Lecture

Electromagnetism: Historical Overview and Maxwell's Equations

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In course

PHYS-201(d): General physics : electromagnetism

The topics covered by the course are concepts of electromagnetism, properties of waves, and fluid mechanics. ...

Description

This lecture provides a historical overview of electromagnetism, starting from the discovery of magnetism 3,000 years ago to the unification of electricity and magnetism by Oersted in 1820. The instructor explains how Maxwell's equations, formulated in 1865, revolutionized our understanding of electromagnetism, leading to the study of electromagnetic waves and their applications in modern technology. The lecture covers the evolution from electrostatics to electromagnetic waves, emphasizing the importance of Maxwell's equations in engineering and physics. The instructor recommends textbooks like Griffiths for a balanced understanding of the physics concepts and mathematics involved in electromagnetism.

Instructor

Dirk Grundler

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Electromagnetism: Electrodynamics

Related concepts (32)

Electromagnetic field

An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by moving electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical counterpart to the quantized electromagnetic field tensor in quantum electrodynamics (a quantum field theory). The electromagnetic field propagates at the speed of light (in fact, this field can be identified as light) and interacts with charges and currents.

Maxwell's equations

Maxwell's equations, or Maxwell–Heaviside equations, are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. The equations provide a mathematical model for electric, optical, and radio technologies, such as power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar, etc. They describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated by charges, currents, and changes of the fields.

Electromagnetic tensor

In electromagnetism, the electromagnetic tensor or electromagnetic field tensor (sometimes called the field strength tensor, Faraday tensor or Maxwell bivector) is a mathematical object that describes the electromagnetic field in spacetime. The field tensor was first used after the four-dimensional tensor formulation of special relativity was introduced by Hermann Minkowski. The tensor allows related physical laws to be written very concisely, and allows for the quantization of the electromagnetic field by Lagrangian formulation described below.

Magnetic field

A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to the magnetic field. A permanent magnet's magnetic field pulls on ferromagnetic materials such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.

Ferromagnetism

Ferromagnetism is a property of certain materials (such as iron) that results in a significant, observable magnetic permeability, and in many cases, a significant magnetic coercivity, allowing the material to form a permanent magnet. Ferromagnetic materials are familiar metals that are noticeably attracted to a magnet, a consequence of their substantial magnetic permeability. Magnetic permeability describes the induced magnetization of a material due to the presence of an external magnetic field.

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