WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Reading Hertz's Own Dipole Theory

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plot type
contour
normalized time
plot point density
contour density
3D peak height
3D opacity
boxing & axes
shading
shading style
Automatic
contour style
Automatic
mesh style
Automatic
2D plot range r
2D plot range z
The plot depicts the time evolution of the lines of force of the electric field around a Hertzian dipole. It straightforwardly visualizes the function
Q
n
=
2
sin
θcosΦ+
1
kR
sinΦ
(see Details for further information).
Thus it recomputes Hertz's famous figures that he had created for several instants of time in the interval
0,
3
8
T
,
T
being the period of short dipole electric oscillations. The lines of force are plotted in the
z
-
r
plane in a square of size approximately
3
2
λ×
3
2
λ
, where λ is the corresponding wavelength. Note that the reader may reproduce questionable ranges (i.e. at
t
=
0.395T
) of Hertz’s diagrams, including the self-intersecting lines of force.