Question

This is the question given with what i thought was the answers however i am wrong. please include explanations with resonse or mayb draw out a grahh with what the wave is doing

A plane-polarized electromagnetic wave is incident normally on a flat, perfectly conducting surface. Upon reflection at the surface, answer the following statements True or False.

F The electric vector is reversed; the magnetic vector is not.

F The magnetic vector is reversed; the electric vector is not.

F The directions of the electric and magnetic vectors are interchanged.

F Neither the electric vector nor the magnetic vector is reversed.

T Both the electric vector and magnetic vector are reversed.

Answer 1

Answer- The first statement is true and rest are false. TFFFF

Expalnantion - Electric field inside a conductor is zero. So electromagnetic wave cannot propagate inside conducting medium. So wave gets reflected back. Since the wave is incident normally, electric field and magnetic field componenet will be along the interface. Now electric field component along the interface remains equal (continuity of parallel component of electric field). Since electric field inside conductor is zero. It implies electric field component outside conductor along interface is also zero. This can happen only when electric field component of incident wave and reflected wave cancel each other. In other words, electric field gets reveresed. Since wave direction and electric field direction are reversed, using right hand rule, it can be seen that magnetic field propagates in the same direction as earlier.