I've often seen it said that in an Electromagnetic Wave the changing Electric Field component creates the Magnetic Field Component and the changing Magnetic Field Component in turn creates an Electric Field Component. This is then used as an explanation that Electromagnetic Waves are "self-sustaining" and do not require a medium.
Do modern Physicists really think about Electromagnetic Waves in this way? Is this kind of propagation "mechanism" really even needed?
The first thing I noticed is that the Electric and Magnetic Field Components oscillate in-phase which suggests (to me at least) that energy isn't being transferred in between them as they both reach their maximum simultaneously.
As well it seems as if the Magnetic Field would be much too weak at 1/c proportional to re-create an Electric Field ~300 million times stronger than it. (See comments.)
Finally if Electromagnetic Waves are simply changes in the Electromagnetic Field propagating through space is any kind of additional "mechanism" even really needed?
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