Observation of scalar longitudinal electrodynamic waves

PACS. 41.20.-q – Applied classical electromagnetism. PACS. 41.20.Jb – Electromagnetic wave propagation; radiowave propagation. Abstract. – Theoretically scalar potential Φ waves with a longitudinal electric field E in the direction of propagation must exist. A centrally fed ball antenna, 6 cm diameter, producing a pulsating 433.59 MHz spherical source charge, generated such a wave, that was detected by an identical ball antenna. The longitudinality of E was demonstrated by intervening a cubic array of 9 half-wavelength wires, that absorbed the wave when the wires were parallel (but not when perpendicular) to the direction of propagation. The signal from the ball antenna source, placed 4.0 m above ground and receiver 4.4 m above ground, was measured as a function of distance, yielding satisfactory agreement with theory, including 2 expected interference minima produced by an image source induced in the Earth. Only waves can yield such an interference and can be reflected from the Earth’s surface and vary as the inverse square of distance. Theory. – From Coulomb’s law, the scalar potential Φ is a solution to Laplace’s equation. Introducing time retardation, Φ becomes a solution to the inhomogeneous wave equation [1–3], ∇ 2 Φ − ∂ 2 Φ 2 /∂t 2 c 2 = −4πρ, (1)