Lorentz Force

LORENTZ FORCE
MAGNETIC TRANSDUCER GENERATOR

Contents
1 Lorentz force 1
1.1 Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Charged particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Continuous charge distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Equation in cgs units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Trajectories of particles due to the Lorentz force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Signicance of the Lorentz force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Lorentz force law as the denition of E and B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Force on a current-carrying wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.7 EMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.8 Lorentz force and Faradays law of induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.9 Lorentz force in terms of potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.10 Lorentz force and analytical mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.11 Relativistic form of the Lorentz force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.11.1 Covariant form of the Lorentz force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.11.2 Lorentz force in spacetime algebra (STA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.12 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.13 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.14 Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.15 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.16 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Electromagnetism 18
2.1 History of the theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 Fundamental forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 Classical electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4 Quantum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.1 Early quantum theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.2 Quantum electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.4.3 Electroweak interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5 Chaotic and emergent phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6 Quantities and units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
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2.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

2.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.9 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.9.1 Web sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.9.2 Textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.9.3 General references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.10 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3 Force 33
3.1 Development of the concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Pre-Newtonian concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3 Newtonian mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.3.1 First law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.3.2 Second law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3.3 Third law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4 Special theory of relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.5 Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.5.1 Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.5.2 Forces in quantum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.5.3 Feynman diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.6 Fundamental forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.6.1 Gravitational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.6.2 Electromagnetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.6.3 Strong nuclear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.6.4 Weak nuclear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.7 Non-fundamental forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.1 Normal force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.2 Friction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.3 Tension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.7.4 Elastic force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.7.5 Continuum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.7.6 Fictitious forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.8 Rotations and torque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.8.1 Centripetal force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.9 Kinematic integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.10 Potential energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.10.1 Conservative forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.10.2 Nonconservative forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.11 Units of measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.12 Force measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.13 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.14 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
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3.15 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.16 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.17 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4 Point particle 62
4.1 Property concentrated at a single point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.2 Physical point mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.2.1 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.3 Probability point mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.4 Point charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.5 In quantum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.7 Notes and references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.7.1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.7.2 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5 Electromagnetic eld 67
5.1 Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.1.1 Continuous structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.1.2 Discrete structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.2 Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.3 Feedback loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.4 Mathematical description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.5 Properties of the eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.5.1 Reciprocal behavior of electric and magnetic elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.5.2 Behavior of the elds in the absence of charges or currents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.6 Relation to and comparison with other physical elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.6.1 Electromagnetic and gravitational elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.7 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.7.1 Static E and M elds and static EM elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.7.2 Time-varying EM elds in Maxwells equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.8 Health and safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.10 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.11 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.12 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6 Electromotive force 75
6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.2 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.3 Notation and units of measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
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6.4 Formal denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

6.5 In thermodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.6 Voltage dierence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.7 Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.7.1 Chemical sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.7.2 Electromagnetic induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.7.3 Contact potentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.7.4 Solar cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.10 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
6.11 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7 Faradays law of induction 86

7.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.2 Faradays law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.2.1 Qualitative statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.2.2 Quantitative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7.2.3 MaxwellFaraday equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
7.3 Proof of Faradays law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7.4 EMF for non-thin-wire circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7.5 Faradays law and relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.5.1 Two phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.5.2 Einsteins view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
7.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
8 Speed of light 96
8.1 Numerical value, notation, and units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
8.2 Fundamental role in physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
8.2.1 Upper limit on speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
8.3 Faster-than-light observations and experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
8.4 Propagation of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8.4.1 In a medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8.5 Practical eects of niteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
8.5.1 Small scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
8.5.2 Large distances on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
8.5.3 Spaceights and astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
8.5.4 Distance measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.5.5 High-frequency trading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
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8.6 Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8.6.1 Astronomical measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.6.2 Time of ight techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.6.3 Electromagnetic constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8.6.4 Cavity resonance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8.6.5 Interferometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
8.7 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.7.1 Early history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.7.2 First measurement attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
8.7.3 Connections with electromagnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.7.4 Luminiferous aether . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.7.5 Special relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.7.6 Increased accuracy of c and redenition of the metre and second . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.7.7 Dening the speed of light as an explicit constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
8.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
8.9 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
8.10 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
8.11 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
8.11.1 Historical references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
8.11.2 Modern references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8.12 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
9 Charge density 122

9.1 Denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
9.1.1 Continuous charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
9.2 Free, bound and total charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
9.2.1 Total charge densities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
9.2.2 Bound charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
9.2.3 Free charge density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.3 Homogeneous charge density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9.4 Discrete charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
9.5 Charge density in special relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.6 Charge density in quantum mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.7 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
9.10 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
10 Maxwells equations 129

10.1 Formulation in terms of electric and magnetic elds (microscopic or in vacuum version) . . . . . . . 129
10.1.1 Formulation in SI units convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
10.1.2 Formulation in Gaussian units convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
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10.1.3 Key to the notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

10.2 Relationship between dierential and integral formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
10.2.1 Flux and divergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
10.2.2 Circulation and curl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
10.3 Conceptual descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.3.1 Gausss law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.3.2 Gausss law for magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.3.3 Faradays law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.3.4 Ampres law with Maxwells addition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
10.4 Charge conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
10.5 Vacuum equations, electromagnetic waves and speed of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
10.6 Macroscopic formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
10.6.1 Bound charge and current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
10.6.2 Auxiliary elds, polarization and magnetization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.6.3 Constitutive relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.7 Alternative formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
10.8 Relativistic formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
10.9 Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
10.10Overdetermination of Maxwells equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.11Limitations of the Maxwell equations as a theory of electromagnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.12Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.12.1 Magnetic monopoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.13See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.14Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
10.15References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
10.16Historical publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
10.17External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
10.17.1 Modern treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
10.17.2 Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
11 Vector calculus 148

11.1 Basic objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
11.1.1 Scalar elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
11.1.2 Vector elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
11.1.3 Vectors and pseudovectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.2 Vector algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.3 Operators and theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.3.1 Dierential operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.3.2 Integral theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.4 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.4.1 Linear approximations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
11.4.2 Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
CONTENTS vii
11.4.3 Physics and engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

11.5 Generalizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
11.5.1 Dierent 3-manifolds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
11.5.2 Other dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
11.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
11.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
11.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
12 Maxwell stress tensor 153

12.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
12.2 Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
12.3 Magnetism only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
12.4 Eigenvalue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
12.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
12.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
13 Poynting vector 158

13.1 Denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
13.2 Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
13.3 Formulation in terms of microscopic elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
13.4 Time-averaged Poynting vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
13.5 Examples and applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
13.5.1 Coaxial cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
13.5.2 Resistive dissipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
13.5.3 Plane waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
13.5.4 Radiation pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
13.5.5 Static elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
13.6 Adding the curl of a vector eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
13.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
13.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
14 Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor 166

14.1 Denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14.1.1 SI units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
14.1.2 CGS units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
14.2 Algebraic properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
14.3 Conservation laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
14.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
14.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
15 General relativity 169

15.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
15.2 From classical mechanics to general relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
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15.2.1 Geometry of Newtonian gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

15.2.2 Relativistic generalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
15.2.3 Einsteins equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
15.2.4 Alternatives to general relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
15.3 Denition and basic applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
15.3.1 Denition and basic properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
15.3.2 Model-building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
15.4 Consequences of Einsteins theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
15.4.1 Gravitational time dilation and frequency shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
15.4.2 Light deection and gravitational time delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
15.4.3 Gravitational waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15.4.4 Orbital eects and the relativity of direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
15.5 Astrophysical applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
15.5.1 Gravitational lensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
15.5.2 Gravitational wave astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
15.5.3 Black holes and other compact objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
15.5.4 Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
15.5.5 Time travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
15.6 Advanced concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
15.6.1 Causal structure and global geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
15.6.2 Horizons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
15.6.3 Singularities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
15.6.4 Evolution equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
15.6.5 Global and quasi-local quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
15.7 Relationship with quantum theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
15.7.1 Quantum eld theory in curved spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
15.7.2 Quantum gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
15.8 Current status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
15.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
15.10Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
15.11References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
15.12Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
15.12.1 Popular books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
15.12.2 Beginning undergraduate textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
15.12.3 Advanced undergraduate textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
15.12.4 Graduate-level textbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
15.13External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
16 Covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism 218

16.1 Covariant objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
16.1.1 Preliminary 4-vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
16.1.2 Electromagnetic tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
CONTENTS ix
16.1.3 Four-current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

16.1.4 Four-potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
16.1.5 Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
16.2 Maxwells equations in vacuo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
16.2.1 Maxwells equations in the Lorenz gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
16.3 Lorentz force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
16.3.1 Charged particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
16.3.2 Charge continuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
16.4 Conservation laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
16.4.1 Electric charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
16.4.2 Electromagnetic energymomentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
16.5 Covariant objects in matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
16.5.1 Free and bound 4-currents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
16.5.2 Magnetization-polarization tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
16.5.3 Electric displacement tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
16.6 Maxwells equations in matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
16.6.1 Constitutive equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
16.7 Lagrangian for classical electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
16.7.1 Vacuum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
16.7.2 Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
16.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
16.9 Notes and references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
16.10Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
17 Vacuum permittivity 229

17.1 Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
17.1.1 Redenition of the SI units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
17.2 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
17.3 Historical origin of the parameter 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
17.3.1 Rationalization of units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
17.3.2 Determination of a value for 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
17.4 Permittivity of real media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
17.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
17.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
18 Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld 234

18.1 Vector eld approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
18.1.1 Maxwells equations in the vector eld approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
18.2 Potential eld approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
18.2.1 Maxwells equations in potential formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
18.2.2 Gauge freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
18.2.3 Extension to quantum electrodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
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18.3 Geometric algebra formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

18.4 Dierential forms approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
18.4.1 Field 2-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
18.4.2 Current 3-form, dual current 1-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
18.4.3 Current 1-form, dual current 3-form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
18.5 Curved spacetime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
18.5.1 Traditional formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
18.5.2 Formulation in terms of dierential forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
18.6 Classical electrodynamics as the curvature of a line bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
18.7 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
18.7.1 Potential formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
18.7.2 Manifestly covariant (tensor) approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
18.7.3 Dierential forms approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
18.7.4 Geometric calculus approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
18.8 References and notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
18.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
19 Hall eect 245

19.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
19.2 Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
19.2.1 Hall eect in semiconductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
19.2.2 Relationship with star formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
19.2.3 Quantum Hall eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
19.2.4 Spin Hall eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
19.2.5 Quantum spin Hall eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
19.2.6 Anomalous Hall eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
19.2.7 Hall eect in ionized gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
19.3 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
19.3.1 Advantages over other methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
19.3.2 Disadvantages compared with other methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
19.3.3 Contemporary applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
19.4 The Corbino eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
19.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
19.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
19.7 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
19.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
19.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
20 Gravitoelectromagnetism 257
20.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
20.2 Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
20.2.1 Lorentz force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
CONTENTS xi
20.2.2 Poynting vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

20.2.3 Scaling of elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
20.2.4 In Planck units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
20.3 Higher-order eects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
20.4 Gravitomagnetic elds of astronomical objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
20.4.1 Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
20.4.2 Pulsar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
20.5 Lack of invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
20.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
20.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
20.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
20.8.1 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
20.8.2 Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
20.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
21 Ampres force law 264

21.1 Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
21.1.1 Special case: Two straight parallel wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
21.1.2 General case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
21.2 Historical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
21.3 Derivation of parallel straight wire case from general formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
21.4 Notable derivations of Ampres force law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
21.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
21.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
22 Hendrik Lorentz 271

22.1 Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
22.1.1 Early life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
22.1.2 Career . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
22.1.3 Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
22.2 Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
22.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
22.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
22.4.1 Primary sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
22.4.2 Secondary sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
22.5 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
23 Moving magnet and conductor problem 281

23.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
23.2 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
23.3 Transformation of elds, assuming Galilean transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
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23.3.1 Magnet frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

23.3.2 Conductor frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
23.3.3 Galilean transformation formula for elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
23.4 Transformation of elds as predicted by Maxwells equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
23.5 Modication of dynamics for consistency with Maxwells equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
23.6 Newtons law of motion in modern notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
23.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
23.9 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
23.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
24 AbrahamLorentz force 289

24.1 Denition and description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
24.2 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
24.3 Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
24.4 Signals from the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
24.5 AbrahamLorentzDirac Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
24.5.1 Denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
24.5.2 Paradoxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
24.6 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
24.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
24.8 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
24.9 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
25 Larmor formula 294

25.1 Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
25.1.1 Derivation 1: Mathematical approach (using CGS units) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
25.1.2 Derivation 2: Edward M. Purcell approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
25.2 Relativistic generalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
25.2.1 Covariant form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
25.2.2 Non-covariant form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
25.2.3 Angular distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
25.3 Issues and implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
25.3.1 Radiation reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
25.3.2 Atomic physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
25.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
25.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
25.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
26 Cyclotron radiation 300

26.1 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
26.2 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
CONTENTS xiii
27 Magnetic potential 302

27.1 Magnetic vector potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
27.1.1 Gauge choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
27.1.2 Maxwells equations in terms of vector potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
27.1.3 Calculation of potentials from source distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
27.1.4 Depiction of the A-eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
27.1.5 Electromagnetic four-potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
27.2 Magnetic scalar potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
27.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
27.4 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
27.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
28 Magnetoresistance 308
28.1 Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
28.2 Geometrical magnetoresistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
28.3 Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
28.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
28.5 Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
28.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
29 Scalar potential 312

29.1 Integrability conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
29.2 Altitude as gravitational potential energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
29.3 Pressure as buoyant potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
29.4 Scalar potential in Euclidean space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
29.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
29.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
30 Helmholtz decomposition 318

30.1 Statement of the theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
30.2 Derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
30.2.1 Another derivation from the Fourier transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
30.3 Fields with prescribed divergence and curl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
30.4 Dierential forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
30.5 Weak formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
30.6 Longitudinal and transverse elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
30.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
30.8 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
30.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
30.9.1 General references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
30.9.2 References for the weak formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
30.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
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31 Guiding center 324

31.1 Gyration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
31.2 Parallel motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
31.3 General force drifts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
31.3.1 Gravitational eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
31.3.2 Electric eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
31.3.3 Nonuniform E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
31.4 Nonuniform B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
31.4.1 Grad-B drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
31.4.2 Curvature drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
31.4.3 Curved vacuum drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
31.5 Polarization drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
31.6 Diamagnetic drift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
31.7 Drift Currents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
31.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
31.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
32 Field line 330

32.1 Precise denition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
32.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
32.3 Divergence and curl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
32.4 Physical signicance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
32.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
32.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
32.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
32.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
33 Coulombs law 333

33.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
33.2 The law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
33.2.1 Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
33.2.2 Electric eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
33.2.3 Coulombs constant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
33.2.4 Conditions for validity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
33.3 Scalar form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
33.4 Vector form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
33.4.1 System of discrete charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
33.4.2 Continuous charge distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
33.5 Simple experiment to verify Coulombs law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
33.6 Electrostatic approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
33.6.1 Atomic forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
33.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
CONTENTS xv
33.8 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

33.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
33.10External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
33.11Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
33.11.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
33.11.2 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
33.11.3 Content license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Chapter 1
Lorentz force
In physics (particularly in electromagnetism) the Lorentz force is the combination of electric and magnetic force
on a point charge due to electromagnetic elds. A particle of charge q moving with velocity v in the presence of an
electric eld E and a magnetic eld B experiences a force
F = qE + qv B
(in SI units[1][2] ). Variations on this basic formula describe the magnetic force on a current-carrying wire (sometimes
called Laplace force), the electromotive force in a wire loop moving through a magnetic eld (an aspect of Faradays
law of induction), and the force on a charged particle which might be travelling near the speed of light (relativistic
form of the Lorentz force).
The rst derivation of the Lorentz force is commonly attributed to Oliver Heaviside in 1889,[3] although other histo-
rians suggest an earlier origin in an 1865 paper by James Clerk Maxwell.[4] Hendrik Lorentz derived it in 1892,[5] a
few years after Heaviside.
1.1 Equation
1.1.1 Charged particle

The force F acting on a particle of electric charge q with instantaneous velocity v, due to an external electric eld E
and magnetic eld B, is given by (in SI units[1] ):[6]
where is the vector cross product. All boldface quantities are vectors. More explicitly stated:
F(r, _r, t, q) = q[E(r, t) + _r B(r, t)]

in which r is the position vector of the charged particle, t is time, and the overdot is a time derivative.
A positively charged particle will be accelerated in the same linear orientation as the E eld, but will curve perpen-
dicularly to both the instantaneous velocity vector v and the B eld according to the right-hand rule (in detail, if the
ngers of the right hand are extended to point in the direction of v and are then curled to point in the direction of B,
then the extended thumb will point in the direction of F).
The term qE is called the electric force, while the term qv B is called the magnetic force.[7] According to some
denitions, the term Lorentz force refers specically to the formula for the magnetic force,[8] with the total elec-
tromagnetic force (including the electric force) given some other (nonstandard) name. This article will not follow
this nomenclature: In what follows, the term Lorentz force will refer to the expression for the total force.
The magnetic force component of the Lorentz force manifests itself as the force that acts on a current-carrying wire
in a magnetic eld. In that context, it is also called the Laplace force.
1
2 CHAPTER 1. LORENTZ FORCE
q (v B)
qE
E B
+q
v
Lorentz force F on a charged particle (of charge q) in motion (instantaneous velocity v). The E eld and B eld vary in space and
time.
1.1.2 Continuous charge distribution
For a continuous charge distribution in motion, the Lorentz force equation becomes:
dF = dq (E + v B)
where dF is the force on a small piece of the charge distribution with charge dq. If both sides of this equation are
divided by the volume of this small piece of the charge distribution dV, the result is:
f = (E + v B)
where f is the force density (force per unit volume) and is the charge density (charge per unit volume). Next, the
current density corresponding to the motion of the charge continuum is
1.1. EQUATION 3
f
d F = fd V
B
E
E B
+
v
= v
dq = dV
Lorentz force (per unit 3-volume) f on a continuous charge distribution (charge density ) in motion. The 3-current density J
corresponds to the motion of the charge element dq in volume element dV and varies throughout the continuum.
J = v
so the continuous analogue to the equation is[9]
The total force is the volume integral over the charge distribution:

F= (E + J B) dV.
By eliminating and J, using Maxwells equations, and manipulating using the theorems of vector calculus, this form
of the equation can be used to derive the Maxwell stress tensor , in turn this can be combined with the Poynting
vector S to obtain the electromagnetic stressenergy tensor T used in general relativity.[9]
In terms of and S, another way to write the Lorentz force (per unit volume) is[9]
1 S
f=
c2 t
where c is the speed of light and denotes the divergence of a tensor eld. Rather than the amount of charge
and its velocity in electric and magnetic elds, this equation relates the energy ux (ow of energy per unit time
per unit distance) in the elds to the force exerted on a charge distribution. See Covariant formulation of classical
electromagnetism for more details.
1.1.3 Equation in cgs units
The above-mentioned formulae use SI units which are the most common among experimentalists, technicians, and
engineers. In cgs-Gaussian units, which are somewhat more common among theoretical physicists, one has instead
( v )
F = qcgs Ecgs + Bcgs .
c
where c is the speed of light. Although this equation looks slightly dierent, it is completely equivalent, since one has
the following relations:[1]
qSI 1
qcgs = , Ecgs = 40 ESI , Bcgs = 4/0 BSI , c= .
40 0 0
where 0 is the vacuum permittivity and 0 the vacuum permeability. In practice, the subscripts cgs and SI are
always omitted, and the unit system has to be assessed from context.
1.2 History
q<0
v
q q=0
q>0 B
Trajectory of a particle with a positive or negative charge q under
the inuence of a magnetic eld B, which is directed perpendicularly out of the screen.
1.3. TRAJECTORIES OF PARTICLES DUE TO THE LORENTZ FORCE 5
Beam of electrons moving in a circle, due to the presence of a mag-

netic eld. Purple light is emitted along the electron path, due to the electrons colliding with gas molecules in the
bulb. A Teltron tube is used in this example.
Charged particles experiencing the Lorentz force.
Early attempts to quantitatively describe the electromagnetic force were made in the mid-18th century. It was pro-
posed that the force on magnetic poles, by Johann Tobias Mayer and others in 1760,[10] and electrically charged
objects, by Henry Cavendish in 1762,[11] obeyed an inverse-square law. However, in both cases the experimental
proof was neither complete nor conclusive. It was not until 1784 when Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, using a torsion
balance, was able to denitively show through experiment that this was true.[12] Soon after the discovery in 1820
by H. C. rsted that a magnetic needle is acted on by a voltaic current, Andr-Marie Ampre that same year was
able to devise through experimentation the formula for the angular dependence of the force between two current
elements.[13][14] In all these descriptions, the force was always given in terms of the properties of the objects involved
and the distances between them rather than in terms of electric and magnetic elds.[15]
The modern concept of electric and magnetic elds rst arose in the theories of Michael Faraday, particularly his
idea of lines of force, later to be given full mathematical description by Lord Kelvin and James Clerk Maxwell.[16]
From a modern perspective it is possible to identify in Maxwells 1865 formulation of his eld equations a form of
the Lorentz force equation in relation to electric currents,[4] however, in the time of Maxwell it was not evident how
his equations related to the forces on moving charged objects. J. J. Thomson was the rst to attempt to derive from
Maxwells eld equations the electromagnetic forces on a moving charged object in terms of the objects properties
and external elds. Interested in determining the electromagnetic behavior of the charged particles in cathode rays,
Thomson published a paper in 1881 wherein he gave the force on the particles due to an external magnetic eld as[3]
q
F= v B.
2
Thomson derived the correct basic form of the formula, but, because of some miscalculations and an incomplete
description of the displacement current, included an incorrect scale-factor of a half in front of the formula. Oliver
Heaviside invented the modern vector notation and applied it to Maxwells eld equations; he also (in 1885 and
1889) had xed the mistakes of Thomsons derivation and arrived at the correct form of the magnetic force on a
moving charged object.[3][17][18] Finally, in 1892,[5] Hendrik Lorentz derived the modern form of the formula for
the electromagnetic force which includes the contributions to the total force from both the electric and the magnetic
elds. Lorentz began by abandoning the Maxwellian descriptions of the ether and conduction. Instead, Lorentz made
a distinction between matter and the luminiferous aether and sought to apply the Maxwell equations at a microscopic
scale. Using Heavisides version of the Maxwell equations for a stationary ether and applying Lagrangian mechanics
(see below), Lorentz arrived at the correct and complete form of the force law that now bears his name.[19][20]
1.3 Trajectories of particles due to the Lorentz force
Main article: Guiding center

In many cases of practical interest, the motion in a magnetic eld of an electrically charged particle (such as an electron
or ion in a plasma) can be treated as the superposition of a relatively fast circular motion around a point called the
guiding center and a relatively slow drift of this point. The drift speeds may dier for various species depending on
their charge states, masses, or temperatures, possibly resulting in electric currents or chemical separation.
1.4 Signicance of the Lorentz force

While the modern Maxwells equations describe how electrically charged particles and currents or moving charged
particles give rise to electric and magnetic elds, the Lorentz force law completes that picture by describing the force
acting on a moving point charge q in the presence of electromagnetic elds.[6][21] The Lorentz force law describes the
eect of E and B upon a point charge, but such electromagnetic forces are not the entire picture. Charged particles are
possibly coupled to other forces, notably gravity and nuclear forces. Thus, Maxwells equations do not stand separate
from other physical laws, but are coupled to them via the charge and current densities. The response of a point charge
to the Lorentz law is one aspect; the generation of E and B by currents and charges is another.
In real materials the Lorentz force is inadequate to describe the collective behavior of charged particles, both in princi-
ple and as a matter of computation. The charged particles in a material medium not only respond to the E and B elds
but also generate these elds. Complex transport equations must be solved to determine the time and spatial response
of charges, for example, the Boltzmann equation or the FokkerPlanck equation or the NavierStokes equations. For
example, see magnetohydrodynamics, uid dynamics, electrohydrodynamics, superconductivity, stellar evolution. An
entire physical apparatus for dealing with these matters has developed. See for example, GreenKubo relations and
Greens function (many-body theory).
1.5 Lorentz force law as the denition of E and B

