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Sunday, May 4, 2014

Maxwell's Equations and EM Waves

This is the portion of the Caltech series, Mechanical Universe, that shows what the four Maxwell equations are!  It is very well done.

The KEY IDEAS you need to remember is that, in electromagnetism, when a magnetic field changes through an area, i.e. a change in magnetic flux, then an electric field is induced that is perpendicular to the magnetic field  (such as a circulation).  But with the Maxwell displacement current, when there is a changing electric field and flux, a magnetic field is induced!  These induction processes are what creates electromagnetic fields in space!!

So if we have AdB/dt, an E-field is induced.
If we have AdE/dt, a B-field is induced.

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