An electron of mass m and charge –e moving at time t with speed v and acceleration dv/dt in a straight line, in an electric field E, comes under acceleration by an impressed force –eE. It is proposed that the electron also encounters a radiation reaction force, a kind of frictional force –eEv/c, so that the accelerating force, depending on speed, becomes –eE(1 – v/c) = –m(dv/dt), in accordance with Newton's second law of motion, where c is the speed of light in a vacuum. The electron emits radiation at power eEv2/c, in rectilinear motion, as it reaches a terminal speed equal to that of light c, whereby the impressed force becomes equal and opposite to the radiation reaction force and the acceleration becomes zero. The paper gives an alternative electrodynamics in contrast to classical and relativistic electrodynamics.
