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In defense of the cross-product



Hi all-
I like the cross-product because it tells me quickly how to apply
the right hand rule, and a do not forget that the cross-product
(pseudovector) describes an (oriented) area. Without invoking the
cross-product, answer the following: right-handed coordinates (x,y,z), an
e-m wave in the +z-direction is polarized with the E-vector along the
x-axis. An electron, at rest at a very early time before the e-m wave is
turned on, will move which way?
Related question? What language do I us to describe what us older
guys called E-cross-B drift?
Comment: The algebra of the Dirac matrices is the familiar
special Clifford algebra.
Regards,
Jack

--
"But as much as I love and respect you, I will beat you and I will kill
you, because that is what I must do. Tonight it is only you and me, fish.
It is your strength against my intelligence. It is a veritable potpourri
of metaphor, every nuance of which is fraught with meaning."
Greg Nagan from "The Old Man and the Sea" in
<The 5-MINUTE ILIAD and Other Classics>