Module 3 : Wave Model
Lecture   : Wave Model
b)
 The wave equation is to be solved for and which are scalar quantities. So in general the wave equation is

solved for a scalar function , where represents either or .

Writing the above wave equation in terms of the scalar function we get

 

________ (8)

8.
 For a general solution of the wave equation we apply separation of variables. We assume the solution as
 

Let us assume that the fields are time harmonic fields, that is, all electric and magnetic field components have time variation . That is,

                   

Equation (8) then becomes

1