For time-varying electromagnetic fields, the electromagnetic energy is typically viewed as waves propagating either through free space, in a transmission line, in a microstrip line, or through a waveguide. Dielectrics are often used in all of these environments to mechanically support electrical conductors and keep them at a fixed separation, or to provide a barrier between different gas pressures yet still transmit electromagnetic power. Maxwell’s equations are solved for the electric and magnetic field components of the propagating waves that satisfy the boundary conditions of the specific environment's geometry. In such electromagnetic analyses, the parameters permittivity ε, permeability μ, and conductivity σ represent the properties of the media through which the waves propagate. The permittivity can have real and imaginary components (the latter excluding σ effects, see below) such that