Observation of scalar longitudinal electrodynamic waves

– 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 433.59MHz 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 4.0m above ground and receiver 4.4m 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], ∇2Φ− ∂Φ/∂tc = −4πρ, (1) where ρ is the source charge density. Solutions to this wave equation (1) are scalar waves, where the energy flux S and density D are given by S = −∇Φ ∂Φ/∂t, D = (∇Φ)2/2 + (∂Φ/∂tc)/2. (2) A spherical surface with a uniform periodic changing net charge q is equivalent to a pulsating point charge density at r′ given by ρ = qδ( r − r′) sin(ωt). (3) The solution to the wave equation (1) with the source charge density given by eq. (3) is for r′ = 0 Φ = q sin(kr − ωt)/r, (4) where k = 2π/λ is the propagation constant and ω = 2πf is the angular frequency. Here, λ stands for wavelength, where λ = c/f , whereby f is the frequency of the transmitted signal