Momento (Jul 2004)
Método de Hertz para solucionar las ecuaciones de Maxwell: El caso del dipolo oscilante
Abstract
By the end of the 19th century, Hertz developed an original procedure for the solution of Maxwell equations. He introduced the so-called Hertz potentials (Πe, Πm), which have the very interesting property of making Maxwell equations symmetrical. Application of Hertz’s method to the solution of the oscillating electric dipole is based on a scalar function Q, which is proportional to the electric flux. In this way, the electromagnetic field (E,H) becomes a function of electric flux only. For its pedagogical value, in this paper we describe Hertz’s method, which is neither widely known, nor easily available to most students and researchers. Additionally, we describe in some detail Hertz’s procedure to build the graphs of the electric field (the latter were obtained by Hertz for the first time, and are reproduced in many intermediate textbooks without any explanation), and present the companion graphs for the magnetic field associated with the dipole.
