ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS

ELECTROSTATICS
Charge is discrete

Thompson discovered the electron in 1896. He found that

charge was carried by elementary particles with the same
charge to mass ratio.
The elementary charge of the electron was not measured
until 1909 (Millikan).
Both experiments earned Nobel prizes.

Charge on an electron: e = 1.6 10-19 Coulombs

1 Coulomb of charge:
6.24 1018 electrons
1 Ampre (= 1 C/s)
6.24 1018 electrons/second

Charge is discrete:

q = ne

n = 1, 2, 3,...

Ben Franklin named charge as positive and negative

protons, positrons,

electrons, muons,

Charge comes in fundamental units of 1.6 10-19 Coulombs

Charge is conserved!

Static electricity through charging

Coulombs Law

Coulombs torsion balance

q1 q2
F 2 ,
r
K

q1 q2
or F K 2
r

1
8.99 109 N m 2 / C 2
4 o

= 8.85418781762 10-12 C2/Nm2

1
o
7
2
2
2
4

10
N

s
/
C

c = speed of light in vacuum

= 299792458 m/s

Analogy with gravitation

Problem:
Force depends on test mass!
But:

r
r r
r F
F mg or g
m
r
GM
g 2 r
r

Same for all masses.

Represents the gravitational
influence (field) of the mass M.

r
GMm
F 2 r
r

r
qq
F K 20 r
r

Analogy with gravitation

Problem:
Force depends on test charge!

q0

Definition:

r
r
r
r F
F q0E or E
q0

r
E

1 q
r
4 o r 2

Same for all test charges.

Represents the electrostatic influence
(field) of the charge q.

source charge

q = Q

Electric field lines

Electric field lines start on positive charges and end on negative charges (can also
start/end at infinity).
The symmetry of the problem dictates the directions in which field lines radiate from
charges.

Electric field lines

The number of field lines radiating from a charge is proportional to the charge.

MAGNETOSTATICS
Term comes from the ancient Greek city of Magnesia, at
which many natural magnets were found. We now refer to
these natural magnets as lodestones (also spelled
loadstone; lode means to lead or to attract) which contain
magnetite, a natural magnetic material Fe3O4.
Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD Roman) wrote of a hill near
the river Indus that was made entirely of a stone that
attracted iron.
Not until 1819 was a connection between electrical and
magnetic phenomena shown. Danish scientist Hans Christian
Oersted observed that a compass needle in the vicinity of a
wire carrying electrical current was deflected!

In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered that a momentary

current existed in a circuit when the current in a nearby circuit
was started or stopped
Shortly thereafter, he discovered that motion of a magnet
toward or away from a circuit could produce the same effect.

Let This Be a Lesson!

Joseph Henry (first Director of the Smithsonian

Institution) failed to publish what he had discovered 6-12
months before Faraday

SUMMARY: Oersted showed that magnetic effects could be

produced by moving electrical charges; Faraday and Henry
showed that electric currents could be produced by moving
magnets

H.C.OERSTED

1777 - 1851

Apparatus of Oersted

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE POLES OF A MAGNET

N S

For Every North, There is a South

No Monopoles Allowed

Magnetic Field vectors as written as B

Direction of magnetic field at any point is defined as the
direction of motion of a charged particle on which the magnetic
field would not exert a force.
Magnitude of the B-vector is proportional to the force acting on
the moving charge, magnitude of the moving charge, the
magnitude of its velocity, and the angle between v and the
B field. Unit is the Tesla or the Gauss (1 T = 10,000 G).

Nikola Tesla 1856-1943

Invented AC power, fluorescent Lightsand the Tesla coil

Alternating Current Levitation

Electrodynamic Levitation

TIME-VARYING ELECTRIC & MAGNETIC FIELDS

Maxwells Equations
Scottish physicist James C. Maxwell unified all the phenomena of
electricity and magnetism in one theory with only four equations
(Maxwells Equations) using the concept of fields
This theory provided the prediction of EM waves
As important as Newtons law since it provides dynamics of
electromagnetism
This theory is also in agreement with Einsteins special relativity
The biggest achievement of 19th century electromagnetic theory is
the prediction and experimental verification that the electromagnetic
waves can travel through the empty space
What do you think this accomplishment did?
Open a new world of communication
It also yielded the prediction that the light is an EM wave
Since all of Electromagnetism is contained in the four Maxwells
equations, this is considered as one of the greatest achievements of
human intellect

A CHANGING MAGNETIC FIELD

CREATES AN ELECTRIC FIELD

A CHANGING ELECTRIC FIELD

CREATES AN MAGNETIC FIELD

Heinrich Hertz: discovered radio waves (1885)

and showed that they are light

WAVES

Antennas!

Charges move in the

transmitting antenna
Those charges exert forces on
charges in receiving antenna
Charges in the receiving
antenna move!

Antennas that are far apart

are connected by
electromagnetic radio waves!

Accelerating
charges
Accelerating charges
make
electromagnetic
waves
make
electromagnetic
waves

Electromagnetic waves cause

charges to accelerate

Electromagnetic waves
cause charges to
accelerate

Information is transmitted by modulation

sound

electronic

Microphone receives sound wave

and converts to oscillating
electrical current (20 Hz 20 kHz)

modulator
An electrical carrier signal is
produced (90.9 MHz for WILL
FM) indepedently

AM
FM

AM = Amplitude modulation
FM = Frequency modulation

Amplitude modulation:
information is encoded
in changes in the size of
the electrical signal

Frequency modulation:
information encoded in slight
changes in the frequency

carrier

demodulator
signal

sound