Question

A long, thin steel wire is cur in half, and each half is connected to a different terminal of a light bulb. An electromagnetic plane wave with E(x, y, z, t) = E(naught)sin(kx-wt)y(hat) and B(x, y, z, t) = B(naught)sin(kx-wt)z(hat) moves past the wire. Suppose the wire were oriented parallel to the y-axis, would the bulb glow in this case?

Answer 1

You have a light wave moving in the x direction, with an E field varying in the y direction and a B field varying perpendicular to x and y in the z direction. The E field and the B field should produce some alternating voltage in the wire and perhaps light the bulb, as the wire serves as an antenna.