7.2   HERTZ EXPERIMENTS

First we must note that the initial experiments of Hertz were about Electromagnetic induction. A vibrator produced high currents in an inductor made by rings. And an induced current was observed in a ring separated at some distance.

The electrons have mass and it will take time to accelerate them and although the Electric and Magnetic Fields are instantaneous, the phenomenon is not because is limited by the ç velocity at which an electron can theoretically be accelerated.

After Maxwell presented his equations electromagnetic waves were theoretically expected. Hertz performed an experiment that seemed to prove the existence of them.

The experiment consists of a radiator driven by an oscillator and a reflecting metal sheet.

Moving the oscillator Hertz detected in some situations successions of maximums and zeros of the signal between the radiator and the reflector. These were the maximums and nodes of a procured standing wave. He measured the distance between the nodes and determined the "wave-length". With the frequency of the oscillator he could determine the velocity of the assumed traveling waves by the relation λυ = c.

This proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves.

It will be presented here a new interpretation of the phenomena.

It is proposed that in Hertz experiment the radiator actually emitted photons and what Hertz detected was not electric or magnetic signals but photons intensity.

Of course, the velocity of the traveling signal should be that of the photons velocity that is c.

The maximums and nodes detected by Hertz should correspond to maximums and the average intensity of photons respectively in that position. Photons are emitted and reflected by the metal sheet and what happens in each of the middle points is not interference but the addition of the intensity (this means quantity) of transmitted and reflected photons.

 To interpret the phenomena in the right manner we must consider that Hertz used antennas to radiate and detect electromagnetic fields and it is proposed here that antennas emit or absorb photons.

The phenomenon is explained with more details in the next section.