In many textbook treatments of classical electromagnetism, the Lorentz force Law is used as the denition of the
electric and magnetic elds E and B.[22][23][24] To be specic, the Lorentz force is understood to be the following
empirical statement:
The electromagnetic force F on a test charge at a given point and time is a certain function of its charge q
and velocity v, which can be parameterized by exactly two vectors E and B, in the functional form:
F = q(E + v B)
This is valid, even for particles approaching the speed of light (that is, magnitude of v = |v| = c).[25] So the two vector
elds E and B are thereby dened throughout space and time, and these are called the electric eld and magnetic
eld. The elds are dened everywhere in space and time with respect to what force a test charge would receive
regardless of whether a charge is present to experience the force.
As a denition of E and B, the Lorentz force is only a denition in principle because a real particle (as opposed to
the hypothetical test charge of innitesimally-small mass and charge) would generate its own nite E and B elds,
which would alter the electromagnetic force that it experiences. In addition, if the charge experiences acceleration,
as if forced into a curved trajectory by some external agency, it emits radiation that causes braking of its motion.
See for example Bremsstrahlung and synchrotron light. These eects occur through both a direct eect (called the
radiation reaction force) and indirectly (by aecting the motion of nearby charges and currents). Moreover, net force
must include gravity, electroweak, and any other forces aside from electromagnetic force.
1.6 Force on a current-carrying wire

When a wire carrying an electric current is placed in a magnetic eld, each of the moving charges, which comprise
the current, experiences the Lorentz force, and together they can create a macroscopic force on the wire (sometimes
called the Laplace force). By combining the Lorentz force law above with the denition of electric current, the
following equation results, in the case of a straight, stationary wire:
F = I B
where is a vector whose magnitude is the length of wire, and whose direction is along the wire, aligned with the
direction of conventional current ow I.
1.7. EMF 7
If the wire is not straight but curved, the force on it can be computed by applying this formula to each innitesimal
segment of wire d, then adding up all these forces by integration. Formally, the net force on a stationary, rigid wire
carrying a steady current I is

F=I d B
This is the net force. In addition, there will usually be torque, plus other eects if the wire is not perfectly rigid.
One application of this is Ampres force law, which describes how two current-carrying wires can attract or repel
each other, since each experiences a Lorentz force from the others magnetic eld. For more information, see the
article: Ampres force law.
1.7 EMF
The magnetic force (qv B) component of the Lorentz force is responsible for motional electromotive force (or
motional EMF), the phenomenon underlying many electrical generators. When a conductor is moved through a
magnetic eld, the magnetic eld exerts opposite forces on electrons and nuclei in the wire, and this creates the EMF.
The term motional EMF is applied to this phenomenon, since the EMF is due to the motion of the wire.
In other electrical generators, the magnets move, while the conductors do not. In this case, the EMF is due to the
electric force (qE) term in the Lorentz Force equation. The electric eld in question is created by the changing
magnetic eld, resulting in an induced EMF, as described by the MaxwellFaraday equation (one of the four modern
Maxwells equations).[26]
Both of these EMFs, despite their apparently distinct origins, are described by the same equation, namely, the EMF is
the rate of change of magnetic ux through the wire. (This is Faradays law of induction, see below.) Einsteins special
theory of relativity was partially motivated by the desire to better understand this link between the two eects.[26] In
fact, the electric and magnetic elds are dierent facets of the same electromagnetic eld, and in moving from one
inertial frame to another, the solenoidal vector eld portion of the E-eld can change in whole or in part to a B-eld
or vice versa.[27]
1.8 Lorentz force and Faradays law of induction

Main article: Faradays law of induction
Given a loop of wire in a magnetic eld, Faradays law of induction states the induced electromotive force (EMF) in
the wire is:
dB
E =
dt
where

B = dA B(r, t)
(t)
is the magnetic ux through the loop, B is the magnetic eld, (t) is a surface bounded by the closed contour (t),
at all at time t, dA is an innitesimal vector area element of (t) (magnitude is the area of an innitesimal patch of
surface, direction is orthogonal to that surface patch).
The sign of the EMF is determined by Lenzs law. Note that this is valid for not only a stationary wire but also for
a moving wire.
From Faradays law of induction (that is valid for a moving wire, for instance in a motor) and the Maxwell Equations,
the Lorentz Force can be deduced. The reverse is also true, the Lorentz force and the Maxwell Equations can be used
to derive the Faraday Law.
Let (t) be the moving wire, moving together without rotation and with constant velocity v and (t) be the internal
surface of the wire. The EMF around the closed path (t) is given by:[28]
I
E= d F/q
(t)
where
E = F/q
is the electric eld and d is an innitesimal vector element of the contour (t).
NB: Both d and dA have a sign ambiguity; to get the correct sign, the right-hand rule is used, as explained in the
article KelvinStokes theorem.
The above result can be compared with the version of Faradays law of induction that appears in the modern Maxwells
equations, called here the MaxwellFaraday equation:
B
E= .
t
The MaxwellFaraday equation also can be written in an integral form using the KelvinStokes theorem.[29]
So we have, the Maxwell Faraday equation:
I
d B(r, t)
d E(r, t) = dA
(t) (t) dt
and the Faraday Law,
I
d
d F/q(r, t) = dA B(r, t).
(t) dt (t)
The two are equivalent if the wire is not moving. Using the Leibniz integral rule and that div B = 0, results in,
I I

d F/q(r, t) = dA B(r, t) + v B d
(t) (t) t (t)
and using the Maxwell Faraday equation,
I I I
d F/q(r, t) = d E(r, t) + v B(r, t) d
(t) (t) (t)
since this is valid for any wire position it implies that,
F = q E(r, t) + q v B(r, t).
Faradays law of induction holds whether the loop of wire is rigid and stationary, or in motion or in process of
deformation, and it holds whether the magnetic eld is constant in time or changing. However, there are cases where
Faradays law is either inadequate or dicult to use, and application of the underlying Lorentz force law is necessary.
See inapplicability of Faradays law.
If the magnetic eld is xed in time and the conducting loop moves through the eld, the magnetic ux B linking
the loop can change in several ways. For example, if the B-eld varies with position, and the loop moves to a location
1.9. LORENTZ FORCE IN TERMS OF POTENTIALS 9
with dierent B-eld, B will change. Alternatively, if the loop changes orientation with respect to the B-eld, the B
dA dierential element will change because of the dierent angle between B and dA, also changing B. As a third
example, if a portion of the circuit is swept through a uniform, time-independent B-eld, and another portion of the
circuit is held stationary, the ux linking the entire closed circuit can change due to the shift in relative position of
the circuits component parts with time (surface (t) time-dependent). In all three cases, Faradays law of induction
then predicts the EMF generated by the change in B.
Note that the Maxwell Faradays equation implies that the Electric Field E is non conservative when the Magnetic
Field B varies in time, and is not expressible as the gradient of a scalar eld, and not subject to the gradient theorem
since its rotational is not zero.[28][30]
1.9 Lorentz force in terms of potentials

See also: Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld, Maxwells equations, and Helmholtz decomposition
The E and B elds can be replaced by the magnetic vector potential A and (scalar) electrostatic potential by
A
E =
t
B=A
where is the gradient, is the divergence, is the curl.
The force becomes
[ ]
A
F = q + v ( A)
t
and using an identity for the triple product simplies to
using the chain rule, the total derivative of A is:
dA A
= + (v )A
dt t
so the above expression can be rewritten as;
[ ]
dA
F = q ( v A)
dt
which can take the convenient EulerLagrange form
1.10 Lorentz force and analytical mechanics

See also: Momentum
The Lagrangian for a charged particle of mass m and charge q in an electromagnetic eld equivalently describes the
dynamics of the particle in terms of its energy, rather than the force exerted on it. The classical expression is given
by:[31]
m
L= _r _r + qA _r q
2
where A and are the potential elds as above. Using Lagranges equations, the equation for the Lorentz force can
be obtained.
The potential energy depends on the velocity of the particle, so the force is velocity dependent, so it is not conservative.
The relativistic Lagrangian is
( )2
r
L = mc 2
1 + eA(r) r e(r)
c
The action is the relativistic arclength of the path of the particle in space time, minus the potential energy contribution,
plus an extra contribution which quantum mechanically is an extra phase a charged particle gets when it is moving
along a vector potential.
1.11 Relativistic form of the Lorentz force
1.11.1 Covariant form of the Lorentz force

Field tensor
Main articles: Covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism and Mathematical descriptions of the electromag-
netic eld
Using the metric signature (1, 1, 1, 1), the Lorentz force for a charge q can be written in[32] covariant form:
where p is the four-momentum, dened as
p = (p0 , p1 , p2 , p3 ) = (mc, px , py , pz ) ,
the proper time of the particle, F the contravariant electromagnetic tensor

0 Ex /c Ey /c Ez /c
Ex /c 0 Bz By
F =
Ey /c

Bz 0 Bx
Ez /c By Bx 0
and U is the covariant 4-velocity of the particle, dened as:
U = (U0 , U1 , U2 , U3 ) = (c, vx , vy , vz ) ,
in which
1.11. RELATIVISTIC FORM OF THE LORENTZ FORCE 11
1 1
(v) = = 2 +v 2 +v 2
vx
1 v2
c2 1 y
c2
z
is the Lorentz factor.

The elds are transformed to a frame moving with constant relative velocity by:
F = F ,
where is the Lorentz transformation tensor.
Translation to vector notation
The = 1 component (x-component) of the force is
dp1 ( )
= qU F 1 = q U0 F 10 + U1 F 11 + U2 F 12 + U3 F 13 .
d
Substituting the components of the covariant electromagnetic tensor F yields
[ ( ) ]
dp1 Ex
= q U0 + U2 (Bz ) + U3 (By ) .
d c
Using the components of covariant four-velocity yields
[ ( ) ]
dp1 Ex
= q c + (vy )(Bz ) + (vz )(By )
d c
= q (Ex + vy Bz vz By )
= q [Ex + (v B)x ] .
The calculation for = 2, 3 (force components in the y and z directions) yields similar results, so collecting the 3
equations into one:
dp
= q (E + v B) ,
d
and since dierentials in coordinate time dt and proper time d are related by the Lorentz factor,
dt = (v)d ,
so we arrive at
dp
= q (E + v B) .
dt
This is precisely the Lorentz force law, however, it is important to note that p is the relativistic expression,
p = (v)m0 v .
1.11.2 Lorentz force in spacetime algebra (STA)

The electric and magnetic elds are dependent on the velocity of an observer, so the relativistic form of the Lorentz
force law can best be exhibited starting from a coordinate-independent expression for the electromagnetic and mag-
netic elds F , and an arbitrary time-direction, 0 . This can be settled through Space-Time Algebra (or the geometric
algebra of space-time), a type of Cliords Algebra dened on a pseudo-euclidian space,[33] as
E = (F 0 )0
and
iB = (F 0 )0
F is a space-time bivector (an oriented plane segment, just like a vector is an oriented line segment), which has six
degrees of freedom corresponding to boosts (rotations in space-time planes) and rotations (rotations in space-space
planes). The dot product with the vector 0 pulls a vector (in the space algebra) from the translational part, while
the wedge-product creates a trivector (in the space algebra) who is dual to a vector which is the usual magnetic eld
vector. The relativistic velocity is given by the (time-like) changes in a time-position vector v = x , where
v 2 = 1,
(which shows our choice for the metric) and the velocity is
v = cv 0 /(v 0 ).
The proper (invariant is an inadequate term because no transformation has been dened) form of the Lorentz force
law is simply
Note that the order is important because between a bivector and a vector the dot product is anti-symmetric. Upon a
space time split like one can obtain the velocity, and elds as above yielding the usual expression.
1.12 Applications
The Lorentz force occurs in many devices, including:
Cyclotrons and other circular path particle accelerators
Mass spectrometers
Velocity Filters
Magnetrons
Lorentz force velocimetry
In its manifestation as the Laplace force on an electric current in a conductor, this force occurs in many devices
including:
Electric motors
Railguns
1.13. SEE ALSO 13
Linear motors
Loudspeakers
Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters
Electrical generators
Homopolar generators
Linear alternators
1.13 See also

Hall eect
Electromagnetism
Gravitomagnetism
Ampres force law
Hendrik Lorentz
Maxwells equations
Formulation of Maxwells equations in special relativity
Moving magnet and conductor problem
AbrahamLorentz force
Larmor formula
Cyclotron radiation
Magnetic potential
Magnetoresistance
Scalar potential
Helmholtz decomposition
Guiding center
Field line
Coulombs law
1.14 Footnotes
[1] In SI units, B is measured in teslas (symbol: T). In Gaussian-cgs units, B is measured in gauss (symbol: G). See e.g.
Geomagnetism Frequently Asked Questions. National Geophysical Data Center. Retrieved 21 October 2013.)
[2] The H-eld is measured in amperes per metre (A/m) in SI units, and in oersteds (Oe) in cgs units. International system of
units (SI)". NIST reference on constants, units, and uncertainty. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved
9 May 2012.
[3] Paul J. Nahin, Oliver Heaviside, JHU Press, 2002.
[4] Huray, Paul G. (2009). Maxwells Equations. Wiley-IEEE. p. 22. ISBN 0-470-54276-4.
[5] Per F. Dahl, Flash of the Cathode Rays: A History of J J Thomsons Electron, CRC Press, 1997, p. 10.
[6] See Jackson, page 2. The book lists the four modern Maxwells equations, and then states, Also essential for consideration
of charged particle motion is the Lorentz force equation, F = q (E+ v B), which gives the force acting on a point charge
q in the presence of electromagnetic elds.
[7] See Griths, page 204.
[8] For example, see the website of the Lorentz Institute or Griths.
[9] Griths, David J. (1999). Introduction to electrodynamics. reprint. with corr. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
[u.a.]: Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-805326-0.
[10] Delon, Michel (2001). Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 538. ISBN
157958246X.
[11] Goodwin, Elliot H. (1965). The New Cambridge Modern History Volume 8: The American and French Revolutions, 1763
93. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 130. ISBN 9780521045469.
[12] Meyer, Herbert W. (1972). A History of Electricity and Magnetism. Norwalk, Connecticut: Burndy Library. pp. 3031.
ISBN 0-262-13070-X.
[13] Verschuur, Gerrit L. (1993). Hidden Attraction : The History And Mystery Of Magnetism. New York: Oxford University
Press. pp. 7879. ISBN 0-19-506488-7.
[14] Darrigol, Olivier (2000). Electrodynamics from Ampre to Einstein. Oxford, [England]: Oxford University Press. pp. 9,
25. ISBN 0-19-850593-0.
[15] Verschuur, Gerrit L. (1993). Hidden Attraction : The History And Mystery Of Magnetism. New York: Oxford University
Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-19-506488-7.
[16] Darrigol, Olivier (2000). Electrodynamics from Ampre to Einstein. Oxford, [England]: Oxford University Press. pp.
126131, 139144. ISBN 0-19-850593-0.
[17] Darrigol, Olivier (2000). Electrodynamics from Ampre to Einstein. Oxford, [England]: Oxford University Press. pp. 200,
429430. ISBN 0-19-850593-0.
[18] Heaviside, Oliver. On the Electromagnetic Eects due to the Motion of Electrication through a Dielectric. Philosophical
Magazine, April 1889, p. 324.
[19] Darrigol, Olivier (2000). Electrodynamics from Ampre to Einstein. Oxford, [England]: Oxford University Press. p. 327.
ISBN 0-19-850593-0.
[20] Whittaker, E. T. (1910). A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity: From the Age of Descartes to the Close of the
Nineteenth Century. Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 420423. ISBN 1-143-01208-9.
[21] See Griths, page 326, which states that Maxwells equations, together with the [Lorentz] force law...summarize the entire
theoretical content of classical electrodynamics.
[22] See, for example, Jackson, pp. 7778.
[23] J.A. Wheeler; C. Misner; K.S. Thorne (1973). Gravitation. W.H. Freeman & Co. pp. 7273. ISBN 0-7167-0344-0..
These authors use the Lorentz force in tensor form as dener of the electromagnetic tensor F, in turn the elds E and B.
[24] I.S. Grant; W.R. Phillips; Manchester Physics (2008). Electromagnetism (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 122. ISBN
978-0-471-92712-9.
[25] I.S. Grant; W.R. Phillips; Manchester Physics (2008). Electromagnetism (2nd Edition). John Wiley & Sons. p. 123. ISBN
978-0-471-92712-9.
[26] See Griths, pages 3013.
[27] Tai L. Chow (2006). Electromagnetic theory. Sudbury MA: Jones and Bartlett. p. 395. ISBN 0-7637-3827-1.
[28] Landau, L. D., Lifshits , E. M., & Pitaevski, L. P. (1984). Electrodynamics of continuous media; Volume 8 Course of
Theoretical Physics (Second ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 63 (49 pp. 205207 in 1960 edition). ISBN
0-7506-2634-8.
[29] Roger F Harrington (2003). Introduction to electromagnetic engineering. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. p. 56.
ISBN 0-486-43241-6.
[30] M N O Sadiku (2007). Elements of electromagnetics (Fourth ed.). NY/Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 391. ISBN
0-19-530048-3.
1.15. REFERENCES 15
[31] Classical Mechanics (2nd Edition), T.W.B. Kibble, European Physics Series, Mc Graw Hill (UK), 1973, ISBN 0-07-
084018-0.
[32] Jackson, J.D. Chapter 11
[33] Hestenes, David. SpaceTime Calculus.
1.15 References
The numbered references refer in part to the list immediately below.
Feynman, Richard Phillips; Leighton, Robert B.; Sands, Matthew L. (2006). The Feynman lectures on physics
(3 vol.). Pearson / Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-9047-2.: volume 2.
Griths, David J. (1999). Introduction to electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, [NJ.]: Prentice-Hall.
ISBN 0-13-805326-X.
Jackson, John David (1999). Classical electrodynamics (3rd ed.). New York, [NY.]: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-
30932-X.
Serway, Raymond A.; Jewett, John W., Jr. (2004). Physics for scientists and engineers, with modern physics.
Belmont, [CA.]: Thomson Brooks/Cole. ISBN 0-534-40846-X.
Srednicki, Mark A. (2007). Quantum eld theory. Cambridge, [England] ; New York [NY.]: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86449-7.
1.16 External links

Lorentz force (demonstration)
Faradays law: Tankersley and Mosca
Notes from Physics and Astronomy HyperPhysics at Georgia State University; see also home page
Interactive Java applet on the magnetic deection of a particle beam in a homogeneous magnetic eld by
Wolfgang Bauer
The Lorentz force formula on a wall directly opposite Lorentzs home in downtown Leiden
Charged particle drifts in a homogeneous magnetic eld. (A) No disturbing force (B) With an electric eld, E (C) With an inde-
pendent force, F (e.g. gravity) (D) In an inhomogeneous magnetic eld, grad H
1.16. EXTERNAL LINKS 17
I F
_
B
+
Right-hand rule for a current-carrying wire in a magnetic eld B
Lorentz force -image on a wall in Leiden

Chapter 2
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetic Force redirects here. For a description of the force exerted on particles due to electromagnetic
elds, see Lorentz force.
Electromagnetic redirects here. Electromagnetic may also refer to the use of an electromagnet.
Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical inter-
action that occurs between electrically charged particles. The electromagnetic force usually exhibits electromagnetic
elds such as electric elds, magnetic elds, and light and is one of the four fundamental interactions (commonly
called forces) in nature. The other three fundamental interactions are the strong interaction, the weak interaction and
gravitation.[1]
Lightning is an electrostatic discharge that travels between two charged regions.
The word electromagnetism is a compound form of two Greek terms, lektron, "amber", and
magntis lithos,[2] which means "agnesian stone,[3] a type of iron ore. Electromagnetic phenomena are
18
2.1. HISTORY OF THE THEORY 19
dened in terms of the electromagnetic force, sometimes called the Lorentz force, which includes both electricity and
magnetism as dierent manifestations of the same phenomenon.
The electromagnetic force plays a major role in determining the internal properties of most objects encountered in
daily life. Ordinary matter takes its form as a result of intermolecular forces between individual atoms and molecules
in matter, and is a manifestation of the electromagnetic force. Electrons are bound by the electromagnetic force to
atomic nuclei, and their orbital shapes and their inuence on nearby atoms with their electrons is described by quantum
mechanics. The electromagnetic force governs the processes involved in chemistry, which arise from interactions
between the electrons of neighboring atoms.
There are numerous mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld. In classical electrodynamics, electric
elds are described as electric potential and electric current. In Faradays law, magnetic elds are associated with
electromagnetic induction and magnetism, and Maxwells equations describe how electric and magnetic elds are
generated and altered by each other and by charges and currents.
The theoretical implications of electromagnetism, particularly the establishment of the speed of light based on prop-
erties of the medium of propagation (permeability and permittivity), led to the development of special relativity by
Albert Einstein in 1905.
Although electromagnetism is considered one of the four fundamental forces, at high energy the weak force and
electromagnetic force are unied as a single electroweak force. In the history of the universe, during the quark epoch
the unied force broke into the two separate forces as the universe cooled.
2.1 History of the theory

See also: History of electromagnetic theory
Originally, electricity and magnetism were considered to be two separate forces. This view changed, however, with
the publication of James Clerk Maxwell's 1873 A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism in which the interactions of
positive and negative charges were shown to be mediated by one force. There are four main eects resulting from
these interactions, all of which have been clearly demonstrated by experiments:
1. Electric charges attract or repel one another with a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them: unlike charges attract, like ones repel.
2. Magnetic poles (or states of polarization at individual points) attract or repel one another in a manner similar
to positive and negative charges and always exist as pairs: every north pole is yoked to a south pole.
3. An electric current inside a wire creates a corresponding circumferential magnetic eld outside the wire. Its
direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise) depends on the direction of the current in the wire.
4. A current is induced in a loop of wire when it is moved toward or away from a magnetic eld, or a magnet is
moved towards or away from it; the direction of current depends on that of the movement.
While preparing for an evening lecture on 21 April 1820, Hans Christian rsted made a surprising observation. As
he was setting up his materials, he noticed a compass needle deected away from magnetic north when the electric
current from the battery he was using was switched on and o. This deection convinced him that magnetic elds
radiate from all sides of a wire carrying an electric current, just as light and heat do, and that it conrmed a direct
relationship between electricity and magnetism.
At the time of discovery, rsted did not suggest any satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon, nor did he try
to represent the phenomenon in a mathematical framework. However, three months later he began more intensive
investigations. Soon thereafter he published his ndings, proving that an electric current produces a magnetic eld as
it ows through a wire. The CGS unit of magnetic induction (oersted) is named in honor of his contributions to the
eld of electromagnetism.
His ndings resulted in intensive research throughout the scientic community in electrodynamics. They inuenced
French physicist Andr-Marie Ampre's developments of a single mathematical form to represent the magnetic forces
between current-carrying conductors. rsteds discovery also represented a major step toward a unied concept of
energy.
20 CHAPTER 2. ELECTROMAGNETISM
Hans Christian rsted.
This unication, which was observed by Michael Faraday, extended by James Clerk Maxwell, and partially refor-
mulated by Oliver Heaviside and Heinrich Hertz, is one of the key accomplishments of 19th century mathematical
physics. It has had far-reaching consequences, one of which was the understanding of the nature of light. Unlike
what was proposed by electromagnetic theory of that time, light and other electromagnetic waves are at present seen
as taking the form of quantized, self-propagating oscillatory electromagnetic eld disturbances called photons. Dif-
ferent frequencies of oscillation give rise to the dierent forms of electromagnetic radiation, from radio waves at the
lowest frequencies, to visible light at intermediate frequencies, to gamma rays at the highest frequencies.
rsted was not the only person to examine the relationship between electricity and magnetism. In 1802, Gian
Domenico Romagnosi, an Italian legal scholar, deected a magnetic needle using a Voltaic pile. The factual setup of
2.1. HISTORY OF THE THEORY 21
Andr-Marie Ampre
the experiment is not completely clear, so if current ew across the needle or not. An account of the discovery was
published in 1802 in an Italian newspaper, but it was largely overlooked by the contemporary scientic community,
because Romagnosi seemingly did not belong to this community.[4]
Michael Faraday
2.2. FUNDAMENTAL FORCES 23
James Clerk Maxwell
2.2 Fundamental forces

