Transmission line illustrated by waverlies

This is actually a story board for an educational cartoon. Illustrations used by permission.

Captions for the illustrations

1. Meet Right Waverly. He is a little piece of an electromagnetic wave. His extended arm indicates the direction of his magnetic (H) field. His head indicates his electric (E) field. His nose is his Poynting vector. He is whimsically propelled on a unicycle propelled by a one-cylinder engine. 2. Meet Left Waverly. He is the opposite of his twin, but he accomplished the same thing. 3. A hoard of Waverly brothers propagating out from the cross section of a coaxial cable. You can see how their fields link up to produce a radial E-field and a circular H field. As depicted, there would be an excess of electrons on the center conductor. 4. Same as #3, but a side view. A source, out of sight on the left, forces electrons onto the center conductor, where they drift toward the right. They flow through the load and return to the source by drifting to the left on the shield. The excess electrons on the center conductor and the deficit on the shield establish the electric (E) field. The electron drift established the magnetic (H) field. Since the load is matched to the characteristic impedance of the cable, the Waverlies are absorbed without reflections. 5. An electron captures a Waverly! Whimsy again. An electron captures a Waverly by grabbing onto the axle of a passing Waverly. This illustrated [Snell's law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snell%27s_law) for conductors. The ratio of phase velocity in the conductor to phase velocity in the dielectric medium is so small that all electromagnetic waves enter good conductors at an angle that is normal (within micro radians) to the surface. Waverly propagates into the conductor, giving up all its energy to heating the conductor. Notice that the E-field inside the conductor is parallel to the surface of the conductor and radial in the dielectric. 6. Waverly is reflected by a short circuit. Waverly propagates along the center conductor, rides the short circuit up to the shield and goes back toward the source. Notice that Waverly's electric field points the opposite direction, but the magnetic field does not. *Short circuits invert voltage pulses.* 7. Waverly is reflected by an open circuit. Waverly propagates along the center conductor, rides across the center conductor, and goes back toward the source. Notice that Waverly's electric field still points radially outward from the center conductor, effectively doubling the electric field at the open circuit. The magnetic field of the reflection circulates in the opposite direction. *Open circuits double voltage pulse without changing their polarity*.

This was a cartoon that I was going to animate but never got around to it.

I hope you enjoy it.

The author of the illustrations grants a [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) (attribute and share alike) license for reuse.