanding of a large range of physical phenomena. It is now understood that EMWs are generated when (a) charged particles are accelerated, (b) electrons in atoms make transitions from one atomic energy state to another, (c) nuclear particles make transitions from one nuclear energy state to another, or (d) nuclear particles disintegrate from one form to another. These ideas were not known in Maxwell’s time, but he made his ingenious discovery by investigating the known equations of electricity and magnetism. His exact derivation is beyond the level of this text, but consider the following simplified analysis.