The electromagnetic force is one of the four known fundamental forces. The other fundamental forces are:
the weak nuclear force, which binds to all known particles in the Standard Model, and causes certain forms of
radioactive decay. (In particle physics though, the electroweak interaction is the unied description of two of
the four known fundamental interactions of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction);
Representation of the electric eld vector of a wave of circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation.
the strong nuclear force, which binds quarks to form nucleons, and binds nucleons to form nuclei
the gravitational force.
All other forces (e.g., friction, contact forces) are derived from these four fundamental forces (including momentum
which is carried by the movement of particles).
The electromagnetic force is the one responsible for practically all the phenomena one encounters in daily life above
the nuclear scale, with the exception of gravity. Roughly speaking, all the forces involved in interactions between
atoms can be explained by the electromagnetic force acting between the electrically charged atomic nuclei and
electrons of the atoms. Electromagnetic forces also explain how these particles carry momentum by their move-
ment. This includes the forces we experience in pushing or pulling ordinary material objects, which result from
the intermolecular forces that act between the individual molecules in our bodies and those in the objects. The
electromagnetic force is also involved in all forms of chemical phenomena.
A necessary part of understanding the intra-atomic and intermolecular forces is the eective force generated by the
momentum of the electrons movement, such that as electrons move between interacting atoms they carry momentum
with them. As a collection of electrons becomes more conned, their minimum momentum necessarily increases due
to the Pauli exclusion principle. The behaviour of matter at the molecular scale including its density is determined
by the balance between the electromagnetic force and the force generated by the exchange of momentum carried by
the electrons themselves.
2.3 Classical electrodynamics

Main article: Classical electrodynamics
In 1600, William Gilbert proposed, in his De Magnete, that electricity and magnetism, while both capable of causing
attraction and repulsion of objects, were distinct eects. Mariners had noticed that lightning strikes had the ability to
disturb a compass needle, but the link between lightning and electricity was not conrmed until Benjamin Franklin's
proposed experiments in 1752. One of the rst to discover and publish a link between man-made electric current
and magnetism was Romagnosi, who in 1802 noticed that connecting a wire across a voltaic pile deected a nearby
compass needle. However, the eect did not become widely known until 1820, when rsted performed a similar
2.4. QUANTUM MECHANICS 25
experiment.[5] rsteds work inuenced Ampre to produce a theory of electromagnetism that set the subject on a
mathematical foundation.
A theory of electromagnetism, known as classical electromagnetism, was developed by various physicists the period
between 1820 and 1873 when it culminated in the publication of a treatise by James Clerk Maxwell, which unied
the preceding developments into a single theory and discovered the electromagnetic nature of light. In classical
electromagnetism, the behavior of the electromagnetic eld is described by a set of equations known as Maxwells
equations, and the electromagnetic force is given by the Lorentz force law.
One of the peculiarities of classical electromagnetism is that it is dicult to reconcile with classical mechanics,
but it is compatible with special relativity. According to Maxwells equations, the speed of light in a vacuum is
a universal constant that is dependent only on the electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability of free space.
This violates Galilean invariance, a long-standing cornerstone of classical mechanics. One way to reconcile the two
theories (electromagnetism and classical mechanics) is to assume the existence of a luminiferous aether through which
the light propagates. However, subsequent experimental eorts failed to detect the presence of the aether. After
important contributions of Hendrik Lorentz and Henri Poincar, in 1905, Albert Einstein solved the problem with
the introduction of special relativity, which replaced classical kinematics with a new theory of kinematics compatible
with classical electromagnetism. (For more information, see History of special relativity.)
In addition, relativity theory implies that in moving frames of reference a magnetic eld transforms to a eld with
a nonzero electric component and conversely, a moving electric eld transforms to a nonzero magnetic component,
thus rmly showing that the phenomena are two sides of the same coin. Hence the term electromagnetism. (For
more information, see Classical electromagnetism and special relativity and Covariant formulation of classical elec-
tromagnetism.
2.4 Quantum mechanics
2.4.1 Early quantum theory
Main article: Photoelectric eect
In a second paper published in 1905, Albert Einstein undermined the very foundations of classical electromagnetism.
In his theory of the photoelectric eect, for which he won the Nobel prize in physics, he posited that light could exist
in discrete particle-like quantities, which later came to be called photons. Einsteins theory of the photoelectric eect
extended the insights that appeared in the solution of the ultraviolet catastrophe presented by Max Planck in 1900
and who coined the term quanta . In his work, Planck showed that hot objects emit electromagnetic radiation in
discrete packets (quanta), which leads to a nite total energy emitted as black body radiation. Both of these results
were in direct contradiction with the classical view of light as a continuous wave. Plancks and Einsteins theories
were progenitors of quantum mechanics, which, when formulated in 1925, necessitated the invention of a quantum
theory of electromagnetism.
2.4.2 Quantum electrodynamics
Main article: Quantum electrodynamics
Maxwells equations have been superseded by quantum electrodynamics (QED). Richard Feynman called it the jewel
of physics[6]:Ch1 for its extremely accurate predictions of quantities like the Lamb shift,[7] and measurement of the
magnetic moment of the electron.[8] The electromagnetic eld is quantized by imagining that at every point in space
and time is a quantum harmonic oscillator. The empty eld (vacuum state) uctuates randomly as a consequence of
the uncertainty principle. This theory, completed in the 1940s1950s, is one of the most accurate theories known
to physics in situations where perturbation theory can be applied. Like classical electromagnetism, QED is a linear
U(1) gauge group.
2.4.3 Electroweak interaction
Main article: Electroweak interaction
The electroweak interaction is a unied eld theory description of two of the four known fundamental interactions
of nature: electromagnetism and the weak interaction. It is a SU(2) U(1) gauge group. Although these two forces
appear very dierent at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two dierent aspects of the same force. At
energies greater than 100 GeV, called the unication energy, the two forces merge into a single electroweak force.
Thus when the universe was hot enough (approximately 1015 K, a temperature that was exceeded until shortly after
the Big Bang) the electromagnetic force and weak force were merged into the electroweak force. With the cooling of
the universe, at the end of the electroweak epoch, the electroweak force separated into the electromagnetic force and
the weak force. During the following quark epoch, it was still too hot for quarks to combine into hadrons and they
moved about freely.
2.5 Chaotic and emergent phenomena

See also: Chaos Theory, Emergence, and Self-organization
The mathematical models used in classical electromagnetism, quantum electrodynamics (QED) and the standard
model all view the electromagnetic force as a linear set of equations. In these theories electromagnetism is a U(1)
gauge theory, whose topological properties do not allow any complex nonlinear interaction of a eld with and on
itself.[9] For example, in the QED vacuum the eld uctuates randomly as a consequence of the uncertainty principle
but these uctuations cancel each other out with no overall observable eect. However, there are many observed
nonlinear physical electromagnetic phenomena such as AharonovBohm (AB)[10][11] and AltshulerAronov Spi-
vak (AAS) eects,[12] Berry,[13] Aharonov Anandan,[14] Pancharatnam[15] and ChiaoWu[16] phase rotation eects,
Josephson eect,[17] [18] Quantum Hall eect,[19] the de Haasvan Alphen eect,[20] the Sagnac eect and many
other physically observable phenomena which would indicate that the electromagnetic potential eld has real physi-
cal meaning rather than being a mathematical artifact[21] and therefore an all encompassing theory would not conne
electromagnetism as a local force as is currently done, but as a SU(2) gauge theory or higher geometry. Higher
symmetries allow for nonlinear, aperiodic behaviour which manifest as a variety of complex non-equilibrium phe-
nomena that do not arise in the linearised U(1) theory, such as multiple stable states, symmetry breaking, chaos and
emergence.[22] In higher symmetry groups, the electromagnetic eld is not a calm, randomly uctuating, passive sub-
stance, but can at times can be viewed as a turbulent virtual plasma that can have complex vortices, entangled states
and a rich nonlinear structure.
What are called Maxwells equations today are in fact a simplied version of the original equations reformulated
by Heaviside, FitzGerald, Lodge and Hertz. The original equations used Hamilton's more expressive quaternion
notation,[23] a kind of Cliord algebra, which fully subsumes the standard Maxwell vectorial equations largely used
today.[24] In the late 1880s there was a debate over the relative merits of vector analysis and quaternions. According to
Heaviside the electromagnetic potential eld was purely metaphysical, an arbitrary mathematical ction, that needed to
be murdered.[25] It was concluded that there was no need for the greater physical insights provided by the quaternions
if the theory was purely local in nature. Local vector analysis has become the dominant way of using Maxwells
equations ever since. However, this strictly vectorial approach as led to a restrictive topological understanding in some
areas of electromagnetism, for example, a full understanding of the energy transfer dynamics in Teslas oscillator-
shuttle-circuit can be achieved only in quaternionic algebra or higher SU(2) symmetries.[26] It has often been argued
that quaternions are not compatible with special relativity,[27] but multiple papers have shown ways of incorporating
relativity[28][29][30]
A good example of nonlinear electromagnetics is in high energy dense plasmas, where vortical phenomena occur
which seemingly violate the second law of thermodynamics by increasing the energy gradient within the electro-
magnetic eld and violate Maxwells laws by creating ion currents which capture and concentrate their own and
surrounding magnetic elds. In particular Lorentz force law, which elaborates Maxwells equations is violated by
these force free vortices.[31][32][33] These apparent violations are due to the fact that the traditional conservation laws
in classical and quantum electrodynamics (QED) only display linear U(1) symmetry (in particular, by the extended
Noether theorem,[34] conservation laws such as the laws of thermodynamics need not always apply to dissipative sys-
tems,[35][36] which are expressed in gauges of higher symmetry). The second law of thermodynamics states that in a
closed linear system entropy ow can be only be positive (or exactly zero at the end of a cycle). However, negative
2.5. CHAOTIC AND EMERGENT PHENOMENA 27
Plasma vortices give rise to solar ares on the sun
entropy (i.e. increased order, structure or self-organisation) can spontaneously appear in an open nonlinear thermo-
dynamic system that is far from equilibrium, so long as this emergent order accelerates the overall ow of entropy in
the total system.
Given the complex and adaptive behaviour that arises from nonlinear systems considerable attention in recent years
has gone into studying a new class of phase transitions which occur at absolute zero temperature. These are quantum
phase transitions which are driven by electromagnetic eld uctuations as a consequence of zero-point energy[37]
A good example of a spontaneous phase transition that are attributed to zero-point uctuations can be found in
superconductors. Superconductivity is one of the best known empirically quantied macroscopic electromagnetic
phenomena whose basis is recognised to be quantum mechanical in origin. The behaviour of the electric and mag-
netic elds under superconductivity is governed by the London equations. However, it has been questioned in a series
of journal articles whether the quantum mechanically canonised London equations can be given a purely classical
derivation.[38] Bostick[39][40] for instance, has claimed to show that the London equations do indeed have a classical
origin that applies to superconductors and to some collisionless plasmas as well. In particular it has been asserted
that the Beltrami vortices in the plasma focus display the same paired ux-tube morphology as Type II supercon-
ductors.[41][42] Others have also pointed out this connection, Frhlich[43] has shown that the hydrodynamic equations
of compressible uids, together with the London equations, lead to a macroscopic parameter ( = electric charge
density / mass density), without involving either quantum phase factors or Plancks constant. In essence, it has been
asserted that Beltrami plasma vortex structures are able to at least simulate the morphology of Type I and Type II
superconductors. This occurs because the organised dissipative energy of the vortex conguration comprising the
ions and electrons far exceeds the disorganised dissipative random thermal energy. The transition from disorganised
uctuations to organised helical structures is a phase transition involving a change in the condensates energy (i.e. the
ground state or zero-point energy) but without any associated rise in temperature.[44] This is an example of zero-point
energy having multiple stable states (see Quantum phase transition, Quantum critical point, Topological degeneracy,
Topological order[45] ) and where the overall system structure is independent of a reductionist or deterministic view,
that classical macroscopic order can also causally aect quantum phenomena.
2.6 Quantities and units

See also: List of physical quantities and List of electromagnetism equations
Electromagnetic units are part of a system of electrical units based primarily upon the magnetic properties of electric
currents, the fundamental SI unit being the ampere. The units are:
ampere (electric current)

coulomb (electric charge)
farad (capacitance)
henry (inductance)
ohm (resistance)
siemens (conductance)
tesla (magnetic ux density)
volt (electric potential)
watt (power)
weber (magnetic ux)
In the electromagnetic cgs system, electric current is a fundamental quantity dened via Ampres law and takes the
permeability as a dimensionless quantity (relative permeability) whose value in a vacuum is unity. As a consequence,
the square of the speed of light appears explicitly in some of the equations interrelating quantities in this system.
Formulas for physical laws of electromagnetism (such as Maxwells equations) need to be adjusted depending on
what system of units one uses. This is because there is no one-to-one correspondence between electromagnetic units
in SI and those in CGS, as is the case for mechanical units. Furthermore, within CGS, there are several plausible
choices of electromagnetic units, leading to dierent unit sub-systems, including Gaussian, ESU, EMU, and
HeavisideLorentz. Among these choices, Gaussian units are the most common today, and in fact the phrase CGS
units is often used to refer specically to CGS-Gaussian units.
2.7 See also

Aeromagnetic surveys
Computational electromagnetics
Double-slit experiment
Electromagnet
Electromagnetic induction
Electromagnetic wave equation
Electromechanics
Geophysics
Magnetostatics
Magnetoquasistatic eld
Optics
Relativistic electromagnetism
WheelerFeynman absorber theory
2.8. REFERENCES 29
2.8 References
[1] Ravaioli, Fawwaz T. Ulaby, Eric Michielssen, Umberto (2010). Fundamentals of applied electromagnetics (6th ed.).
Boston: Prentice Hall. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-13-213931-1.
[2] Platonis Opera, Meyer and Zeller, 1839, p. 989.
[3] The location of Magnesia is debated; it could be the region in mainland Greece or Magnesia ad Sipylum. See, for example,
Magnet. Language Hat blog. 28 May 2005. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
[4] Martins, Roberto de Andrade. Romagnosi and Voltas Pile: Early Diculties in the Interpretation of Voltaic Electricity.
In Fabio Bevilacqua and Lucio Fregonese (eds). Nuova Voltiana: Studies on Volta and his Times (PDF). vol. 3. Universit
degli Studi di Pavia. pp. 81102. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-30. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
[5] Stern, Dr. David P.; Peredo, Mauricio (2001-11-25). Magnetic Fields -- History. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Retrieved 2009-11-27.
[6] Feynman, Richard (1985). QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-
12575-6.
[7] Lamb, Willis; Retherford, Robert (1947). Fine Structure of the Hydrogen Atom by a Microwave Method,. Physical
Review. 72 (3): 241243. Bibcode:1947PhRv...72..241L. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.72.241.
[8] Foley, H.; Kusch, P. (1948). On the Intrinsic Moment of the Electron. Physical Review. 73 (3): 412. Bibcode:1948PhRv...73..412F.
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.73.412.
[9] Barrett, Terence W. (2008). Topological Foundations of Electromagnetism. Singapore: World Scientic. p. 2. ISBN
978-981-277-997-7.
[10] Ehrenberg, W; Siday, RE (1949). The Refractive Index in Electron Optics and the Principles of Dynamics. Proceedings
of the Physical Society. Series B. 62: 821. Bibcode:1949PPSB...62....8E. doi:10.1088/0370-1301/62/1/303.
[11] Aharonov, Y; Bohm, D (1959). Signicance of electromagnetic potentials in quantum theory. Physical Review. 115:
485491. Bibcode:1959PhRv..115..485A. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.115.485.
[12] Al'tshuler,, B. L.; Aronov, A. G.; Spivak, B. Z. (1981). The Aaronov-Bohm eect in disordered conductors (PDF).
Pisma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 33: 101.
[13] Berry, M. V. (1984). Quantal Phase Factors Accompanying Adiabatic Changes (PDF). Proc. Roy. Soc. A392 (1802):
45. doi:10.1098/rspa.1984.0023.
[14] Aharonov, Y.; Anandan, J. (1987). Phase change during a cyclic quantum evolution. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58 (16): 1593.
Bibcode:1987PhRvL..58.1593A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.58.1593.
[15] Pancharatnam, S. (1956). Generalized theory of interference, and its applications. Proceedings of the Indian Academy
of Sciences. 44 (5): 247262. doi:10.1007/BF03046050.
[16] Chiao, Raymond Y.; Wu, Yong-Shi (1986). Manifestations of Berrys Topological Phase for the Photon. Phys. Rev.
Lett. 57 (8): 933. PMID 10034203. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.933.
[17] B. D. Josephson (1962). Possible new eects in superconductive tunnelling. Phys. Lett. 1 (7): 251253. doi:10.1016/0031-
9163(62)91369-0.
[18] B. D. Josephson (1974). The discovery of tunnelling supercurrents. Rev. Mod. Phys. 46 (2): 251254. Bibcode:1974RvMP...46..251J.
doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.46.251.
[19] K. v. Klitzing; G. Dorda; M. Pepper (1980). New method for high-accuracy determination of the ne-structure constant
based on quantized Hall resistance. Phys. Rev. Lett. 45 (6): 494497. Bibcode:1980PhRvL..45..494K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.45.494.
[20] de Haas, W. J.; van Alphen, P. M. (1930). The dependance of the susceptibility of diamagnetic metals upon the eld.
Proc. Netherlands R. Acad. Sci. 33: 1106.
[21] Penrose, Roger (2004). The Road to Reality (8th ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 453454. ISBN 0-679-45443-8.
[22] Feng, J. H.; Kneubhl, F. K. (1995). Barrett, Terence William; Grimes, Dale M., eds. Solitons and Chaos in Periodic
Nonlinear Optical Media and Lasers: Advanced Electromagnetism: Foundations, Theory and Applications. Singapore:
World Scientic. p. 438. ISBN 981-02-2095-2.
[23] Hunt, Bruce J. (2005). The Maxwellians. Cornell: Cornell University Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-8014-8234-2.
[24] Josephs, H. J. (1959). The Heaviside papers found at Paignton in 1957. The Institution of Electrical Engineers Monograph.
319: 7076.
[25] Hunt, Bruce J. (2005). The Maxwellians. Cornell: Cornell University Press. pp. 165166. ISBN 978-0-8014-8234-2.
[26] Barrett, T. W. (1991). Teslas Nonlinear Oscillator-Shuttle-Circuit (OSC) Theory (PDF). Annales de la Fondation Louis
de Broglie. 16 (1): 2341. ISSN 0182-4295.
[27] Penrose, Roger (2004). The Road to Reality (8th ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 201. ISBN 0-679-45443-8.
[28] Rocher, E. Y. (1972). Noumenon: Elementary entity of a new mechanics. J. Math. Phys. 13: 1919. doi:10.1063/1.1665933.
[29] Imaeda, K. (1976). A new formulation of classical electrodynamics. Il Nuovo Cimento B. 32 (1): 138162. doi:10.1007/BF02726749.
[30] Kaumann, T.; Sun, Wen IyJ (1993). Quaternion mechanics and electromagnetism.. Annales de la Fondation Louis de
Broglie. 18 (2): 213219.
[31] Bostick, W. H.; Prior, W.; Grunberger, L.; Emmert, G. (1966). Pair Production of Plasma Vortices. Physics of Fluids.
9 (10): 2078. doi:10.1063/1.1761572.
[32] Ferraro, V .; Plumpton, C. (1961). An Introduction to Magneto-Fluid Mechanics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[33] White, Carol (1977). Energy Potential: Toward a New Electromagnetic Field Theory (PDF). Campaigner Publications. p.
3. ISBN 0-918388-04-X.
[34] Noether E (1918). Invariante Variationsprobleme. Nachr. D. Knig. Gesellsch. D. Wiss. Zu Gttingen, Math-phys.
Klasse. 1918: 235257.
[35] Scott, Alwyn (2006). Encyclopedia of Nonlinear Science. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-135-45558-3.
[36] Pismen, L. M. (2006). Patterns and Interfaces in Dissipative Dynamics. Springer. p. 3. ISBN 978-3-540-30431-9.
[37] Kais, Sabre (2011). Popelier, Paul, ed. Finite Size Scaling for Criticality of the Schrodinger Equation: Solving the Schrodinger
Equation: Has Everything Been Tried?. Singapore: Imperial College Press. pp. 9192. ISBN 978-1-84816-724-7.
[38] Classical Physics Makes a Comeback. London: The Times. Jan 14, 1982.
[39] Bostick, W. (1985). Controversy over whether classical systems like plasmas can behave like superconductors (which
have heretofore been supposed to be strictly quantum-mechanically dominated)". International Journal of Fusion Energy.
3 (2): 4751. ISSN 0146-4981.
[40] Bostick, W. (1985). The morphology of the electron. International Journal of Fusion Energy. 3 (1): 952.
[41] Bostick, W. (1985). The morphology of the electron. International Journal of Fusion Energy. 3 (1): 68.
[42] Edwards, W. Farrell (1981). Classical Derivation of the London Equations. Phys. Rev. Lett. 47 (26): 1863. Bibcode:1981PhRvL..47.1863E.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.47.1863.
[43] Frhlich, H (1966). Macroscopic wave functions in superconductors. Proceedings of the Physical Society. 87: 330.
doi:10.1088/0370-1328/87/1/137.
[44] Reed, Donald (1995). Barrett, Terence William; Grimes, Dale M., eds. Foundational Electrodynamics and Beltrami Vector
Fields: Advanced Electromagnetism: Foundations, Theory and Applications. Singapore: World Scientic. p. 226. ISBN
981-02-2095-2.
[45] Chen, Xie; Gu, Zheng-Cheng; Wen, Xiao-Gang (2010). Local unitary transformation, long-range quantum entangle-
ment, wave function renormalization, and topological order (PDF). Phys. Rev. B. 82 (15): 155138. arXiv:1004.3835 .
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.82.155138.
[46] International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (1993). Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 2nd
edition, Oxford: Blackwell Science. ISBN 0-632-03583-8. pp. 1415. Electronic version.
2.9 Further reading
2.9.1 Web sources

Nave, R. Electricity and magnetism. HyperPhysics. Georgia State University. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
Khutoryansky, E. Electromagnetism - Maxwells Laws. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
2.9. FURTHER READING 31
2.9.2 Textbooks
G.A.G. Bennet (1974). Electricity and Modern Physics (2nd ed.). Edward Arnold (UK). ISBN 0-7131-2459-8.
Dibner, Bern (2012). Oersted and the discovery of electromagnetism. Literary Licensing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-
258-33555-7.
Durney, Carl H.; Johnson, Curtis C. (1969). Introduction to modern electromagnetics. McGraw-Hill. ISBN
0-07-018388-0.
Feynman, Richard P. (1970). The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol II. Addison Wesley Longman. ISBN
978-0-201-02115-8.
Fleisch, Daniel (2008). A Students Guide to Maxwells Equations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-0-521-70147-1.
I.S. Grant; W.R. Phillips; Manchester Physics (2008). Electromagnetism (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN
978-0-471-92712-9.
Griths, David J. (1998). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-805326-X.
Jackson, John D. (1998). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
Moliton, Andr (2007). Basic electromagnetism and materials. 430 pages. New York City: Springer-Verlag
New York, LLC. ISBN 978-0-387-30284-3.
Purcell, Edward M. (1985). Electricity and Magnetism Berkeley Physics Course Volume 2 (2nd ed.). McGraw-
Hill. ISBN 0-07-004908-4.
Rao, Nannapaneni N. (1994). Elements of engineering electromagnetics (4th ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-
948746-8.
Rothwell, Edward J.; Cloud, Michael J. (2001). Electromagnetics. CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-1397-X.
Tipler, Paul (1998). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Vol. 2: Light, Electricity and Magnetism (4th ed.). W.
H. Freeman. ISBN 1-57259-492-6.
Wangsness, Roald K.; Cloud, Michael J. (1986). Electromagnetic Fields (2nd Edition). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-
81186-6.
2.9.3 General references

A. Beiser (1987). Concepts of Modern Physics (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill (International). ISBN 0-07-100144-1.
L.H. Greenberg (1978). Physics with Modern Applications. Holt-Saunders International W.B. Saunders and
Co. ISBN 0-7216-4247-0.
R.G. Lerner; G.L. Trigg (2005). Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd ed.). VHC Publishers, Hans Warlimont,
Springer. pp. 1213. ISBN 978-0-07-025734-4.
J.B. Marion; W.F. Hornyak (1984). Principles of Physics. Holt-Saunders International Saunders College. ISBN
4-8337-0195-2.
H.J. Pain (1983). The Physics of Vibrations and Waves (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons,. ISBN 0-471-90182-2.
C.B. Parker (1994). McGraw Hill Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-051400-3.
R. Penrose (2007). The Road to Reality. Vintage books. ISBN 0-679-77631-1.
P.A. Tipler; G. Mosca (2008). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: With Modern Physics (6th ed.). W.H.
Freeman and Co. ISBN 978-1-4292-0265-7.
P.M. Whelan; M.J. Hodgeson (1978). Essential Principles of Physics (2nd ed.). John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-
3382-1.
2.10 External links

Oppelt, Arnulf (2006-11-02). magnetic eld strength. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
magnetic eld strength converter. Retrieved 2007-06-04.

