Talk:Mathematical descriptions of opacity

Latest comment: 8 years ago by Sbyrnes321 in topic Wave impedance

Wave impedance edit

Isn't the wave impedance (or characteristic impedance) another synonym, when the permability is near 1, as it often is in many materials? 178.38.79.132 (talk) 20:16, 26 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

It's surely possible to describe wave absorption in a bulk medium via a complex impedance, Z=sqrt(μ/ε) using the complex ε. But I don't think I've ever seen this usage. Have you? (I have seen people describe wave absorption on a transmission line using complex Z, but not in a bulk medium.) --Steve (talk) 13:01, 28 May 2015 (UTC)Reply