The basic physics of traveling waves and standing waves are fundamental topics in the education of science and engineering students. These concepts are found in many areas, including classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetism. Typically, laboratory demonstrations of traveling waves and standing waves are based on mechanical systems such as vibrating strings and sound waves. This paper presents a simple benchtop experiment for producing and observing electromagnetic standing waves in a coaxial cable and determining the phase velocity of their underlying component traveling waves. We also discuss the experimental requirements for this experiment.
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