Electromagnetic Force - from Eric Weissteins World of Physics
Goudarzi, Sara (2006-08-15). Ties That Bind Atoms Weaker Than Thought. LiveScience.com. Retrieved
2013-11-12.
Quarked Electromagnetic force - A good introduction for kids
The Deection of a Magnetic Compass Needle by a Current in a Wire (video) on YouTube

Electromagnetism abridged
Chapter 3
Force
For other uses, see Force (disambiguation) and Forcing (disambiguation).
In physics, a force is any interaction that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object.[1] A force can cause
an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate.
Force can also be described intuitively as a push or a pull. A force has both magnitude and direction, making it a
vector quantity. It is measured in the SI unit of newtons and represented by the symbol F.
The original form of Newtons second law states that the net force acting upon an object is equal to the rate at which
its momentum changes with time. If the mass of the object is constant, this law implies that the acceleration of an
object is directly proportional to the net force acting on the object, is in the direction of the net force, and is inversely
proportional to the mass of the object
Concepts related to force include: thrust, which increases the velocity of an object; drag, which decreases the velocity
of an object; and torque, which produces changes in rotational speed of an object. In an extended body, each part
usually applies forces on the adjacent parts; the distribution of such forces through the body is the internal mechanical
stress. Such internal mechanical stresses cause no accelation of that body as the forces balance one another. Pressure,
the distribution of many small forces applied over an area of a body, is a simple type of stress that if unbalanced can
cause the body to accelerate. Stress usually causes deformation of solid materials, or ow in uids.
3.1 Development of the concept
Philosophers in antiquity used the concept of force in the study of stationary and moving objects and simple machines,
but thinkers such as Aristotle and Archimedes retained fundamental errors in understanding force. In part this was
due to an incomplete understanding of the sometimes non-obvious force of friction, and a consequently inadequate
view of the nature of natural motion.[2] A fundamental error was the belief that a force is required to maintain motion,
even at a constant velocity. Most of the previous misunderstandings about motion and force were eventually corrected
by Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton. With his mathematical insight, Sir Isaac Newton formulated laws of motion
that were not improved for nearly three hundred years.[3] By the early 20th century, Einstein developed a theory of
relativity that correctly predicted the action of forces on objects with increasing momenta near the speed of light, and
also provided insight into the forces produced by gravitation and inertia.
With modern insights into quantum mechanics and technology that can accelerate particles close to the speed of
light, particle physics has devised a Standard Model to describe forces between particles smaller than atoms. The
Standard Model predicts that exchanged particles called gauge bosons are the fundamental means by which forces
are emitted and absorbed. Only four main interactions are known: in order of decreasing strength, they are: strong,
electromagnetic, weak, and gravitational.[4]:210[5]:79 High-energy particle physics observations made during the 1970s
and 1980s conrmed that the weak and electromagnetic forces are expressions of a more fundamental electroweak
interaction.[6]
33
34 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
3.2 Pre-Newtonian concepts
See also: Aristotelian physics and Theory of impetus

Since antiquity the concept of force has been recognized as integral to the functioning of each of the simple machines.
Aristotle famously described a force as anything that causes an object to undergo unnatural motion
3.3. NEWTONIAN MECHANICS 35
The mechanical advantage given by a simple machine allowed for less force to be used in exchange for that force acting
over a greater distance for the same amount of work. Analysis of the characteristics of forces ultimately culminated
in the work of Archimedes who was especially famous for formulating a treatment of buoyant forces inherent in
uids.[2]
Aristotle provided a philosophical discussion of the concept of a force as an integral part of Aristotelian cosmology.
In Aristotles view, the terrestrial sphere contained four elements that come to rest at dierent natural places therein.
Aristotle believed that motionless objects on Earth, those composed mostly of the elements earth and water, to be in
their natural place on the ground and that they will stay that way if left alone. He distinguished between the innate
tendency of objects to nd their natural place (e.g., for heavy bodies to fall), which led to natural motion, and
unnatural or forced motion, which required continued application of a force.[7] This theory, based on the everyday
experience of how objects move, such as the constant application of a force needed to keep a cart moving, had
conceptual trouble accounting for the behavior of projectiles, such as the ight of arrows. The place where the archer
moves the projectile was at the start of the ight, and while the projectile sailed through the air, no discernible ecient
cause acts on it. Aristotle was aware of this problem and proposed that the air displaced through the projectiles path
carries the projectile to its target. This explanation demands a continuum like air for change of place in general.[8]
Aristotelian physics began facing criticism in medieval science, rst by John Philoponus in the 6th century.
The shortcomings of Aristotelian physics would not be fully corrected until the 17th century work of Galileo Galilei,
who was inuenced by the late medieval idea that objects in forced motion carried an innate force of impetus.
Galileo constructed an experiment in which stones and cannonballs were both rolled down an incline to disprove
the Aristotelian theory of motion. He showed that the bodies were accelerated by gravity to an extent that was inde-
pendent of their mass and argued that objects retain their velocity unless acted on by a force, for example friction.[9]
3.3 Newtonian mechanics

Main article: Newtons laws of motion
Sir Isaac Newton described the motion of all objects using the concepts of inertia and force, and in doing so he
found they obey certain conservation laws. In 1687, Newton published his thesis Philosophi Naturalis Principia
Mathematica.[3][10] In this work Newton set out three laws of motion that to this day are the way forces are described
in physics.[10]
3.3.1 First law
Main article: Newtons rst law
Newtons First Law of Motion states that objects continue to move in a state of constant velocity unless acted upon
by an external net force (resultant force).[10] This law is an extension of Galileos insight that constant velocity was
associated with a lack of net force (see a more detailed description of this below). Newton proposed that every object
with mass has an innate inertia that functions as the fundamental equilibrium natural state in place of the Aristotelian
idea of the natural state of rest. That is, Newtons empirical First Law contradicts the intuitive Aristotelian belief
that a net force is required to keep an object moving with constant velocity. By making rest physically indistinguishable
from non-zero constant velocity, Newtons First Law directly connects inertia with the concept of relative velocities.
Specically, in systems where objects are moving with dierent velocities, it is impossible to determine which object
is in motion and which object is at rest. The laws of physics are the same in every inertial frame of reference,
that is, in all frames related by a Galilean transformation.
For instance, while traveling in a moving vehicle at a constant velocity, the laws of physics do not change as a result
of its motion. If a person riding within the vehicle throws a ball straight up, that person will observe it rise vertically
and fall vertically and not have to apply a force in the direction the vehicle is moving. Another person, observing the
moving vehicle pass by, would observe the ball follow a curving parabolic path in the same direction as the motion
of the vehicle. It is the inertia of the ball associated with its constant velocity in the direction of the vehicles motion
that ensures the ball continues to move forward even as it is thrown up and falls back down. From the perspective
of the person in the car, the vehicle and everything inside of it is at rest: It is the outside world that is moving with
a constant speed in the opposite direction of the vehicle. Since there is no experiment that can distinguish whether
36 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
it is the vehicle that is at rest or the outside world that is at rest, the two situations are considered to be physically
indistinguishable. Inertia therefore applies equally well to constant velocity motion as it does to rest.
Though Sir Isaac Newton's most famous equation is

a , he actually wrote down a dierent form for his second law of motion that did not use dierential calculus.
=m
F
3.3. NEWTONIAN MECHANICS 37
3.3.2 Second law

Main article: Newtons second law
A modern statement of Newtons Second Law is a vector equation:[Note 1]
d
p
F = ,
dt
where p is the momentum of the system, and F is the net (vector sum) force. If a body is in equilibrium, there is
zero net force by denition (balanced forces may be present nevertheless). In contrast, the second law states that if
there is an unbalanced force acting on an object it will result in the objects momentum changing over time.[10]
By the denition of momentum,
d
p d (mv )
F = = ,
dt dt
where m is the mass and v is the velocity.[4]:9-1,9-2
If Newtons second law is applied to a system of constant mass,[Note 2] m may be moved outside the derivative operator.
The equation then becomes
dv
F = m .
dt
By substituting the denition of acceleration, the algebraic version of Newtons Second Law is derived:
F = ma.
Newton never explicitly stated the formula in the reduced form above.[11]
Newtons Second Law asserts the direct proportionality of acceleration to force and the inverse proportionality of
acceleration to mass. Accelerations can be dened through kinematic measurements. However, while kinematics
are well-described through reference frame analysis in advanced physics, there are still deep questions that remain
as to what is the proper denition of mass. General relativity oers an equivalence between space-time and mass,
but lacking a coherent theory of quantum gravity, it is unclear as to how or whether this connection is relevant on
microscales. With some justication, Newtons second law can be taken as a quantitative denition of mass by writing
the law as an equality; the relative units of force and mass then are xed.
The use of Newtons Second Law as a denition of force has been disparaged in some of the more rigorous textbooks,[4]:12-1[5]:59[12]
because it is essentially a mathematical truism. Notable physicists, philosophers and mathematicians who have sought
a more explicit denition of the concept of force include Ernst Mach, Cliord Truesdell and Walter Noll.[13][14]
Newtons Second Law can be used to measure the strength of forces. For instance, knowledge of the masses of
planets along with the accelerations of their orbits allows scientists to calculate the gravitational forces on planets.
3.3.3 Third law

Main article: Newtons third law
Newtons Third Law is a result of applying symmetry to situations where forces can be attributed to the presence of
dierent objects. The third law means that all forces are interactions between dierent bodies,[15][Note 3] and thus that
there is no such thing as a unidirectional force or a force that acts on only one body. Whenever a rst body exerts a
force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force F on the rst body. F and F are equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction. This law is sometimes referred to as the action-reaction law, with F called the action and F
the reaction. The action and the reaction are simultaneous:
38 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
F1,2 = F2,1 .
If object 1 and object 2 are considered to be in the same system, then the net force on the system due to the interactions
between those is zero since
F1,2 + F2,1 = 0
F = 0.
This means that in a closed system of particles, all internal forces are balanced. That is, the action-reaction force
shared between any two objects in a closed system will not cause the center of mass of the system to accelerate. The
constituent objects may accelerate with respect to each other, but the system itself remains unaccelerated. Alterna-
tively, if an external force acts on the system, then the center of mass will experience an acceleration proportional to
the magnitude of the external force divided by the mass of the system.[4]:19-1[5]
Combining Newtons Second and Third Laws, it is possible to show that the linear momentum of a system is conserved.
Using
d
p1,2 d
p2,1
F1,2 = = F2,1 =
dt dt
and integrating with respect to time, the equation:
p1,2 =
p2,1
is obtained. For a system that includes objects 1 and 2,

p =
p1,2 +
p2,1 = 0
which is the conservation of linear momentum.[16] Using the similar arguments, it is possible to generalize this to a
system of an arbitrary number of particles. This shows that exchanging momentum between constituent objects will
not aect the net momentum of a system. In general, as long as all forces are due to the interaction of objects with
mass, it is possible to dene a system such that net momentum is never lost nor gained.[4][5]
3.4 Special theory of relativity

In the special theory of relativity, mass and energy are equivalent (as can be seen by calculating the work required to
accelerate an object). When an objects velocity increases, so does its energy and hence its mass equivalent (inertia).
It thus requires more force to accelerate it the same amount than it did at a lower velocity. Newtons Second Law
F = d
p/dt
remains valid because it is a mathematical denition.[17]:855876 But in order to be conserved, relativistic momentum
must be redened as:
m0v
p =
1 v 2 /c2
where
3.5. DESCRIPTIONS 39
v is the velocity and

c is the speed of light
m0 is the rest mass.
The relativistic expression relating force and acceleration for a particle with constant non-zero rest mass m moving
in the x direction is:
Fx = 3 max
Fy = may
Fz = maz
where the Lorentz factor
= 1
. [18]
1v 2 /c2
In the early history of relativity, the expressions 3 m and m were called longitudinal and transverse mass. Relativis-
tic force does not produce a constant acceleration, but an ever-decreasing acceleration as the object approaches the
speed of light. Note that approaches asymptotically an innite value and is undened for an object with a non-zero
rest mass as it approaches the speed of light, and the theory yields no prediction at that speed.
If v is very small compared to c , then is very close to 1 and
F = ma
is a close approximation. Even for use in relativity, however, one can restore the form of
F = mA
through the use of four-vectors. This relation is correct in relativity when F is the four-force, m is the invariant
mass, and A is the four-acceleration.[19]
3.5 Descriptions
Since forces are perceived as pushes or pulls, this can provide an intuitive understanding for describing forces.[3]
As with other physical concepts (e.g. temperature), the intuitive understanding of forces is quantied using pre-
cise operational denitions that are consistent with direct observations and compared to a standard measurement
scale. Through experimentation, it is determined that laboratory measurements of forces are fully consistent with the
conceptual denition of force oered by Newtonian mechanics.
Forces act in a particular direction and have sizes dependent upon how strong the push or pull is. Because of these
characteristics, forces are classied as "vector quantities". This means that forces follow a dierent set of mathematical
rules than physical quantities that do not have direction (denoted scalar quantities). For example, when determining
what happens when two forces act on the same object, it is necessary to know both the magnitude and the direction of
both forces to calculate the result. If both of these pieces of information are not known for each force, the situation
is ambiguous. For example, if you know that two people are pulling on the same rope with known magnitudes of
force but you do not know which direction either person is pulling, it is impossible to determine what the acceleration
of the rope will be. The two people could be pulling against each other as in tug of war or the two people could be
pulling in the same direction. In this simple one-dimensional example, without knowing the direction of the forces it
is impossible to decide whether the net force is the result of adding the two force magnitudes or subtracting one from
the other. Associating forces with vectors avoids such problems.
Historically, forces were rst quantitatively investigated in conditions of static equilibrium where several forces can-
celed each other out. Such experiments demonstrate the crucial properties that forces are additive vector quantities:
40 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
Free body diagrams of a block on a at surface and an inclined plane. Forces are resolved and added together to determine their
magnitudes and the net force.
they have magnitude and direction.[3] When two forces act on a point particle, the resulting force, the resultant (also
called the net force), can be determined by following the parallelogram rule of vector addition: the addition of two
vectors represented by sides of a parallelogram, gives an equivalent resultant vector that is equal in magnitude and
direction to the transversal of the parallelogram.[4][5] The magnitude of the resultant varies from the dierence of
the magnitudes of the two forces to their sum, depending on the angle between their lines of action. However, if the
forces are acting on an extended body, their respective lines of application must also be specied in order to account
for their eects on the motion of the body.
Free-body diagrams can be used as a convenient way to keep track of forces acting on a system. Ideally, these
diagrams are drawn with the angles and relative magnitudes of the force vectors preserved so that graphical vector
addition can be done to determine the net force.[20]
As well as being added, forces can also be resolved into independent components at right angles to each other. A
horizontal force pointing northeast can therefore be split into two forces, one pointing north, and one pointing east.
Summing these component forces using vector addition yields the original force. Resolving force vectors into com-
ponents of a set of basis vectors is often a more mathematically clean way to describe forces than using magnitudes
and directions.[21] This is because, for orthogonal components, the components of the vector sum are uniquely deter-
mined by the scalar addition of the components of the individual vectors. Orthogonal components are independent
of each other because forces acting at ninety degrees to each other have no eect on the magnitude or direction of the
other. Choosing a set of orthogonal basis vectors is often done by considering what set of basis vectors will make the
mathematics most convenient. Choosing a basis vector that is in the same direction as one of the forces is desirable,
since that force would then have only one non-zero component. Orthogonal force vectors can be three-dimensional
with the third component being at right-angles to the other two.[4][5]
3.5.1 Equilibrium
Equilibrium occurs when the resultant force acting on a point particle is zero (that is, the vector sum of all forces is
zero). When dealing with an extended body, it is also necessary that the net torque be zero.
There are two kinds of equilibrium: static equilibrium and dynamic equilibrium.
Static
Main articles: Statics and Static equilibrium
Static equilibrium was understood well before the invention of classical mechanics. Objects that are at rest have zero
net force acting on them.[22]
The simplest case of static equilibrium occurs when two forces are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction. For
example, an object on a level surface is pulled (attracted) downward toward the center of the Earth by the force of
gravity. At the same time, a force is applied by the surface that resists the downward force with equal upward force
(called a normal force). The situation produces zero net force and hence no acceleration.[3]
Pushing against an object that rests on a frictional surface can result in a situation where the object does not move
because the applied force is opposed by static friction, generated between the object and the table surface. For a
situation with no movement, the static friction force exactly balances the applied force resulting in no acceleration.
The static friction increases or decreases in response to the applied force up to an upper limit determined by the
characteristics of the contact between the surface and the object.[3]
A static equilibrium between two forces is the most usual way of measuring forces, using simple devices such as
weighing scales and spring balances. For example, an object suspended on a vertical spring scale experiences the force
of gravity acting on the object balanced by a force applied by the spring reaction force, which equals the objects
weight. Using such tools, some quantitative force laws were discovered: that the force of gravity is proportional to
volume for objects of constant density (widely exploited for millennia to dene standard weights); Archimedes prin-
ciple for buoyancy; Archimedes analysis of the lever; Boyles law for gas pressure; and Hookes law for springs. These
were all formulated and experimentally veried before Isaac Newton expounded his Three Laws of Motion.[3][4][5]
Dynamic
Main article: Dynamics (physics)

Dynamic equilibrium was rst described by Galileo who noticed that certain assumptions of Aristotelian physics
were contradicted by observations and logic. Galileo realized that simple velocity addition demands that the con-
42 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
Galileo Galilei was the rst to point out the inherent contradictions contained in Aristotles description of forces.
cept of an absolute rest frame" did not exist. Galileo concluded that motion in a constant velocity was completely
equivalent to rest. This was contrary to Aristotles notion of a natural state of rest that objects with mass naturally
approached. Simple experiments showed that Galileos understanding of the equivalence of constant velocity and rest
were correct. For example, if a mariner dropped a cannonball from the crows nest of a ship moving at a constant
velocity, Aristotelian physics would have the cannonball fall straight down while the ship moved beneath it. Thus, in
an Aristotelian universe, the falling cannonball would land behind the foot of the mast of a moving ship. However,
when this experiment is actually conducted, the cannonball always falls at the foot of the mast, as if the cannonball
knows to travel with the ship despite being separated from it. Since there is no forward horizontal force being applied
on the cannonball as it falls, the only conclusion left is that the cannonball continues to move with the same velocity
as the boat as it falls. Thus, no force is required to keep the cannonball moving at the constant forward velocity.[9]
Moreover, any object traveling at a constant velocity must be subject to zero net force (resultant force). This is the
denition of dynamic equilibrium: when all the forces on an object balance but it still moves at a constant velocity.
A simple case of dynamic equilibrium occurs in constant velocity motion across a surface with kinetic friction. In
such a situation, a force is applied in the direction of motion while the kinetic friction force exactly opposes the
applied force. This results in zero net force, but since the object started with a non-zero velocity, it continues to move
with a non-zero velocity. Aristotle misinterpreted this motion as being caused by the applied force. However, when
kinetic friction is taken into consideration it is clear that there is no net force causing constant velocity motion.[4][5]
3.5.2 Forces in quantum mechanics
Main articles: Quantum mechanics and Pauli principle
The notion force keeps its meaning in quantum mechanics, though one is now dealing with operators instead of
classical variables and though the physics is now described by the Schrdinger equation instead of Newtonian equa-
tions. This has the consequence that the results of a measurement are now sometimes quantized, i.e. they appear
in discrete portions. This is, of course, dicult to imagine in the context of forces. However, the potentials
V(x,y,z) or elds, from which the forces generally can be derived, are treated similar to classical position variables,
i.e., V (x, y, z) V (x, y, z) .
This becomes dierent only in the framework of quantum eld theory, where these elds are also quantized.
However, already in quantum mechanics there is one caveat, namely the particles acting onto each other do not only
possess the spatial variable, but also a discrete intrinsic angular momentum-like variable called the "spin", and there
is the Pauli principle relating the space and the spin variables. Depending on the value of the spin, identical particles
split into two dierent classes, fermions and bosons. If two identical fermions (e.g. electrons) have a symmetric spin
function (e.g. parallel spins) the spatial variables must be antisymmetric (i.e. they exclude each other from their
places much as if there was a repulsive force), and vice versa, i.e. for antiparallel spins the position variables must be
symmetric (i.e. the apparent force must be attractive). Thus in the case of two fermions there is a strictly negative
correlation between spatial and spin variables, whereas for two bosons (e.g. quanta of electromagnetic waves, photons)
the correlation is strictly positive.
Thus the notion force loses already part of its meaning.
3.5.3 Feynman diagrams
Main article: Feynman diagrams

In modern particle physics, forces and the acceleration of particles are explained as a mathematical by-product of
exchange of momentum-carrying gauge bosons. With the development of quantum eld theory and general relativity,
it was realized that force is a redundant concept arising from conservation of momentum (4-momentum in relativity
and momentum of virtual particles in quantum electrodynamics). The conservation of momentum can be directly
derived from the homogeneity or symmetry of space and so is usually considered more fundamental than the concept
of a force. Thus the currently known fundamental forces are considered more accurately to be "fundamental interac-
tions".[6]:199128 When particle A emits (creates) or absorbs (annihilates) virtual particle B, a momentum conservation
results in recoil of particle A making impression of repulsion or attraction between particles A A' exchanging by B.
This description applies to all forces arising from fundamental interactions. While sophisticated mathematical de-
scriptions are needed to predict, in full detail, the accurate result of such interactions, there is a conceptually simple
way to describe such interactions through the use of Feynman diagrams. In a Feynman diagram, each matter particle
is represented as a straight line (see world line) traveling through time, which normally increases up or to the right
in the diagram. Matter and anti-matter particles are identical except for their direction of propagation through the
Feynman diagram. World lines of particles intersect at interaction vertices, and the Feynman diagram represents any
force arising from an interaction as occurring at the vertex with an associated instantaneous change in the direction
of the particle world lines. Gauge bosons are emitted away from the vertex as wavy lines and, in the case of virtual
particle exchange, are absorbed at an adjacent vertex.[23]
The utility of Feynman diagrams is that other types of physical phenomena that are part of the general picture of
fundamental interactions but are conceptually separate from forces can also be described using the same rules. For
example, a Feynman diagram can describe in succinct detail how a neutron decays into an electron, proton, and
neutrino, an interaction mediated by the same gauge boson that is responsible for the weak nuclear force.[23]
44 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
Feynman diagram for the decay of a neutron into a proton. The W boson is between two vertices indicating a repulsion.
3.6 Fundamental forces
Main article: Fundamental interaction
All of the forces in the universe are based on four fundamental interactions. The strong and weak forces are nuclear
forces that act only at very short distances, and are responsible for the interactions between subatomic particles, in-
cluding nucleons and compound nuclei. The electromagnetic force acts between electric charges, and the gravitational
force acts between masses. All other forces in nature derive from these four fundamental interactions. For example,
friction is a manifestation of the electromagnetic force acting between the atoms of two surfaces, and the Pauli exclu-
sion principle,[24] which does not permit atoms to pass through each other. Similarly, the forces in springs, modeled
by Hookes law, are the result of electromagnetic forces and the Exclusion Principle acting together to return an ob-
ject to its equilibrium position. Centrifugal forces are acceleration forces that arise simply from the acceleration of
rotating frames of reference.[4]:12-11[5]:359
The fundamental theories for forces developed from the unication of disparate ideas. For example, Isaac Newton
unied, with his universal theory of gravitation, the force responsible for objects falling near the surface of the Earth
with the force responsible for the falling of celestial bodies about the Earth (the Moon) and the Sun (the planets).
Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic forces were unied through a
theory of electromagnetism. In the 20th century, the development of quantum mechanics led to a modern under-
standing that the rst three fundamental forces (all except gravity) are manifestations of matter (fermions) interacting
by exchanging virtual particles called gauge bosons.[25] This standard model of particle physics assumes a similarity
between the forces and led scientists to predict the unication of the weak and electromagnetic forces in electroweak
theory, which was subsequently conrmed by observation. The complete formulation of the standard model predicts
an as yet unobserved Higgs mechanism, but observations such as neutrino oscillations suggest that the standard model
is incomplete. A Grand Unied Theory that allows for the combination of the electroweak interaction with the strong
force is held out as a possibility with candidate theories such as supersymmetry proposed to accommodate some of
the outstanding unsolved problems in physics. Physicists are still attempting to develop self-consistent unication
models that would combine all four fundamental interactions into a theory of everything. Einstein tried and failed at
this endeavor, but currently the most popular approach to answering this question is string theory.[6]:212219
3.6.1 Gravitational
Main article: Gravity
What we now call gravity was not identied as a universal force until the work of Isaac Newton. Before Newton,
the tendency for objects to fall towards the Earth was not understood to be related to the motions of celestial objects.
Galileo was instrumental in describing the characteristics of falling objects by determining that the acceleration of
every object in free-fall was constant and independent of the mass of the object. Today, this acceleration due to
gravity towards the surface of the Earth is usually designated as g and has a magnitude of about 9.81 meters per
second squared (this measurement is taken from sea level and may vary depending on location), and points toward
the center of the Earth.[27] This observation means that the force of gravity on an object at the Earths surface is
directly proportional to the objects mass. Thus an object that has a mass of m will experience a force:
F = mg
For an object in free-fall, this force is unopposed and the net force on the object is its weight. For objects not in free-
fall, the force of gravity is opposed by the reaction forces applied by their supports. For example, a person standing
on the ground experiences zero net force, since a normal force (a reaction force) is exerted by the ground upward on
the person that counterbalances his weight that is directed downward.[4][5]
Newtons contribution to gravitational theory was to unify the motions of heavenly bodies, which Aristotle had as-
sumed were in a natural state of constant motion, with falling motion observed on the Earth. He proposed a law of
gravity that could account for the celestial motions that had been described earlier using Keplers laws of planetary
motion.[28]
Newton came to realize that the eects of gravity might be observed in dierent ways at larger distances. In particular,
Newton determined that the acceleration of the Moon around the Earth could be ascribed to the same force of gravity
if the acceleration due to gravity decreased as an inverse square law. Further, Newton realized that the acceleration
of a body due to gravity is proportional to the mass of the other attracting body.[28] Combining these ideas gives a
formula that relates the mass ( m ) and the radius ( R ) of the Earth to the gravitational acceleration:
Gm
g = r
R 2
where the vector direction is given by r , is the unit vector directed outward from the center of the Earth.[10]
In this equation, a dimensional constant G is used to describe the relative strength of gravity. This constant has come
to be known as Newtons Universal Gravitation Constant,[29] though its value was unknown in Newtons lifetime. Not
until 1798 was Henry Cavendish able to make the rst measurement of G using a torsion balance; this was widely
reported in the press as a measurement of the mass of the Earth since knowing G could allow one to solve for the
Earths mass given the above equation. Newton, however, realized that since all celestial bodies followed the same
laws of motion, his law of gravity had to be universal. Succinctly stated, Newtons Law of Gravitation states that the
force on a spherical object of mass m1 due to the gravitational pull of mass m2 is
Gm1 m2
F = r
r2
46 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
where r is the distance between the two objects centers of mass and r is the unit vector pointed in the direction away
from the center of the rst object toward the center of the second object.[10]
This formula was powerful enough to stand as the basis for all subsequent descriptions of motion within the solar
system until the 20th century. During that time, sophisticated methods of perturbation analysis[30] were invented to
calculate the deviations of orbits due to the inuence of multiple bodies on a planet, moon, comet, or asteroid. The
formalism was exact enough to allow mathematicians to predict the existence of the planet Neptune before it was
observed.[31]
Mercury's orbit, however, did not match that predicted by Newtons Law of Gravitation. Some astrophysicists pre-
dicted the existence of another planet (Vulcan) that would explain the discrepancies; however no such planet could be
found. When Albert Einstein formulated his theory of general relativity (GR) he turned his attention to the problem
of Mercurys orbit and found that his theory added a correction, which could account for the discrepancy. This was
the rst time that Newtons Theory of Gravity had been shown to be inexact.[33]
Since then, general relativity has been acknowledged as the theory that best explains gravity. In GR, gravitation is
not viewed as a force, but rather, objects moving freely in gravitational elds travel under their own inertia in straight
lines through curved space-time dened as the shortest space-time path between two space-time events. From the
perspective of the object, all motion occurs as if there were no gravitation whatsoever. It is only when observing the
motion in a global sense that the curvature of space-time can be observed and the force is inferred from the objects
curved path. Thus, the straight line path in space-time is seen as a curved line in space, and it is called the ballistic
trajectory of the object. For example, a basketball thrown from the ground moves in a parabola, as it is in a uniform
gravitational eld. Its space-time trajectory is almost a straight line, slightly curved (with the radius of curvature
of the order of few light-years). The time derivative of the changing momentum of the object is what we label as
gravitational force.[5]
3.6.2 Electromagnetic
Main article: Electromagnetic force
The electrostatic force was rst described in 1784 by Coulomb as a force that existed intrinsically between two
charges.[17]:519 The properties of the electrostatic force were that it varied as an inverse square law directed in the
radial direction, was both attractive and repulsive (there was intrinsic polarity), was independent of the mass of the
charged objects, and followed the superposition principle. Coulombs law unies all these observations into one
succinct statement.[34]
Subsequent mathematicians and physicists found the construct of the electric eld to be useful for determining the
electrostatic force on an electric charge at any point in space. The electric eld was based on using a hypothetical
"test charge" anywhere in space and then using Coulombs Law to determine the electrostatic force.[35]:4-6 to 4-8 Thus
the electric eld anywhere in space is dened as

=F
E
q
where q is the magnitude of the hypothetical test charge.

Meanwhile, the Lorentz force of magnetism was discovered to exist between two electric currents. It has the same
mathematical character as Coulombs Law with the proviso that like currents attract and unlike currents repel. Similar
to the electric eld, the magnetic eld can be used to determine the magnetic force on an electric current at any point
in space. In this case, the magnitude of the magnetic eld was determined to be
F
B=
I
where I is the magnitude of the hypothetical test current and is the length of hypothetical wire through which the test
current ows. The magnetic eld exerts a force on all magnets including, for example, those used in compasses. The
fact that the Earths magnetic eld is aligned closely with the orientation of the Earths axis causes compass magnets
to become oriented because of the magnetic force pulling on the needle.
Through combining the denition of electric current as the time rate of change of electric charge, a rule of vector
multiplication called Lorentzs Law describes the force on a charge moving in a magnetic eld.[35] The connection
between electricity and magnetism allows for the description of a unied electromagnetic force that acts on a charge.
This force can be written as a sum of the electrostatic force (due to the electric eld) and the magnetic force (due to
the magnetic eld). Fully stated, this is the law:
+ v B)
F = q(E
where F is the electromagnetic force, q is the magnitude of the charge of the particle, E is the electric eld, v is the
velocity of the particle that is crossed with the magnetic eld ( B ).
The origin of electric and magnetic elds would not be fully explained until 1864 when James Clerk Maxwell unied
a number of earlier theories into a set of 20 scalar equations, which were later reformulated into 4 vector equations by
Oliver Heaviside and Josiah Willard Gibbs.[36] These "Maxwell Equations" fully described the sources of the elds
as being stationary and moving charges, and the interactions of the elds themselves. This led Maxwell to discover
that electric and magnetic elds could be self-generating through a wave that traveled at a speed that he calculated
to be the speed of light. This insight united the nascent elds of electromagnetic theory with optics and led directly
to a complete description of the electromagnetic spectrum.[37]
However, attempting to reconcile electromagnetic theory with two observations, the photoelectric eect, and the
nonexistence of the ultraviolet catastrophe, proved troublesome. Through the work of leading theoretical physicists, a
new theory of electromagnetism was developed using quantum mechanics. This nal modication to electromagnetic
theory ultimately led to quantum electrodynamics (or QED), which fully describes all electromagnetic phenomena as
being mediated by waveparticles known as photons. In QED, photons are the fundamental exchange particle, which
described all interactions relating to electromagnetism including the electromagnetic force.[Note 4]
It is a common misconception to ascribe the stiness and rigidity of solid matter to the repulsion of like charges under
the inuence of the electromagnetic force. However, these characteristics actually result from the Pauli exclusion
principle. Since electrons are fermions, they cannot occupy the same quantum mechanical state as other electrons.
When the electrons in a material are densely packed together, there are not enough lower energy quantum mechanical
states for them all, so some of them must be in higher energy states. This means that it takes energy to pack them
together. While this eect is manifested macroscopically as a structural force, it is technically only the result of the
existence of a nite set of electron states.
3.6.3 Strong nuclear
Main article: Strong interaction
There are two "nuclear forces", which today are usually described as interactions that take place in quantum theories
of particle physics. The strong nuclear force[17]:940 is the force responsible for the structural integrity of atomic nuclei
while the weak nuclear force[17]:951 is responsible for the decay of certain nucleons into leptons and other types of
hadrons.[4][5]
The strong force is today understood to represent the interactions between quarks and gluons as detailed by the theory
of quantum chromodynamics (QCD).[38] The strong force is the fundamental force mediated by gluons, acting upon
quarks, antiquarks, and the gluons themselves. The (aptly named) strong interaction is the strongest of the four
fundamental forces.
The strong force only acts directly upon elementary particles. However, a residual of the force is observed between
hadrons (the best known example being the force that acts between nucleons in atomic nuclei) as the nuclear force.
Here the strong force acts indirectly, transmitted as gluons, which form part of the virtual pi and rho mesons, which
classically transmit the nuclear force (see this topic for more). The failure of many searches for free quarks has shown
that the elementary particles aected are not directly observable. This phenomenon is called color connement.
3.6.4 Weak nuclear
Main article: Weak interaction

48 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
The weak force is due to the exchange of the heavy W and Z bosons. Its most familiar eect is beta decay (of
neutrons in atomic nuclei) and the associated radioactivity. The word weak derives from the fact that the eld
strength is some 1013 times less than that of the strong force. Still, it is stronger than gravity over short distances. A
consistent electroweak theory has also been developed, which shows that electromagnetic forces and the weak force
are indistinguishable at a temperatures in excess of approximately 1015 kelvins. Such temperatures have been probed
in modern particle accelerators and show the conditions of the universe in the early moments of the Big Bang.
3.7 Non-fundamental forces

Some forces are consequences of the fundamental ones. In such situations, idealized models can be utilized to gain
physical insight.
3.7.1 Normal force

Main article: Normal force
The normal force is due to repulsive forces of interaction between atoms at close contact. When their electron clouds
overlap, Pauli repulsion (due to fermionic nature of electrons) follows resulting in the force that acts in a direction
normal to the surface interface between two objects.[17]:93 The normal force, for example, is responsible for the
structural integrity of tables and oors as well as being the force that responds whenever an external force pushes on
a solid object. An example of the normal force in action is the impact force on an object crashing into an immobile
surface.[4][5]
3.7.2 Friction
Main article: Friction
Friction is a surface force that opposes relative motion. The frictional force is directly related to the normal force
that acts to keep two solid objects separated at the point of contact. There are two broad classications of frictional
forces: static friction and kinetic friction.
The static friction force ( Fsf ) will exactly oppose forces applied to an object parallel to a surface contact up to the
limit specied by the coecient of static friction ( sf ) multiplied by the normal force ( FN ). In other words, the
magnitude of the static friction force satises the inequality:
0 Fsf sf FN .
The kinetic friction force ( Fkf ) is independent of both the forces applied and the movement of the object. Thus, the
magnitude of the force equals:
Fkf = kf FN ,
where kf is the coecient of kinetic friction. For most surface interfaces, the coecient of kinetic friction is less
than the coecient of static friction.
3.7.3 Tension
Main article: Tension (physics)
Tension forces can be modeled using ideal strings that are massless, frictionless, unbreakable, and unstretchable.
They can be combined with ideal pulleys, which allow ideal strings to switch physical direction. Ideal strings transmit
tension forces instantaneously in action-reaction pairs so that if two objects are connected by an ideal string, any
3.7. NON-FUNDAMENTAL FORCES 49
force directed along the string by the rst object is accompanied by a force directed along the string in the opposite
direction by the second object.[39] By connecting the same string multiple times to the same object through the use
of a set-up that uses movable pulleys, the tension force on a load can be multiplied. For every string that acts on a
load, another factor of the tension force in the string acts on the load. However, even though such machines allow for
an increase in force, there is a corresponding increase in the length of string that must be displaced in order to move
the load. These tandem eects result ultimately in the conservation of mechanical energy since the work done on the
load is the same no matter how complicated the machine.[4][5][40]
3.7.4 Elastic force

Main articles: Elasticity (physics) and Hookes law
An elastic force acts to return a spring to its natural length. An ideal spring is taken to be massless, frictionless,
unbreakable, and innitely stretchable. Such springs exert forces that push when contracted, or pull when extended,
in proportion to the displacement of the spring from its equilibrium position.[41] This linear relationship was described
by Robert Hooke in 1676, for whom Hookes law is named. If x is the displacement, the force exerted by an ideal
spring equals:
F = kx
where k is the spring constant (or force constant), which is particular to the spring. The minus sign accounts for the
tendency of the force to act in opposition to the applied load.[4][5]
3.7.5 Continuum mechanics

Main articles: Pressure, Drag (physics), and Stress (mechanics)
Newtons laws and Newtonian mechanics in general were rst developed to describe how forces aect idealized point
particles rather than three-dimensional objects. However, in real life, matter has extended structure and forces that
act on one part of an object might aect other parts of an object. For situations where lattice holding together the
atoms in an object is able to ow, contract, expand, or otherwise change shape, the theories of continuum mechanics
describe the way forces aect the material. For example, in extended uids, dierences in pressure result in forces
being directed along the pressure gradients as follows:
F
= P

V
where V is the volume of the object in the uid and P is the scalar function that describes the pressure at all locations
in space. Pressure gradients and dierentials result in the buoyant force for uids suspended in gravitational elds,
winds in atmospheric science, and the lift associated with aerodynamics and ight.[4][5]
A specic instance of such a force that is associated with dynamic pressure is uid resistance: a body force that
resists the motion of an object through a uid due to viscosity. For so-called "Stokes drag" the force is approximately
proportional to the velocity, but opposite in direction:
Fd = bv
where:
b is a constant that depends on the properties of the uid and the dimensions of the object (usually the
cross-sectional area), and

v is the velocity of the object.[4][5]
More formally, forces in continuum mechanics are fully described by a stresstensor with terms that are roughly
dened as
50 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
F
=
A
where A is the relevant cross-sectional area for the volume for which the stress-tensor is being calculated. This for-
malism includes pressure terms associated with forces that act normal to the cross-sectional area (the matrix diagonals
of the tensor) as well as shear terms associated with forces that act parallel to the cross-sectional area (the o-diagonal
elements). The stress tensor accounts for forces that cause all strains (deformations) including also tensile stresses
and compressions.[3][5]:133134[35]:38-138-11
3.7.6 Fictitious forces

Main article: Fictitious forces
There are forces that are frame dependent, meaning that they appear due to the adoption of non-Newtonian (that
is, non-inertial) reference frames. Such forces include the centrifugal force and the Coriolis force.[42] These forces
are considered ctitious because they do not exist in frames of reference that are not accelerating.[4][5] Because these
forces are not genuine they are also referred to as pseudo forces.[4]:12-11
In general relativity, gravity becomes a ctitious force that arises in situations where spacetime deviates from a at ge-
ometry. As an extension, KaluzaKlein theory and string theory ascribe electromagnetism and the other fundamental
forces respectively to the curvature of dierently scaled dimensions, which would ultimately imply that all forces are
ctitious.
3.8 Rotations and torque

Main article: Torque
Forces that cause extended objects to rotate are associated with torques. Mathematically, the torque of a force F is
dened relative to an arbitrary reference point as the cross-product:
= r F
where

r is the position vector of the force application point relative to the reference point.
Torque is the rotation equivalent of force in the same way that angle is the rotational equivalent for position, angular
velocity for velocity, and angular momentum for momentum. As a consequence of Newtons First Law of Motion,
there exists rotational inertia that ensures that all bodies maintain their angular momentum unless acted upon by an
unbalanced torque. Likewise, Newtons Second Law of Motion can be used to derive an analogous equation for the
instantaneous angular acceleration of the rigid body:
= I

where
I is the moment of inertia of the body

is the angular acceleration of the body.
This provides a denition for the moment of inertia, which is the rotational equivalent for mass. In more advanced
treatments of mechanics, where the rotation over a time interval is described, the moment of inertia must be substi-
tuted by the tensor that, when properly analyzed, fully determines the characteristics of rotations including precession
and nutation.
Equivalently, the dierential form of Newtons Second Law provides an alternative denition of torque:
3.9. KINEMATIC INTEGRALS 51
[43]
dL
= dt , where L
is the angular momentum of the particle.
Newtons Third Law of Motion requires that all objects exerting torques themselves experience equal and oppo-
site torques,[44] and therefore also directly implies the conservation of angular momentum for closed systems that
experience rotations and revolutions through the action of internal torques.
3.8.1 Centripetal force
Main article: Centripetal force
For an object accelerating in circular motion, the unbalanced force acting on the object equals:[45]
mv 2 r
F =
r
where m is the mass of the object, v is the velocity of the object and r is the distance to the center of the circular
path and r is the unit vector pointing in the radial direction outwards from the center. This means that the unbal-
anced centripetal force felt by any object is always directed toward the center of the curving path. Such forces act
perpendicular to the velocity vector associated with the motion of an object, and therefore do not change the speed
of the object (magnitude of the velocity), but only the direction of the velocity vector. The unbalanced force that
accelerates an object can be resolved into a component that is perpendicular to the path, and one that is tangential to
the path. This yields both the tangential force, which accelerates the object by either slowing it down or speeding it
up, and the radial (centripetal) force, which changes its direction.[4][5]
3.9 Kinematic integrals

Main articles: Impulse, Mechanical work, and Power (physics)
Forces can be used to dene a number of physical concepts by integrating with respect to kinematic variables. For
example, integrating with respect to time gives the denition of impulse:[46]
t2
I = F dt,
t1
which by Newtons Second Law must be equivalent to the change in momentum (yielding the Impulse momentum
theorem).
Similarly, integrating with respect to position gives a denition for the work done by a force:[4]:13-3

x2
W = F dx,

x1
which is equivalent to changes in kinetic energy (yielding the work energy theorem).[4]:13-3
Power P is the rate of change dW/dt of the work W, as the trajectory is extended by a position change dx in a time
interval dt:[4]:13-2
dW dW dW dx
dW = dx = F dx, so P = = = F v ,
dx dt dx dt
with v = d x/dt the velocity.

52 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
3.10 Potential energy

Main article: Potential energy
Instead of a force, often the mathematically related concept of a potential energy eld can be used for convenience.
For instance, the gravitational force acting upon an object can be seen as the action of the gravitational eld that
is present at the objects location. Restating mathematically the denition of energy (via the denition of work), a
potential scalar eld U (r) is dened as that eld whose gradient is equal and opposite to the force produced at every
point:
F = U.

Forces can be classied as conservative or nonconservative. Conservative forces are equivalent to the gradient of a
potential while nonconservative forces are not.[4][5]
3.10.1 Conservative forces

Main article: Conservative force
A conservative force that acts on a closed system has an associated mechanical work that allows energy to convert
only between kinetic or potential forms. This means that for a closed system, the net mechanical energy is conserved
whenever a conservative force acts on the system. The force, therefore, is related directly to the dierence in potential
energy between two dierent locations in space,[47] and can be considered to be an artifact of the potential eld in
the same way that the direction and amount of a ow of water can be considered to be an artifact of the contour map
of the elevation of an area.[4][5]
Conservative forces include gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the spring force. Each of these forces has models
that are dependent on a position often given as a radial vector r emanating from spherically symmetric potentials.[48]
Examples of this follow:
For gravity:
Gm1 m2r
F =
r3
where G is the gravitational constant, and mn is the mass of object n.
For electrostatic forces:
q1 q2r
F =
40 r3
where 0 is electric permittivity of free space, and qn is the electric charge of object n.
For spring forces:
F = kr
where k is the spring constant.[4][5]
3.10.2 Nonconservative forces

For certain physical scenarios, it is impossible to model forces as being due to gradient of potentials. This is often
due to macrophysical considerations that yield forces as arising from a macroscopic statistical average of microstates.
For example, friction is caused by the gradients of numerous electrostatic potentials between the atoms, but manifests
3.11. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 53
as a force model that is independent of any macroscale position vector. Nonconservative forces other than friction
include other contact forces, tension, compression, and drag. However, for any suciently detailed description, all
these forces are the results of conservative ones since each of these macroscopic forces are the net results of the
gradients of microscopic potentials.[4][5]
The connection between macroscopic nonconservative forces and microscopic conservative forces is described by
detailed treatment with statistical mechanics. In macroscopic closed systems, nonconservative forces act to change
the internal energies of the system, and are often associated with the transfer of heat. According to the Second law
of thermodynamics, nonconservative forces necessarily result in energy transformations within closed systems from
ordered to more random conditions as entropy increases.[4][5]
3.11 Units of measurement

The SI unit of force is the newton (symbol N), which is the force required to accelerate a one kilogram mass at a
rate of one meter per second squared, or kgms2 .[49] The corresponding CGS unit is the dyne, the force required to
accelerate a one gram mass by one centimeter per second squared, or gcms2 . A newton is thus equal to 100,000
dynes.
The gravitational foot-pound-second English unit of force is the pound-force (lbf), dened as the force exerted by
gravity on a pound-mass in the standard gravitational eld of 9.80665 ms2 .[49] The pound-force provides an alter-
native unit of mass: one slug is the mass that will accelerate by one foot per second squared when acted on by one
pound-force.[49]
An alternative unit of force in a dierent foot-pound-second system, the absolute fps system, is the poundal, dened
as the force required to accelerate a one-pound mass at a rate of one foot per second squared.[49] The units of slug
and poundal are designed to avoid a constant of proportionality in Newtons Second Law.
The pound-force has a metric counterpart, less commonly used than the newton: the kilogram-force (kgf) (sometimes
kilopond), is the force exerted by standard gravity on one kilogram of mass.[49] The kilogram-force leads to an
alternate, but rarely used unit of mass: the metric slug (sometimes mug or hyl) is that mass that accelerates at 1
ms2 when subjected to a force of 1 kgf. The kilogram-force is not a part of the modern SI system, and is generally
deprecated; however it still sees use for some purposes as expressing aircraft weight, jet thrust, bicycle spoke tension,
torque wrench settings and engine output torque. Other arcane units of force include the sthne, which is equivalent
to 1000 N, and the kip, which is equivalent to 1000 lbf.
See also Ton-force.
3.12 Force measurement

See force gauge, spring scale, load cell
3.13 See also

Orders of magnitude (force)
3.14 Notes
[1] Newtons Principia Mathematica actually used a nite dierence version of this equation based upon impulse. See Impulse.
[2] It is important to note that we cannot derive a general expression for Newtons second law for variable mass systems by
treating the mass in F = dP/dt = d(Mv) as a variable. [...] We can use F = dP/dt to analyze variable mass systems only if
we apply it to an entire system of constant mass having parts among which there is an interchange of mass. [Emphasis as
in the original] (Halliday, Resnick & Krane 2001, p. 199)
[3] Any single force is only one aspect of a mutual interaction between two bodies. (Halliday, Resnick & Krane 2001, pp.
7879)
[4] For a complete library on quantum mechanics see Quantum mechanics References
54 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
3.15 References
[1] Nave, C. R. (2014). Force. Hyperphysics. Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University. Retrieved 15
August 2014.
[2] Heath, T.L. "The Works of Archimedes (1897). The unabridged work in PDF form (19 MB)". Internet Archive. Retrieved
2007-10-14.
[3] University Physics, Sears, Young & Zemansky, pp.1838
[4] Feynman volume 1
[5] Kleppner & Kolenkow 2010
[6] Weinberg, S. (1994). Dreams of a Final Theory. Vintage Books USA. ISBN 0-679-74408-8.
[7] Lang, Helen S. (1998). The order of nature in Aristotles physics : place and the elements (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 9780521624534.
[8] Hetherington, Norriss S. (1993). Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, and Scientic Perspectives.
Garland Reference Library of the Humanities. p. 100. ISBN 0-8153-1085-4.
[9] Drake, Stillman (1978). Galileo At Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-16226-5
[10] Newton, Isaac (1999). The Principia Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Berkeley: University of California
Press. ISBN 0-520-08817-4. This is a recent translation into English by I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman, with help
from Julia Budenz.
[11] Howland, R. A. (2006). Intermediate dynamics a linear algebraic approach (Online-Ausg. ed.). New York: Springer. pp.
255256. ISBN 9780387280592.
[12] One exception to this rule is: Landau, L. D.; Akhiezer, A. I.; Lifshitz, A. M. (196). General Physics; mechanics and
molecular physics (First English ed.). Oxford: Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-003304-0. Translated by: J. B. Sykes, A. D.
Petford, and C. L. Petford. Library of Congress Catalog Number 67-30260. In section 7, pages 1214, this book denes
force as dp/dt.
[13] Jammer, Max (1999). Concepts of force : a study in the foundations of dynamics (Facsim. ed.). Mineola, N.Y.: Dover
Publications. pp. 220222. ISBN 9780486406893.
[14] Noll, Walter (April 2007). On the Concept of Force (pdf). Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
[15] C. Hellingman (1992). Newtons third law revisited. Phys. Educ. 27 (2): 112115. Bibcode:1992PhyEd..27..112H.
doi:10.1088/0031-9120/27/2/011. Quoting Newton in the Principia: It is not one action by which the Sun attracts Jupiter,
and another by which Jupiter attracts the Sun; but it is one action by which the Sun and Jupiter mutually endeavour to come
nearer together.
[16] Dr. Nikitin (2007). Dynamics of translational motion. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[17] Cutnell & Johnson 2003
[18] Seminar: Visualizing Special Relativity. The Relativistic Raytracer. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[19] Wilson, John B. Four-Vectors (4-Vectors) of Special Relativity: A Study of Elegant Physics. The Science Realm: Johns
Virtual Sci-Tech Universe. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[20] Introduction to Free Body Diagrams. Physics Tutorial Menu. University of Guelph. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
[21] Henderson, Tom (2004). The Physics Classroom. The Physics Classroom and Mathsoft Engineering & Education, Inc.
[22] Static Equilibrium. Physics Static Equilibrium (forces and torques). University of the Virgin Islands. Archived from the
original on October 19, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
[23] Shifman, Mikhail (1999). ITEP lectures on particle physics and eld theory. World Scientic. ISBN 981-02-2639-X.
[24] Nave, Carl Rod. Pauli Exclusion Principle. HyperPhysics. University of Guelph. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
[25] Fermions & Bosons. The Particle Adventure. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[26] Standard model of particles and interactions. Contemporary Physics Education Project. 2000. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
[27] Cook, A. H. (1965). A New Absolute Determination of the Acceleration due to Gravity at the National Physical Labo-
ratory. Nature. 208 (5007): 279. Bibcode:1965Natur.208..279C. doi:10.1038/208279a0.
[28] Young, Hugh; Freedman, Roger; Sears, Francis and Zemansky, Mark (1949) University Physics. Pearson Education. pp.
5982
[29] Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation. Astronomy 161 The Solar System. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[30] Watkins, Thayer. Perturbation Analysis, Regular and Singular. Department of Economics. San Jos State University.
[31] Kollerstrom, Nick (2001). Neptunes Discovery. The British Case for Co-Prediction.. University College London.
Archived from the original on 2005-11-11. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
[32] Powerful New Black Hole Probe Arrives at Paranal. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
[33] Siegel, Ethan (20 May 2016). When Did Isaac Newton Finally Fail?". Forbes. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
[34] Coulomb, Charles (1784). Recherches thoriques et exprimentales sur la force de torsion et sur l'lasticit des ls de
metal. Histoire de l'Acadmie Royale des Sciences: 229269.
[35] Feynman volume 2
[36] Scharf, Toralf (2007). Polarized light in liquid crystals and polymers. John Wiley and Sons. p. 19. ISBN 0-471-74064-0.,
Chapter 2, p. 19
[37] Dun, William (1980). Electricity and Magnetism, 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill. pp. 364383. ISBN 0-07-084111-X.
[38] Stevens, Tab (10 July 2003). Quantum-Chromodynamics: A Denition Science Articles. Archived from the original
on 2011-10-16. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[39] Tension Force. Non-Calculus Based Physics I. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[40] Fitzpatrick, Richard (2006-02-02). Strings, pulleys, and inclines. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[41] Nave, Carl Rod. Elasticity. HyperPhysics. University of Guelph. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
[42] Mallette, Vincent (19822008). Inwit Publishing, Inc. and Inwit, LLC Writings, Links and Software Distributions
The Coriolis Force. Publications in Science and Mathematics, Computing and the Humanities. Inwit Publishing, Inc.
[43] Nave, Carl Rod. Newtons 2nd Law: Rotation. HyperPhysics. University of Guelph. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
[44] Fitzpatrick, Richard (2007-01-07). Newtons third law of motion. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[45] Nave, Carl Rod. Centripetal Force. HyperPhysics. University of Guelph. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
[46] Hibbeler, Russell C. (2010). Engineering Mechanics, 12th edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 222. ISBN 0-13-607791-9.
[47] Singh, Sunil Kumar (2007-08-25). Conservative force. Connexions. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[48] Davis, Doug. Conservation of Energy. General physics. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
[49] Wandmacher, Cornelius; Johnson, Arnold (1995). Metric Units in Engineering. ASCE Publications. p. 15. ISBN 0-7844-
0070-9.
3.16 Further reading

Corben, H.C.; Philip Stehle (1994). Classical Mechanics. New York: Dover publications. pp. 2831. ISBN
0-486-68063-0.
Cutnell, John D.; Johnson, Kenneth W. (2003). Physics, Sixth Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley &
Sons Inc. ISBN 0471151831.
Feynman, Richard P.; Leighton; Sands, Matthew (2010). The Feynman lectures on physics. Vol. I: Mainly
mechanics, radiation and heat (New millennium ed.). New York: BasicBooks. ISBN 978-0465024933.
Feynman, Richard P.; Leighton, Robert B.; Sands, Matthew (2010). The Feynman lectures on physics. Vol. II:
Mainly electromagnetism and matter (New millennium ed.). New York: BasicBooks. ISBN 978-0465024940.
56 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
Halliday, David; Resnick, Robert; Krane, Kenneth S. (2001). Physics v. 1. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN 0-471-32057-9.
Kleppner, Daniel; Kolenkow, Robert J. (2010). An introduction to mechanics (3. print ed.). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521198216.
Parker, Sybil (1993). force. Encyclopedia of Physics. Ohio: McGraw-Hill. p. 107,. ISBN 0-07-051400-3.
Sears F., Zemansky M. & Young H. (1982). University Physics. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.
ISBN 0-201-07199-1.
Serway, Raymond A. (2003). Physics for Scientists and Engineers. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing.
ISBN 0-534-40842-7.
Tipler, Paul (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves, Thermodynamics
(5th ed.). W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0809-4.
Verma, H.C. (2004). Concepts of Physics Vol 1. (2004 Reprint ed.). Bharti Bhavan. ISBN 8177091875.
3.17 External links

Video lecture on Newtons three laws by Walter Lewin from MIT OpenCourseWare
A Java simulation on vector addition of forces
Force demonstrated as any inuence on an object that changes the objects shape or motion (video)
58 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
Instruments like GRAVITY provide a powerful probe for gravity force detection.[32]
FN
FN represents the normal force exerted on the object.

F is the force that responds to the load on the spring

60 CHAPTER 3. FORCE
Fd
Fg
When the drag force ( Fd ) associated with air resistance becomes equal in magnitude to the force of gravity on a falling object ( Fg
), the object reaches a state of dynamic equilibrium at terminal velocity.
Relationship between force (F), torque (), and momentum vectors (p and L) in a rotating system.
Chapter 4
Point particle
A point particle (ideal particle[1] or point-like particle, often spelled pointlike particle) is an idealization of
particles heavily used in physics. Its dening feature is that it lacks spatial extension: being zero-dimensional, it does
not take up space.[2] A point particle is an appropriate representation of any object whose size, shape, and structure
is irrelevant in a given context. For example, from far enough away, an object of any shape will look and behave as a
point-like object.
In the theory of gravity, physicists often discuss a point mass, meaning a point particle with a nonzero mass and no
other properties or structure. Likewise, in electromagnetism, physicists discuss a point charge, a point particle with
a nonzero charge.[3]
Sometimes, due to specic combinations of properties, extended objects behave as point-like even in their immediate
vicinity. For example, spherical objects interacting in 3-dimensional space whose interactions are described by the
inverse square law behave in such a way as if all their matter were concentrated in their centers of mass. In Newtonian
gravitation and classical electromagnetism, for example, the respective elds outside of a spherical object are identical
to those of a point particle of equal charge/mass located at the center of the sphere.[4][5]
In quantum mechanics, the concept of a point particle is complicated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, because
even an elementary particle, with no internal structure, occupies a nonzero volume. For example, the atomic orbit
of an electron in the hydrogen atom occupies a volume of ~1030 m3 . There is nevertheless a distinction between
elementary particles such as electrons or quarks, which have no known internal structure, versus composite particles
such as protons, which do have internal structure: A proton is made of three quarks. Elementary particles are
sometimes called point particles, but this is in a dierent sense than discussed above.
4.1 Property concentrated at a single point

When a point particle has an additive property, such as mass or charge, concentrated at a single point in space, this
can be represented by a Dirac delta function.
4.2 Physical point mass

Point mass (pointlike mass) is the concept, for example in classical physics, of a physical object (typically matter)
that has nonzero mass, and yet explicitly and specically is--or is being thought of or modeled as--innitesimal (in-
nitely small) in its volume or linear dimensions.
4.2.1 Application
A common use for point mass lies in the analysis of the gravitational elds. When analyzing the gravitational forces
in a system, it becomes impossible to account for every unit of mass individually. However, a spherically symmetric
body aects external objects gravitationally as if all of its mass were concentrated at its center.
62
4.3. PROBABILITY POINT MASS 63
An example of a point mass graphed on a grid. The grey mass can be simplied to a point mass (the black circle). It becomes
practical to represent point mass as small circle, or dot, as an actual point is invisible.
4.3 Probability point mass

A point mass in probability and statistics does not refer to mass in the sense of physics, but rather refers to a nite
nonzero probability that is concentrated at a point in the probability mass distribution, where there is a discontinuous
segment in a probability density function. To calculate such a point mass, an integration is carried out over the entire
range of the random variable, on the probability density of the continuous part. After equating this integral to 1, the
point mass can be found by further calculation.
4.4 Point charge

A point charge is an idealized model of a particle which has an electric charge. A point charge is an electric charge
at a mathematical point with no dimensions.
The fundamental equation of electrostatics is Coulombs law, which describes the electric force between two point
charges. The electric eld associated with a classical point charge increases to innity as the distance from the point
charge decreases towards zero making energy (thus mass) of point charge innite.
Earnshaws theorem states that a collection of point charges cannot be maintained in an equilibrium conguration
solely by the electrostatic interaction of the charges.
4.5 In quantum mechanics

Main article: Elementary particle
In quantum mechanics, there is a distinction between an elementary particle (also called point particle) and a
composite particle. An elementary particle, such as an electron, quark, or photon, is a particle with no internal
structure. Whereas a composite particle, such as a proton or neutron, has an internal structure (see gure). However,
64 CHAPTER 4. POINT PARTICLE
Scalar potential of a point charge shortly after exiting a dipole magnet, moving left to right.
neither elementary nor composite particles are spatially localized, because of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
The particle wavepacket always occupies a nonzero volume. For example, see atomic orbital: The electron is an
elementary particle, but its quantum states form three-dimensional patterns.
Nevertheless, there is good reason that an elementary particle is often called a point particle. Even if an elemen-
tary particle has a delocalized wavepacket, the wavepacket is in fact in a quantum superposition of quantum states
wherein the particle is exactly localized. This is not true for a composite particle, which can never be represented as
a superposition of exactly-localized quantum states. It is in this sense that physicists can discuss the intrinsic size
of a particle: The size of its internal structure, not the size of its wavepacket. The size of an elementary particle,
in this sense, is exactly zero.
For example, for the electron, experimental evidence shows that the size of an electron is less than 1018 m.[6] This
is consistent with the expected value of exactly zero. (This should not be confused with the classical electron radius,
which, despite the name, is unrelated to the actual size of an electron.)
4.6 See also
Elementary particle
4.7. NOTES AND REFERENCES 65
u u
d
A proton is a combination of two up quarks and one down quark, held together by gluons.
Brane
Charge (physics) (general concept, not limited to electric charge)
Standard Model of particle physics
4.7 Notes and references
4.7.1 Notes
[1] H.C. Ohanian, J.T. Markert (2007), p. 3
[2] F.E. Udwadia, R.E. Kalaba (2007), p. 1
[3] R. Snieder (2001), pp. 196198
[4] I. Newton, I.B Cohen, A. Whitmann (1999), p. 956 (Proposition 75, Theorem 35)
[5] I. Newton, A. Motte, J. Machin (1729), p. 270271
[6] Precision pins down the electrons magnetism.

66 CHAPTER 4. POINT PARTICLE
4.7.2 Bibliography
H.C. Ohanian, J.T. Markert (2007). Physics for Engineers and Scientists. 1 (3rd ed.). Norton. ISBN 978-0-
393-93003-0.
F.E. Udwadia, R.E. Kalaba (2007). Analytical Dynamics: A New Approach. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-04833-8.
R. Snieder (2001). A Guided Tour of Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-521-78751-3.
I. Newton (1729). The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. A. Motte, J. Machin (trans.). Benjamin
Motte.
I. Newton (1999). The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. I.B. Cohen, A. Whitman
(trans.). University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08817-4.
C. Quigg (2009). Particle, Elementary. Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
S.L. Glashow (2009). Quark. Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Online. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
M. Alonso, E.J. Finn (1968). Fundamental University Physics Volume III: Quantum and Statistical Physics.
Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-00262-0.
4.8 Further reading

Eric W. Weisstein, "Point Charge".
F. H. J. Cornish, "Classical radiation theory and point charges". Proc. Phys. Soc. 86 427-442, 1965.
doi:10.1088/0370-1328/86/3/301
O. D. Jemenko, "Direct calculation of the electric and magnetic elds of an electric point charge moving with
constant velocity". Am. J. Phys.62 (1994), 79.
David L. Selke, "Against Point Charges". Applied Physics Research Vol 7, No 6 (2015). doi:10.5539/apr.v7n6p138
Chapter 5
Electromagnetic eld
For the British hacker convention, see Electromagnetic Field (festival).
An electromagnetic eld (also EMF or EM eld) is a physical eld produced by electrically charged objects.[1]
It aects the behavior of charged objects in the vicinity of the eld. The electromagnetic eld extends indenitely
throughout space and describes the electromagnetic interaction. It is one of the four fundamental forces of nature
(the others are gravitation, weak interaction and strong interaction).
The eld can be viewed as the combination of an electric eld and a magnetic eld. The electric eld is produced by
stationary charges, and the magnetic eld by moving charges (currents); these two are often described as the sources
of the eld. The way in which charges and currents interact with the electromagnetic eld is described by Maxwells
equations and the Lorentz force law.
From a classical perspective in the history of electromagnetism, the electromagnetic eld can be regarded as a smooth,
continuous eld, propagated in a wavelike manner; whereas from the perspective of quantum eld theory, the eld is
seen as quantized, being composed of individual particles.
5.1 Structure
The electromagnetic eld may be viewed in two distinct ways: a continuous structure or a discrete structure.
5.1.1 Continuous structure

Classically, electric and magnetic elds are thought of as being produced by smooth motions of charged objects.
For example, oscillating charges produce electric and magnetic elds that may be viewed in a 'smooth', continuous,
wavelike fashion. In this case, energy is viewed as being transferred continuously through the electromagnetic eld
between any two locations. For instance, the metal atoms in a radio transmitter appear to transfer energy continuously.
This view is useful to a certain extent (radiation of low frequency), but problems are found at high frequencies (see
ultraviolet catastrophe).
5.1.2 Discrete structure

The electromagnetic eld may be thought of in a more 'coarse' way. Experiments reveal that in some circumstances
electromagnetic energy transfer is better described as being carried in the form of packets called quanta (in this case,
photons) with a xed frequency. Plancks relation links the photon energy E of a photon to its frequency through
the equation:[2]
E = h
where h is Plancks constant, and is the frequency of the photon . Although modern quantum optics tells us that
there also is a semi-classical explanation of the photoelectric eectthe emission of electrons from metallic surfaces
67
68 CHAPTER 5. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD
subjected to electromagnetic radiationthe photon was historically (although not strictly necessarily) used to explain
certain observations. It is found that increasing the intensity of the incident radiation (so long as one remains in the
linear regime) increases only the number of electrons ejected, and has almost no eect on the energy distribution of
their ejection. Only the frequency of the radiation is relevant to the energy of the ejected electrons.
This quantum picture of the electromagnetic eld (which treats it as analogous to harmonic oscillators) has proved
very successful, giving rise to quantum electrodynamics, a quantum eld theory describing the interaction of elec-
tromagnetic radiation with charged matter. It also gives rise to quantum optics, which is dierent from quantum
electrodynamics in that the matter itself is modelled using quantum mechanics rather than quantum eld theory.
5.2 Dynamics
In the past, electrically charged objects were thought to produce two dierent, unrelated types of eld associated
with their charge property. An electric eld is produced when the charge is stationary with respect to an observer
measuring the properties of the charge, and a magnetic eld as well as an electric eld is produced when the charge
moves, creating an electric current with respect to this observer. Over time, it was realized that the electric and
magnetic elds are better thought of as two parts of a greater whole the electromagnetic eld. Until 1820, when
the Danish physicist H. C. rsted discovered the eect of electricity through a wire on a compass needle, electricity
and magnetism had been viewed as unrelated phenomena . In 1831, Michael Faraday, one of the great thinkers of
his time, made the seminal observation that time-varying magnetic elds could induce electric currents and then, in
1864, James Clerk Maxwell published his famous paper A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field.[3]
Once this electromagnetic eld has been produced from a given charge distribution, other charged objects in this eld
will experience a force in a similar way that planets experience a force in the gravitational eld of the sun. If these
other charges and currents are comparable in size to the sources producing the above electromagnetic eld, then a
new net electromagnetic eld will be produced. Thus, the electromagnetic eld may be viewed as a dynamic entity
that causes other charges and currents to move, and which is also aected by them. These interactions are described
by Maxwells equations and the Lorentz force law. This discussion ignores the radiation reaction force.
5.3 Feedback loop

The behavior of the electromagnetic eld can be divided into four dierent parts of a loop:
the electric and magnetic elds are generated by electric charges,
the electric and magnetic elds interact with each other,
the electric and magnetic elds produce forces on electric charges,
the electric charges move in space.
A common misunderstanding is that (a) the quanta of the elds act in the same manner as (b) the charged particles
that generate the elds. In our everyday world, charged particles, such as electrons, move slowly through matter
with a drift velocity of a fraction of a centimeter (or inch) per second, but elds propagate at the speed of light -
approximately 300 thousand kilometers (or 186 thousand miles) a second. The mundane speed dierence between
charged particles and eld quanta is on the order of one to a million, more or less. Maxwells equations relate (a)
the presence and movement of charged particles with (b) the generation of elds. Those elds can then aect the
force on, and can then move other slowly moving charged particles. Charged particles can move at relativistic speeds
nearing eld propagation speeds, but, as Einstein showed, this requires enormous eld energies, which are not present
in our everyday experiences with electricity, magnetism, matter, and time and space.
The feedback loop can be summarized in a list, including phenomena belonging to each part of the loop:
charged particles generate electric and magnetic elds
the elds interact with each other
changing electric eld acts like a current, generating 'vortex' of magnetic eld
5.4. MATHEMATICAL DESCRIPTION 69
Faraday induction: changing magnetic eld induces (negative) vortex of electric eld
Lenzs law: negative feedback loop between electric and magnetic elds
elds act upon particles
Lorentz force: force due to electromagnetic eld
electric force: same direction as electric eld
magnetic force: perpendicular both to magnetic eld and to velocity of charge
particles move
current is movement of particles
particles generate more electric and magnetic elds; cycle repeats
5.4 Mathematical description

Main article: Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld
There are dierent mathematical ways of representing the electromagnetic eld. The rst one views the electric and
magnetic elds as three-dimensional vector elds. These vector elds each have a value dened at every point of
space and time and are thus often regarded as functions of the space and time coordinates. As such, they are often
written as E(x, y, z, t) (electric eld) and B(x, y, z, t) (magnetic eld).
If only the electric eld (E) is non-zero, and is constant in time, the eld is said to be an electrostatic eld. Similarly, if
only the magnetic eld (B) is non-zero and is constant in time, the eld is said to be a magnetostatic eld. However, if
either the electric or magnetic eld has a time-dependence, then both elds must be considered together as a coupled
electromagnetic eld using Maxwells equations.[4]
With the advent of special relativity, physical laws became susceptible to the formalism of tensors. Maxwells equa-
tions can be written in tensor form, generally viewed by physicists as a more elegant means of expressing physical
laws.
The behaviour of electric and magnetic elds, whether in cases of electrostatics, magnetostatics, or electrodynamics
(electromagnetic elds), is governed by Maxwells equations. In the vector eld formalism, these are:
E=
0 (Gausss law)
B = 0 (Gausss law for magnetism)
E = B
t (Faradays law)
B = 0 J + 0 0 E
t (MaxwellAmpre law)
where is the charge density, which can (and often does) depend on time and position, 0 is the permittivity of
free space, 0 is the permeability of free space, and J is the current density vector, also a function of time and
position. The units used above are the standard SI units. Inside a linear material, Maxwells equations change by
switching the permeability and permittivity of free space with the permeability and permittivity of the linear material
in question. Inside other materials which possess more complex responses to electromagnetic elds, these terms are
often represented by complex numbers, or tensors.
The Lorentz force law governs the interaction of the electromagnetic eld with charged matter.
When a eld travels across to dierent media, the properties of the eld change according to the various boundary
conditions. These equations are derived from Maxwells equations. The tangential components of the electric and
magnetic elds as they relate on the boundary of two media are as follows:[5]
E1 = E2
H1 = H2
D1 = D2
B1 = B2
The angle of refraction of an electric eld between media is related to the permittivity () of each medium:
tan 1 r2
=
tan 2 r1
The angle of refraction of a magnetic eld between media is related to the permeability () of each medium:
tan 1 r2
=
tan 2 r1
5.5 Properties of the eld
5.5.1 Reciprocal behavior of electric and magnetic elds
The two Maxwell equations, Faradays Law and the Ampre-Maxwell Law, illustrate a very practical feature of the
electromagnetic eld. Faradays Law may be stated roughly as 'a changing magnetic eld creates an electric eld'.
This is the principle behind the electric generator.
Amperes Law roughly states that 'a changing electric eld creates a magnetic eld'. Thus, this law can be applied to
generate a magnetic eld and run an electric motor.
5.5.2 Behavior of the elds in the absence of charges or currents
Maxwells equations take the form of an electromagnetic wave in a volume of space not containing charges or currents
(free space) that is, where and J are zero. Under these conditions, the electric and magnetic elds satisfy the
electromagnetic wave equation:[6]
( )
1 2
2 2 2 E = 0
c t
( )
1 2
2 2 B = 0
2
c t
James Clerk Maxwell was the rst to obtain this relationship by his completion of Maxwells equations with the
addition of a displacement current term to Amperes Circuital law.
5.6 Relation to and comparison with other physical elds

Main article: Fundamental forces
Being one of the four fundamental forces of nature, it is useful to compare the electromagnetic eld with the
gravitational, strong and weak elds. The word 'force' is sometimes replaced by 'interaction' because modern particle
physics models electromagnetism as an exchange of particles known as gauge bosons.
5.7. APPLICATIONS 71
5.6.1 Electromagnetic and gravitational elds
Sources of electromagnetic elds consist of two types of charge positive and negative. This contrasts with the
sources of the gravitational eld, which are masses. Masses are sometimes described as gravitational charges, the
important feature of them being that there are only positive masses and no negative masses. Further, gravity diers
from electromagnetism in that positive masses attract other positive masses whereas same charges in electromagnetism
repel each other.
The relative strengths and ranges of the four interactions and other information are tabulated below:
5.7 Applications
5.7.1 Static E and M elds and static EM elds
Main articles: electrostatics, magnetostatics, and magnetism
When an EM eld (see electromagnetic tensor) is not varying in time, it may be seen as a purely electrical eld or
a purely magnetic eld, or a mixture of both. However the general case of a static EM eld with both electric and
magnetic components present, is the case that appears to most observers. Observers who see only an electric or
magnetic eld component of a static EM eld, have the other (electric or magnetic) component suppressed, due to
the special case of the immobile state of the charges that produce the EM eld in that case. In such cases the other
component becomes manifest in other observer frames.
A consequence of this, is that any case that seems to consist of a pure static electric or magnetic eld, can be
converted to an EM eld, with both E and M components present, by simply moving the observer into a frame of
reference which is moving with regard to the frame in which only the pure electric or magnetic eld appears. That
is, a pure static electric eld will show the familiar magnetic eld associated with a current, in any frame of reference
where the charge moves. Likewise, any new motion of a charge in a region that seemed previously to contain only
a magnetic eld, will show that the space now contains an electric eld as well, which will be found to produces an
additional Lorentz force upon the moving charge.
Thus, electrostatics, as well as magnetism and magnetostatics, are now seen as studies of the static EM eld when a
particular frame has been selected to suppress the other type of eld, and since an EM eld with both electric and
magnetic will appear in any other frame, these simpler eects are merely the observers. The applications of all
such non-time varying (static) elds are discussed in the main articles linked in this section.
5.7.2 Time-varying EM elds in Maxwells equations
Main articles: near and far eld, near eld optics, virtual particle, dielectric heating, and Electromagnetic induction
An EM eld that varies in time has two causes in Maxwells equations. One is charges and currents (so-called
sources), and the other cause for an E or M eld is a change in the other type of eld (this last cause also appears
in free space very far from currents and charges).
An electromagnetic eld very far from currents and charges (sources) is called electromagnetic radiation (EMR) since
it radiates from the charges and currents in the source, and has no feedback eect on them, and is also not aected
directly by them in the present time (rather, it is indirectly produced by a sequences of changes in elds radiating
out from them in the past). EMR consists of the radiations in the electromagnetic spectrum, including radio waves,
microwave, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays. The many commercial applications of
these radiations are discussed in the named and linked articles.
A notable application of visible light is that this type of energy from the Sun powers all life on Earth that either makes
or uses oxygen.
A changing electromagnetic eld which is physically close to currents and charges (see near and far eld for a denition
of close) will have a dipole characteristic that is dominated by either a changing electric dipole, or a changing
magnetic dipole. This type of dipole eld near sources is called an electromagnetic near-eld.
Changing electric dipole elds, as such, are used commercially as near-elds mainly as a source of dielectric heating.
Otherwise, they appear parasitically around conductors which absorb EMR, and around antennas which have the
purpose of generating EMR at greater distances.
Changing magnetic dipole elds (i.e., magnetic near-elds) are used commercially for many types of magnetic in-
duction devices. These include motors and electrical transformers at low frequencies, and devices such as metal
detectors and MRI scanner coils at higher frequencies. Sometimes these high-frequency magnetic elds change at
radio frequencies without being far-eld waves and thus radio waves; see RFID tags. See also near-eld communi-
cation. Further uses of near-eld EM eects commercially, may be found in the article on virtual photons, since at
the quantum level, these elds are represented by these particles. Far-eld eects (EMR) in the quantum picture of
radiation, are represented by ordinary photons.
5.8 Health and safety

The potential health eects of the very low frequency EMFs surrounding power lines and electrical devices are the
subject of on-going research and a signicant amount of public debate. The US National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (NIOSH) and other US government agencies do not consider EMFs a proven health hazard. NIOSH
has issued some cautionary advisories but stresses that the data are currently too limited to draw good conclusions.[7]
The potential eects of electromagnetic elds on human health vary widely depending on the frequency and intensity
of the elds. For more information on the health eects due to specic parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, see
the following articles:
Static electric elds: see Electric shock

Static magnetic elds: see MRI#Safety
Extremely low frequency (ELF): see Power lines#Health concerns
Radio frequency (RF): see Electromagnetic radiation and health
Light: see Laser safety
Ultraviolet (UV): see Sunburn
Gamma rays: see Gamma ray
Mobile telephony: see Mobile phone radiation and health
5.9 See also

Afterglow plasma
Antenna factor
Classication of electromagnetic elds
Electric eld
Electromagnetism
Electromagnetic propagation
Electromagnetic tensor
Electromagnetic therapy
Free space
Fundamental interaction
Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic spectrum
5.10. REFERENCES 73
Electromagnetic eld measurements
Gravitational eld
List of environment topics
Magnetic eld
Maxwells equations
Photoelectric eect
Photon
Quantization of the electromagnetic eld
Quantum electrodynamics
RiemannSilberstein vector
SI units
5.10 References
[1] Richard Feynman (1970). The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol II. Addison Wesley Longman. ISBN 978-0-201-02115-8.
A eld is any physical quantity which takes on dierent values at dierent points in space.
[2] Spencer, James N.; et al. (2010). Chemistry: Structure and Dynamics. John Wiley & Sons. p. 78. ISBN 9780470587119.
[3] Maxwell 1864 5, page 499; also David J. Griths (1999), Introduction to electrodynamics, third Edition, ed. Prentice
Hall, pp. 559-562"(as quoted in Gabriela, 2009)
[4] Electromagnetic Fields (2nd Edition), Roald K. Wangsness, Wiley, 1986. ISBN 0-471-81186-6 (intermediate level text-
book)
[5] Schaums outline of theory and problems of electromagnetics(2nd Edition), Joseph A. Edminister, McGraw-Hill, 1995.
ISBN 0070212341(Examples and Problem Practice)
[6] Field and Wave Electromagnetics (2nd Edition), David K. Cheng, Prentice Hall, 1989. ISBN 978-0-201-12819-2 (Inter-
mediate level textbook)
[7] NIOSH Fact Sheet: EMFs in the Workplace. United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 1996.
Retrieved 31 August 2015.
Maxwell, James Clerk (1865). A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic eld (PDF). Philosophical Trans-
actions of the Royal Society of London 155: p. 499. doi:10.1098/rstl.1865.0008.(This article accompanied a
December 8, 1864 presentation by Maxwell to the Royal Society.)
Griths, David J. (1999). Introduction to electrodynamics, Third Edition, ed. Prentice Hall, pp. 559562.
Gabriela, Davina (2009). Unpublished manuscript. Epistemology: Foundations for Clinical Theories, Endnote
5; p. 24.
5.12 External links

On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies by Albert Einstein, June 30, 1905.
On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (pdf)

Non-Ionizing Radiation, Part 1: Static and Extremely Low-Frequency (ELF) Electric and Magnetic Fields
(2002) by the IARC.
Zhang J, Clement D, Taunton J (January 2000). The ecacy of Farabloc, an electromagnetic shield, in
attenuating delayed-onset muscle soreness. Clin J Sport Med. 10 (1): 1521. PMID 10695845.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health EMF Topic Page
Biological Eects of Power Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields (May 1989) (110 pages) prepared for US
Congress Oce of Technology Assessment by Indira Nair, M.Granger Morgan, Keith Florig, Department of
Engineering and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University
Chapter 6
Electromotive force
Not to be confused with Electromagnetic eld.

e.m.f. redirects here. For other uses, see EMF (disambiguation).
Electromotive force, also called emf (denoted E and measured in volts),[1] is the voltage developed by any source
of electrical energy such as a battery or dynamo. It is generally dened as the electrical potential for a source in a
circuit.[2] A device that converts other forms of energy to electrical energy supplies an emf to a circuit.[3]
The word force in this case is not used to mean mechanical force, measured in newtons, but a potential, or energy
per unit of charge, measured in volts.
In electromagnetic induction, emf can be dened around a closed loop as the electromagnetic work that would be done
on a charge if it travels once around that loop.[4] (While the charge travels around the loop, it can simultaneously lose
the energy gained via resistance into thermal energy.) For a time-varying magnetic ux linking a loop, the electric
potential scalar eld is not dened due to circulating electric vector eld, but nevertheless an emf does work that can
be measured as a virtual electric potential around that loop.[5]
In the case of a two-terminal device (such as an electrochemical cell) which is modeled as a Thvenins equiva-
lent circuit, the equivalent emf can be measured as the open-circuit potential dierence or voltage between the two
terminals. This potential dierence can drive a current if an external circuit is attached to the terminals.
6.1 Overview
Devices that can provide emf include electrochemical cells, thermoelectric devices, solar cells, photodiodes, electrical
generators, transformer and even Van de Graa generators.[5][6] In nature, emf is generated whenever magnetic eld
uctuations occur through a surface. The shifting of the Earths magnetic eld during a geomagnetic storm, induces
currents in the electrical grid as the lines of the magnetic eld are shifted about and cut across the conductors.
In the case of a battery, the charge separation that gives rise to a voltage dierence between the terminals is accom-
plished by chemical reactions at the electrodes that convert chemical potential energy into electromagnetic potential
energy.[7][8] A voltaic cell can be thought of as having a charge pump of atomic dimensions at each electrode, that
is:[9]
A source of emf can be thought of as a kind of charge pump that acts to move positive charge from
a point of low potential through its interior to a point of high potential. By chemical, mechanical
or other means, the source of emf performs work dW on that charge to move it to the high potential
terminal. The emf of the source is dened as the work dW done per charge dq: = dW/dq.
In the case of an electrical generator, a time-varying magnetic eld inside the generator creates an electric eld
via electromagnetic induction, which in turn creates a voltage dierence between the generator terminals. Charge
separation takes place within the generator, with electrons owing away from one terminal and toward the other,
until, in the open-circuit case, sucient electric eld builds up to make further charge separation impossible. Again
the emf is countered by the electrical voltage due to charge separation. If a load is attached, this voltage can drive a
current. The general principle governing the emf in such electrical machines is Faradays law of induction.
75
76 CHAPTER 6. ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE
6.2 History
Around 1830, Michael Faraday established that the reactions at each of the two electrodeelectrolyte interfaces pro-
vide the seat of emf for the voltaic cell, that is, these reactions drive the current and are not an endless source
of energy as was initially thought.[10] In the open-circuit case, charge separation continues until the electrical eld
from the separated charges is sucient to arrest the reactions. Years earlier, Alessandro Volta, who had measured
a contact potential dierence at the metalmetal (electrodeelectrode) interface of his cells, had held the incorrect
opinion that contact alone (without taking into account a chemical reaction) was the origin of the emf.
6.3 Notation and units of measurement

Electromotive force is often denoted by E or (script capital E, Unicode U+2130).
In a device without internal resistance, if an electric charge Q passes through that device, and gains an energy W, the
net emf for that device is the energy gained per unit charge, or W/Q. Like other measures of energy per charge, emf
uses the SI unit volt, which is equivalent to a joule per coulomb.[11]
Electromotive force in electrostatic units is the statvolt (in the centimeter gram second system of units equal in amount
to an erg per electrostatic unit of charge).
6.4 Formal denitions

Inside a source of emf that is open-circuited, the conservative electrostatic eld created by separation of charge exactly
cancels the forces producing the emf. Thus, the emf has the same value but opposite sign as the integral of the electric
eld aligned with an internal path between two terminals A and B of a source of emf in open-circuit condition (the
path is taken from the negative terminal to the positive terminal to yield a positive emf, indicating work done on the
electrons moving in the circuit).[12] Mathematically:
B
E = E cs d ,
A
where E is the conservative electrostatic eld created by the charge separation associated with the emf, d is an
element of the path from terminal A to terminal B, and denotes the vector dot product.[13] This equation applies
only to locations A and B that are terminals, and does not apply to paths between points A and B with portions outside
the source of emf. This equation involves the electrostatic electric eld due to charge separation E and does not
involve (for example) any non-conservative component of electric eld due to Faradays law of induction.
In the case of a closed path in the presence of a varying magnetic eld, the integral of the electric eld around a
closed loop may be nonzero; one common application of the concept of emf, known as "induced emf" is the voltage
induced in such a loop.[14] The "induced emf" around a stationary closed path C is:
I
E= E d ,
C
where now E is the entire electric eld, conservative and non-conservative, and the integral is around an arbitrary but
stationary closed curve C through which there is a varying magnetic eld. The electrostatic eld does not contribute
to the net emf around a circuit because the electrostatic portion of the electric eld is conservative (that is, the work
done against the eld around a closed path is zero).
This denition can be extended to arbitrary sources of emf and moving paths C:[15]
H
E = C [E + v B] d
H
+ 1q C effective chemical forces d
I
1
+ effective thermal forces d ,
q C
which is a conceptual equation mainly, because the determination of the eective forces is dicult.
6.5. IN THERMODYNAMICS 77
6.5 In thermodynamics
When multiplied by an amount of charge dQ the emf yields a thermodynamic work term dQ that is used in the
formalism for the change in Gibbs energy when charge is passed in a battery:
dG = SdT + V dP + EdQ ,
where G is the Gibbs free energy, S is the entropy, V is the system volume, P is its pressure and T is its absolute
temperature.
The combination ( , Q ) is an example of a conjugate pair of variables. At constant pressure the above relationship
produces a Maxwell relation that links the change in open cell voltage with temperature T (a measurable quantity)
to the change in entropy S when charge is passed isothermally and isobarically. The latter is closely related to the
reaction entropy of the electrochemical reaction that lends the battery its power. This Maxwell relation is:[16]
( ) ( )
E S
=
T Q Q T
If a mole of ions goes into solution (for example, in a Daniell cell, as discussed below) the charge through the external
circuit is:
Q = n0 F0 ,
where n0 is the number of electrons/ion, and F 0 is the Faraday constant and the minus sign indicates discharge of
the cell. Assuming constant pressure and volume, the thermodynamic properties of the cell are related strictly to the
behavior of its emf by:[16]
( )
dE
H = n0 F0 E T ,
dT
where H is the enthalpy of reaction. The quantities on the right are all directly measurable.
6.6 Voltage dierence

An electrical voltage dierence is sometimes called an emf.[17][18][19][20][21] The points below illustrate the more
formal usage, in terms of the distinction between emf and the voltage it generates:
1. For a circuit as a whole, such as one containing a resistor in series with a voltaic cell, electrical voltage does
not contribute to the overall emf, because the voltage dierence on going around a circuit is zero. (The ohmic
IR voltage drop plus the applied electrical voltage sum to zero. See Kirchhos Law). The emf is due solely to
the chemistry in the battery that causes charge separation, which in turn creates an electrical voltage that drives
the current.
2. For a circuit consisting of an electrical generator that drives current through a resistor, the emf is due solely
to a time-varying magnetic eld within the generator that generates an electrical voltage that in turn drives the
current. (The ohmic IR drop plus the applied electrical voltage again is zero. See Kirchhos Law)
3. A transformer coupling two circuits may be considered a source of emf for one of the circuits, just as if it were
caused by an electrical generator; this example illustrates the origin of the term transformer emf.
4. A photodiode or solar cell may be considered as a source of emf, similar to a battery, resulting in an electrical
voltage generated by charge separation driven by light rather than chemical reaction.[22]
5. Other devices that produce emf are fuel cells, thermocouples, and thermopiles.[23]
In the case of an open circuit, the electric charge that has been separated by the mechanism generating the emf creates
an electric eld opposing the separation mechanism. For example, the chemical reaction in a voltaic cell stops when
the opposing electric eld at each electrode is strong enough to arrest the reactions. A larger opposing eld can reverse
the reactions in what are called reversible cells.[24][25]
The electric charge that has been separated creates an electric potential dierence that can be measured with a
voltmeter between the terminals of the device. The magnitude of the emf for the battery (or other source) is the
value of this 'open circuit' voltage. When the battery is charging or discharging, the emf itself cannot be measured
directly using the external voltage because some voltage is lost inside the source.[18] It can, however, be inferred from
a measurement of the current I and voltage dierence V, provided that the internal resistance r already has been
measured: = V + Ir.
6.7 Generation
6.7.1 Chemical sources
Main article: Electrochemical cell

The question of how batteries (galvanic cells) generate an emf is one that occupied scientists for most of the 19th
A typical reaction path requires the initial reactants to cross an energy barrier, enter an intermediate state and nally emerge in a
lower energy conguration. If charge separation is involved, this energy dierence can result in an emf. See Bergmann et al.[26] and
Transition state.
century. The seat of the electromotive force was eventually determined by Walther Nernst to be primarily at the
interfaces between the electrodes and the electrolyte.[10]
Molecules are groups of atoms held together by chemical bonds, and these bonds consist of electrical forces between
electrons (negative) and protons (positive). The molecule in isolation is a stable entity, but when dierent molecules
are brought together, some types of molecules are able to steal electrons from others, resulting in charge separation.
This redistribution of charge is accompanied by a change in energy of the system, and a reconguration of the atoms
in the molecules.[27] The gain of an electron is termed reduction and the loss of an electron is termed oxidation.
Reactions in which such electron exchange occurs (which are the basis for batteries) are called reduction-oxidation
reactions or redox reactions. In a battery, one electrode is composed of material that gains electrons from the solute,
and the other electrode loses electrons, because of these fundamental molecular attributes. The same behavior can
be seen in atoms themselves, and their ability to steal electrons is referred to as their electronegativity.[28]
As an example, a Daniell cell consists of a zinc anode (an electron collector), is oxidized as it dissolves into a zinc
sulfate solution, the dissolving zinc leaving behind its electrons in the electrode according to the oxidation reaction (s
= solid electrode; aq = aqueous solution):
6.7. GENERATION 79
Galvanic cell using a salt bridge

Zn(s) Zn2+
(aq) + 2e
The zinc sulfate is the electrolyte in that half cell. It is a solution which contains zinc cations Zn2+ , and sulfate anions
SO2
4 with charges that balance to zero.
In the other half cell, the copper cations in a copper sulfate electrolyte are drawn to the copper cathode to which they
attach themselves as they adopt electrons from the copper electrode by the reduction reaction:

Cu2+
(aq) + 2e Cu(s)
in eect leaving a decit of electrons on the copper cathode. The dierence of excess electrons on the anode and
decit of electrons on the cathode creates an electrical potential between the two electrodes. (A detailed discussion
of the microscopic process of electron transfer between an electrode and the ions in an electrolyte may be found in
Conway.)[29]
If the cathode and anode are connected by an external conductor, electrons would pass through that external circuit
(light bulb in gure), while the ions pass through the salt bridge to maintain charge balance until such a time as the
anode and cathode reach electrical equilibrium of zero volts as chemical equilibrium is reached in the cell. In the
process the zinc anode is dissolved while the copper electrode is plated with copper.[30] The so-called salt bridge is
not made of salt but could be made of material able to wick the cations and anions (salts) in the solutions, where the
ow of positively charged cations along the bridge amounts to the same number of negative charges owing in the
opposite direction.
If the light bulb is removed (open circuit) the emf between the electrodes is opposed by the electric eld due to charge
separation, and the reactions stop.
For this particular cell chemistry, at 298 K (room temperature), the emf = 1.0934 V, with a temperature coecient
of d/dT = 4.53104 V/K.[16]
Voltaic cells
Volta developed the voltaic cell about 1792, and presented his work March 20, 1800.[31] Volta correctly identied the
role of dissimilar electrodes in producing the voltage, but incorrectly dismissed any role for the electrolyte.[32] Volta
ordered the metals in a 'tension series, that is to say in an order such that any one in the list becomes positive when
in contact with any one that succeeds, but negative by contact with any one that precedes it.[33] A typical symbolic
convention in a schematic of this circuit ( || ) would have a long electrode 1 and a short electrode 2, to indicate that
electrode 1 dominates. Voltas law about opposing electrode emfs implies that, given ten electrodes (for example,
zinc and nine other materials), 45 unique combinations of voltaic cells (10 9/2) can be created.
Of cells
The electromotive force produced by primary (single-use) and secondary (rechargeable) cells is usually of the order
of a few volts. The gures quoted below are nominal, because emf varies according to the size of the load and the
state of exhaustion of the cell.
6.7.2 Electromagnetic induction
Main article: Faradays law of induction
The principle of electromagnetic induction, noted above, states that a time-dependent magnetic eld produces a
circulating electric eld. A time-dependent magnetic eld can be produced either by motion of a magnet relative
to a circuit, by motion of a circuit relative to another circuit (at least one of these must be carrying a current), or
by changing the current in a xed circuit. The eect on the circuit itself, of changing the current, is known as self-
induction; the eect on another circuit is known as mutual induction.
For a given circuit, the electromagnetically induced emf is determined purely by the rate of change of the magnetic
ux through the circuit according to Faradays law of induction.
An emf is induced in a coil or conductor whenever there is change in the ux linkages. Depending on the way in which
the changes are brought about, there are two types: When the conductor is moved in a stationary magnetic eld to
procure a change in the ux linkage, the emf is statically induced. The electromotive force generated by motion is often
referred to as motional emf. When the change in ux linkage arises from a change in the magnetic eld around the
stationary conductor, the emf is dynamically induced. The electromotive force generated by a time-varying magnetic
eld is often referred to as transformer emf.
6.7.3 Contact potentials
See also: Volta potential and Electrochemical potential
When solids of two dierent materials are in contact, thermodynamic equilibrium requires one of the solids assume a
higher electrical potential than the other. This is called the contact potential.[34] Dissimilar metals in contact produce
what is known also as a contact electromotive force or Galvani potential. The magnitude of this potential dierence
is often expressed as a dierence in Fermi levels in the two solids when they are at charge neutrality, where the Fermi
level (a name for the chemical potential of an electron system[35][36] ) describes the energy necessary to remove an
electron from the body to some common point (such as ground).[37] If there is an energy advantage in taking an
electron from one body to the other, such a transfer will occur. The transfer causes a charge separation, with one
body gaining electrons and the other losing electrons. This charge transfer causes a potential dierence between the
bodies, which partly cancels the potential originating from the contact, and eventually equilibrium is reached. At
thermodynamic equilibrium, the Fermi levels are equal (the electron removal energy is identical) and there is now a
6.7. GENERATION 81
built-in electrostatic potential between the bodies. The original dierence in Fermi levels, before contact, is referred
to as the emf.[38] The contact potential cannot drive steady current through a load attached to its terminals because
that current would involve a charge transfer. No mechanism exists to continue such transfer and, hence, maintain a
current, once equilibrium is attained.
One might inquire why the contact potential does not appear in Kirchhos law of voltages as one contribution to the
sum of potential drops. The customary answer is that any circuit involves not only a particular diode or junction, but
also all the contact potentials due to wiring and so forth around the entire circuit. The sum of all the contact potentials
is zero, and so they may be ignored in Kirchhos law.[39][40]
6.7.4 Solar cell

Main article: Theory of solar cells
Operation of a solar cell can be understood from the equivalent circuit at right. Light, of sucient energy (greater
RS
I
ID ISH +
IL RSH V

The equivalent circuit of a solar cell; parasitic resistances are ignored in the discussion of the text.
than the bandgap of the material), creates mobile electronhole pairs in a semiconductor. Charge separation occurs
because of a pre-existing electric eld associated with the p-n junction in thermal equilibrium (a contact potential
creates the eld). This charge separation between positive holes and negative electrons across a p-n junction (a diode)
yields a forward voltage, the photo voltage, between the illuminated diode terminals.[42] As has been noted earlier
in the terminology section, the photo voltage is sometimes referred to as the photo emf, rather than distinguishing
between the eect and the cause. The charge separation causes a photo voltage that drives current through any attached
load.
The current available to the external circuit is limited by internal losses I0 =ISH + ID:
I = IL I0 = IL ISH ID
Losses limit the current available to the external circuit. The light-induced charge separation eventually creates a
current (called a forward current) ISH through the cells junction in the direction opposite that the light is driving
the current. In addition, the induced voltage tends to forward bias the junction. At high enough levels, this forward
bias of the junction will cause a forward current, ID in the diode opposite that induced by the light. Consequently,
the greatest current is obtained under short-circuit conditions, and is denoted as IL (for light-induced current) in the
equivalent circuit.[43] Approximately, this same current is obtained for forward voltages up to the point where the
diode conduction becomes signicant.
The current delivered by the illuminated diode, to the external circuit is:
( )
I = IL I0 eqV /(mkT ) 1 ,
Solar cell voltage as a function of solar cell current delivered to a load for two light-induced currents IL; currents as a ratio with
reverse saturation current I0 . Compare with Fig. 1.4 in Nelson.[41]
where I 0 is the reverse saturation current. Where the two parameters that depend on the solar cell construction and
to some degree upon the voltage itself are m, the ideality factor, and kT/q the thermal voltage (about 0.026 V at room
temperature).[43] This relation is plotted in the gure using a xed value m = 2.[44] Under open-circuit conditions (that
is, as I = 0), the open-circuit voltage is the voltage at which forward bias of the junction is enough that the forward
current completely balances the photocurrent. Solving the above for the voltage V and designating it the open-circuit
voltage of the IV equation as:
( )
kT IL
Voc = m ln +1 ,
q I0
which is useful in indicating a logarithmic dependence of V upon the light-induced current. Typically, the open-
circuit voltage is not more than about 0.5 V.[45]
When driving a load, the photo voltage is variable. As shown in the gure, for a load resistance RL, the cell develops
a voltage that is between the short-circuit value V = 0, I = IL and the open-circuit value V , I = 0, a value given
by Ohms law V = I RL, where the current I is the dierence between the short-circuit current and current due to
forward bias of the junction, as indicated by the equivalent circuit (neglecting the parasitic resistances).[41]
In contrast to the battery, at current levels delivered to the external circuit near IL, the solar cell acts more like a current
source rather than a voltage source( near vertical part of the two illustrated curves).[41] The current drawn is nearly
xed over a range of load voltages, to one electron per converted photon. The quantum eciency, or probability
of getting an electron of photocurrent per incident photon, depends not only upon the solar cell itself, but upon the
spectrum of the light.
The diode possesses a "built-in potential" due to the contact potential dierence between the two dierent materials
on either side of the junction. This built-in potential is established when the junction is manufactured and that voltage
a by-product of thermodynamic equilibrium within the cell. Once established, this potential dierence cannot drive
a current, however, as connecting a load does not upset this equilibrium. In contrast, the accumulation of excess
electrons in one region and of excess holes in another, due to illumination, results in a photo voltage that does drive a
current when a load is attached to the illuminated diode. As noted above, this photo voltage also forward biases the
junction, and so reduces the pre-existing eld in the depletion region.
6.8. SEE ALSO 83
6.8 See also

Counter-electromotive force
Electric battery
Electrochemical cell
Electrolytic cell
Galvanic cell
Voltaic pile
6.9 References
[1] emf. (1992). American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 3rd ed. Boston:Houghton Miin.
[2] Irving Langmuir (1916). The Relation Between Contact Potentials and Electrochemical Action. Transactions of the
American Electrochemical Society. The Society. 29: 125182.
[3] Tipler, Paul A. (January 1976). Physics. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, Inc. p. 803. ISBN 0-87901-041-X.
[4] David M. Cook (2003). The Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. Courier Dover. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-486-42567-2.
[5] Lawrence M Lerner (1997). Physics for scientists and engineers. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. pp. 724727. ISBN 0-7637-
0460-1.
[6] Paul A. Tipler; Gene Mosca (2007). Physics for Scientists and Engineers (6 ed.). Macmillan. p. 850. ISBN 1-4292-0124-X.
[7] Alvin M. Halpern; Erich Erlbach (1998). Schaums outline of theory and problems of beginning physics II. McGraw-Hill
Professional. p. 138. ISBN 0-07-025707-8.
[8] Robert L. Lehrman (1998). Physics the easy way. Barrons Educational Series. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-7641-0236-3.
[9] Singh, Kongbam Chandramani (2009). "3.16 EMF of a source. Basic Physics. Prentice Hall India. p. 152. ISBN
81-203-3708-5.
[10] Florian Cajori (1899). A History of Physics in Its Elementary Branches: Including the Evolution of Physical Laboratories.
The Macmillan Company. pp. 218219.
[11] Van Valkenburgh (1995). Basic Electricity. Cengage Learning. pp. 146. ISBN 978-0-7906-1041-2.
[12] David J Griths (1999). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Pearson/Addison-Wesley. p. 293. ISBN 0-13-805326-
X.
[13] Only the electric eld due to the charge separation caused by the emf is counted. In a solar cell, for example, an electric
eld is present related to the contact potential that results from thermodynamic equilibrium (discussed later), and this
electric eld component is not included in the integral. Rather, only the electric eld due to the particular portion of charge
separation that causes the photo voltage is included.
[14] Richard P. Olenick; Tom M. Apostol; David L. Goodstein (1986). Beyond the mechanical universe: from electricity to
modern physics. Cambridge University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-0-521-30430-6.
[15] David M. Cook (2003). The Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. Courier Dover. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-486-42567-2.
[16] Colin B P Finn (1992). Thermal Physics. CRC Press. p. 163. ISBN 0-7487-4379-0.
[17] M. Fogiel (2002). Basic Electricity. Research & Education Association. p. 76. ISBN 0-87891-420-X.
[18] David Halliday; Robert Resnick; Jearl Walker (2008). Fundamentals of Physics (6th ed.). Wiley. p. 638. ISBN 978-0-
471-75801-3.
[19] Roger L Freeman (2005). Fundamentals of Telecommunications (2nd ed.). Wiley. p. 576. ISBN 0-471-71045-8.
[20] Terrell Croft (1917). Practical Electricity. McGraw-Hill. p. 533.

[21] Leonard B Loeb (2007). Fundamentals of Electricity and Magnetism (Reprint of Wiley 1947 3rd ed.). Read Books. p. 86.
ISBN 1-4067-0733-3.
[22] Jenny Nelson (2003). The Physics of Solar Cells. Imperial College Press. p. 6. ISBN 1-86094-349-7.
[23] John S. Rigden, (editor in chief), Macmillan encyclopedia of physics. New York : Macmillan, 1996.
[24] J. R. W. Warn; A. P. H. Peters (1996). Concise Chemical Thermodynamics (2 ed.). CRC Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-7487-
4445-2.
[25] Samuel Glasstone (2007). Thermodynamics for Chemists (Reprint of D. Van Nostrand Co (1964) ed.). Read Books. p.
301. ISBN 1-4067-7322-0.
[26] Nikolaus Risch (2002). Molecules - bonds and reactions. In L Bergmann; et al. Constituents of Matter: Atoms, Molecules,
Nuclei, and Particles. CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-1202-7.
[27] The brave reader can nd an extensive discussion for organic electrochemistry in Christian Amatore (2000). Basic con-
cepts. In Henning Lund; Ole Hammerich. Organic electrochemistry (4 ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 0-8247-0430-4.
[28] The idea of electronegativity has been extended to include the concept of electronegativity equalization, the notion that
when molecules are brought together the electrons rearrange to achieve an equilibrium where there is no net force upon
them. See, for example, Francis A. Carey; Richard J. Sundberg (2007). Advanced organic chemistry (5 ed.). Springer. p.
11. ISBN 0-387-68346-1.
[29] BE Conway (1999). Energy factors in relation to electrode potential. Electrochemical supercapacitors. Springer. p. 37.
ISBN 0-306-45736-9.
[30] R. J. D. Tilley (2004). Understanding Solids. Wiley. p. 267. ISBN 0-470-85275-5.
[31] Paul Fleury Mottelay (2008). Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism (Reprint of 1892 ed.). Read Books. p.
247. ISBN 1-4437-2844-6.
[32] Helge Kragh (2000). Confusion and Controversy: Nineteenth-century theories of the voltaic pile (PDF). Nuova Voltiana:
Studies on Volta and his times. Universit degli studi di Pavia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-20.
[33] Linnaus Cumming (2008). An Introduction to the Theory of Electricity (Reprint of 1885 ed.). BiblioBazaar. p. 118. ISBN
0-559-20742-5.
[34] George L. Trigg (1995). Landmark experiments in twentieth century physics (Reprint of Crane, Russak & Co 1975 ed.).
Courier Dover. p. 138 . ISBN 0-486-28526-X.
[35] Angus Rockett (2007). Diusion and drift of carriers. Materials science of semiconductors. New York, NY: Springer
Science. p. 74 . ISBN 0-387-25653-9.
[36] Charles Kittel (2004). Chemical potential in external elds. Elementary Statistical Physics (Reprint of Wiley 1958 ed.).
Courier Dover. p. 67. ISBN 0-486-43514-8.
[37] George W. Hanson (2007). Fundamentals of Nanoelectronics. Prentice Hall. p. 100. ISBN 0-13-195708-2.
[38] Norio Sato (1998). Semiconductor photoelectrodes. Electrochemistry at metal and semiconductor electrodes (2nd ed.).
Elsevier. p. 110 . ISBN 0-444-82806-0.
[39] Richard S. Quimby (2006). Photonics and lasers. Wiley. p. 176. ISBN 0-471-71974-9.
[40] Donald A. Neamen (2002). Semiconductor physics and devices (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 240. ISBN
0-07-232107-5.
[41] Jenny Nelson (2003). Solar cells. Imperial College Press. p. 8. ISBN 1-86094-349-7.
[42] S M Dhir (2000). "3.1 Solar cells. Electronic Components and Materials: Principles, Manufacture and Maintenance. Tata
McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-463082-2.
[43] Gerardo L. Arajo (1994). "2.5.1 Short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage. In Eduardo Lorenzo. Solar Electricity:
Engineering of photovoltaic systems. Progenza for Universidad Politechnica Madrid. p. 74. ISBN 84-86505-55-0.
[44] In practice, at low voltages m 2, whereas at high voltages m 1. See Arajo, op. cit. ISBN 84-86505-55-0. page 72
[45] Robert B. Northrop (2005). "6.3.2 Photovoltaic Cells. Introduction to Instrumentation and Measurements. CRC Press.
p. 176. ISBN 0-8493-7898-2.

Andrew Gray, Absolute Measurements in Electricity and Magnetism, Electromotive force. Macmillan and
co., 1884.
John O'M. Bockris; Amulya K. N. Reddy (1973). Electrodics. Modern Electrochemistry: An Introduction to
an Interdisciplinary Area (2 ed.). Springer. ISBN 0-306-25002-0.
Roberts, Dana (1983). How batteries work: A gravitational analog. Am. J. Phys. 51: 829. Bibcode:1983AmJPh..51..829R.
doi:10.1119/1.13128.
Charles Albert Perkins, Outlines of Electricity and Magnetism, Measurement of Electromotive Force. Henry
Holt and co., 1896.
John Livingston Rutgers Morgan, The Elements of Physical Chemistry, Electromotive force. J. Wiley, 1899.
George F. Barker, "On the measurement of electromotive force". Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, American Philosophical Society. January 19,
1883.
Abhandlungen zur Thermodynamik, von H. Helmholtz. Hrsg. von Max Planck. (Tr. Papers to thermody-
namics, on H. Helmholtz. Hrsg. by Max Planck.) Leipzig, W. Engelmann, Of Ostwald classical author of the
accurate sciences series. New consequence. No. 124, 1902.
Nabendu S. Choudhury, Electromotive force measurements on cells involving [beta]-alumina solid elec-
trolyte. NASA technical note, D-7322.
Henry S. Carhart, Thermo-electromotive force in electric cells, the thermo-electromotive force between a
metal and a solution of one of its salts. New York, D. Van Nostrand company, 1920. LCCN 20-20413
Hazel Rossotti, Chemical applications of potentiometry. London, Princeton, N.J., Van Nostrand, 1969.
ISBN 0-442-07048-9 LCCN 69-11985 //r88
Theodore William Richards and Gustavus Edward Behr, jr., The electromotive force of iron under varying
conditions, and the eect of occluded hydrogen. Carnegie Institution of Washington publication series, 1906.
LCCN 07-3935 //r88
G. W. Burns, et al., Temperature-electromotive force reference functions and tables for the letter-designated
thermocouple types based on the ITS-90. Gaithersburg, MD : U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Institute
of Standards and Technology, Washington, Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1993.
Norio Sato (1998). Semiconductor photoelectrodes. Electrochemistry at metal and semiconductor electrodes
(2nd ed.). Elsevier. p. 326 . ISBN 0-444-82806-0.
6.11 External links

Hai, Pham Nam; Ohya, Shinobu; Tanaka, Masaaki; Barnes, Stewart E.; Maekawa, Sadamichi (2009-03-08).
Electromotive force and huge magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions. Nature. 458 (7237): 48992.
Bibcode:2009Natur.458..489H. PMID 19270681. doi:10.1038/nature07879. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
Chapter 7
Faradays law of induction
For applications and consequences of the law, see Electromagnetic induction.
Faradays law of induction is a basic law of electromagnetism predicting how a magnetic eld will interact with
an electric circuit to produce an electromotive force (EMF)a phenomenon called electromagnetic induction. It is
the fundamental operating principle of transformers, inductors, and many types of electrical motors, generators and
solenoids.[1][2]
The MaxwellFaraday equation is a generalization of Faradays law, and is listed as one of Maxwells equations.
7.1 History
+ -
A diagram of Faradays iron ring apparatus. Changes in the magnetic ux of the left coil induces a current in the right coil.[3]
Electromagnetic induction was discovered independently by Michael Faraday in 1831 and Joseph Henry in 1832.[4]
Faraday was the rst to publish the results of his experiments.[5][6] In Faradays rst experimental demonstration of
electromagnetic induction (August 29, 1831),[7] he wrapped two wires around opposite sides of an iron ring (torus)
(an arrangement similar to a modern toroidal transformer). Based on his assessment of recently discovered properties
of electromagnets, he expected that when current started to ow in one wire, a sort of wave would travel through the
ring and cause some electrical eect on the opposite side. He plugged one wire into a galvanometer, and watched it as
he connected the other wire to a battery. Indeed, he saw a transient current (which he called a wave of electricity)
when he connected the wire to the battery, and another when he disconnected it.[8] This induction was due to the
change in magnetic ux that occurred when the battery was connected and disconnected.[3] Within two months,
Faraday had found several other manifestations of electromagnetic induction. For example, he saw transient currents
when he quickly slid a bar magnet in and out of a coil of wires, and he generated a steady (DC) current by rotating a
copper disk near the bar magnet with a sliding electrical lead (Faradays disk).[9]
Michael Faraday explained electromagnetic induction using a concept he called lines of force. However, scien-
tists at the time widely rejected his theoretical ideas, mainly because they were not formulated mathematically.[10]
86
7.2. FARADAYS LAW 87
Faradays disk (see homopolar generator)
An exception was James Clerk Maxwell, who used Faradays ideas as the basis of his quantitative electromagnetic
theory.[10][11][12] In Maxwells papers, the time-varying aspect of electromagnetic induction is expressed as a dif-
ferential equation which Oliver Heaviside referred to as Faradays law even though it is dierent from the original
version of Faradays law, and does not describe motional EMF. Heavisides version (see MaxwellFaraday equation
below) is the form recognized today in the group of equations known as Maxwells equations.
Lenzs law, formulated by Emil Lenz in 1834,[13] describes ux through the circuit, and gives the direction of the
induced EMF and current resulting from electromagnetic induction (elaborated upon in the examples below).
7.2 Faradays law
7.2.1 Qualitative statement
The most widespread version of Faradays law states:
The induced electromotive force in any closed circuit is equal to the negative of the time rate of
change of the magnetic ux enclosed by the circuit.[15][16]
This version of Faradays law strictly holds only when the closed circuit is a loop of innitely thin wire,[17] and is
invalid in other circumstances as discussed below. A dierent version, the MaxwellFaraday equation (discussed
below), is valid in all circumstances.
88 CHAPTER 7. FARADAYS LAW OF INDUCTION
Faradays experiment showing induction between coils of wire: The liquid battery (right) provides a current which ows through the
small coil (A), creating a magnetic eld. When the coils are stationary, no current is induced. But when the small coil is moved in or
out of the large coil (B), the magnetic ux through the large coil changes, inducing a current which is detected by the galvanometer
(G).[14]
7.2.2 Quantitative
Faradays law of induction makes use of the magnetic ux B through a hypothetical surface whose boundary is
a wire loop. Since the wire loop may be moving, we write (t) for the surface. The magnetic ux is dened by a
surface integral:

B = B(r, t) dA ,
(t)
where dA is an element of surface area of the moving surface (t), B is the magnetic eld (also called magnetic ux
density), and BdA is a vector dot product (the innitesimal amount of magnetic ux through the innitesimal area
element dA). In more visual terms, the magnetic ux through the wire loop is proportional to the number of magnetic
ux lines that pass through the loop.
When the ux changesbecause B changes, or because the wire loop is moved or deformed, or bothFaradays law
of induction says that the wire loop acquires an EMF, , dened as the energy available from a unit charge that has
travelled once around the wire loop.[17][18][19][20] Equivalently, it is the voltage that would be measured by cutting the
wire to create an open circuit, and attaching a voltmeter to the leads.
Faradays law states that the EMF is also given by the rate of change of the magnetic ux:
dB
E = ,
dt
where E is the electromotive force (EMF) and B is the magnetic ux. The direction of the electromotive force is
7.2. FARADAYS LAW 89
The denition of surface integral relies on splitting the surface into small surface elements. Each element is associated with a vector
dA of magnitude equal to the area of the element and with direction normal to the element and pointing outward (with respect to
the orientation of the surface).
given by Lenzs law.

For a tightly wound coil of wire, composed of N identical turns, each with the same B, Faradays law of induction
states that[21][22]
dB
E = N
dt
where N is the number of turns of wire and B is the magnetic ux through a single loop.
7.2.3 MaxwellFaraday equation

The MaxwellFaraday equation is a modication and generalisation of Faradays law that states that a time-varying
magnetic eld will always accompany a spatially-varying, non-conservative electric eld, and vice versa. The Maxwell
Faraday equation is
(in SI units) where is the curl operator and again E(r, t) is the electric eld and B(r, t) is the magnetic eld. These
elds can generally be functions of position r and time t.
The MaxwellFaraday equation is one of the four Maxwells equations, and therefore plays a fundamental role in the
theory of classical electromagnetism. It can also be written in an integral form by the KelvinStokes theorem:[23]
where, as indicated in the gure:

z
n

0
x y
An illustration of the KelvinStokes theorem with surface , its boundary , and orientation n set by the right-hand rule.
is a surface bounded by the closed contour ,

E is the electric eld, B is the magnetic eld.
dl is an innitesimal vector element of the contour ,
dA is an innitesimal vector element of surface . If its direction is orthogonal to that surface patch, the
magnitude is the area of an innitesimal patch of surface.
Both dl and dA have a sign ambiguity; to get the correct sign, the right-hand rule is used, as explained in the article
KelvinStokes theorem. For a planar surface , a positive path element dl of curve is dened by the right-hand
rule as one that points with the ngers of the right hand when the thumb points in the direction of the normal n to
the surface .
The integral around is called a path integral or line integral.
Notice that a nonzero path integral for E is dierent from the behavior of the electric eld generated by charges. A
charge-generated E-eld can be expressed as the gradient of a scalar eld that is a solution to Poissons equation, and
has a zero path integral. See gradient theorem.
The integral equation is true for any path through space, and any surface for which that path is a boundary.
If the path is not changing in time, the equation can be rewritten:
7.3. PROOF OF FARADAYS LAW 91
I
d
E dl = B dA.
dt
The surface integral at the right-hand side is the explicit expression for the magnetic ux B through .
7.3 Proof of Faradays law

The four Maxwells equations (including the MaxwellFaraday equation), along with the Lorentz force law, are a
sucient foundation to derive everything in classical electromagnetism.[17][18] Therefore, it is possible to prove
Faradays law starting with these equations.[24][25]
The starting point is the time-derivative of ux through an arbitrary, possibly-moving surface in space :

dB d
= B(t) dA
dt dt (t)
(by denition). This total time derivative can be evaluated and simplied with the help of the Maxwell-Faraday
equation, Gausss law for magnetism, and some vector calculus; the details are in the box below:
the result is:
I
dB
= (E + vl B) dl.
dt
where is the boundary of the surface , and v is the velocity of that boundary.
While this equation is true for any arbitrary moving surface in space, it can be simplied further in the special case
that is a loop of wire. In this case, we can relate the right-hand-side to EMF. Specically, EMF is dened as the
energy available per unit charge that travels once around the loop. Therefore, by the Lorentz force law,
I
E= (E + vm B) dl
where E is EMF and vm is the material velocity, i.e. the velocity of the atoms that makes up the circuit. If is a
loop of wire, then vm=v , and hence:
dB
= E
dt
7.4 EMF for non-thin-wire circuits

It is tempting to generalize Faradays law to state that If is any arbitrary closed loop in space whatsoever, then the
total time derivative of magnetic ux through equals the EMF around . This statement, however, is not always
trueand not just for the obvious reason that EMF is undened in empty space when no conductor is present. As
noted in the previous section, Faradays law is not guaranteed to work unless the velocity of the abstract curve
matches the actual velocity of the material conducting the electricity.[27] The two examples illustrated below show
that one often obtains incorrect results when the motion of is divorced from the motion of the material.[17]
Faradays homopolar generator. The disc rotates with angular rate , sweeping the
conducting radius circularly in the static magnetic eld B. The magnetic Lorentz force v B drives the current
along the conducting radius to the conducting rim, and from there the circuit completes through the lower
brush and the axle supporting the disc. This device generates an EMF and a current, although the shape of the
circuit is constant and thus the ux through the circuit does not change with time.
A wire (solid red lines) connects to two touching metal plates (silver) to form a
circuit. The whole system sits in a uniform magnetic eld, normal to the page. If the abstract path follows
the primary path of current ow (marked in red), then the magnetic ux through this path changes dramati-
cally as the plates are rotated, yet the EMF is almost zero. After Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. II page 17-3.
One can analyze examples like these by taking care that the path moves with the same velocity as the material.[27]
Alternatively, one can always correctly calculate the EMF by combining the Lorentz force law with the Maxwell-
Faraday equation:[17][28]
I
B
E= (E + vm B) dl = d + (vm B) dl
t
where it is very important to notice that (1) [vm] is the velocity of the conductor ... not the velocity of the path
element dl and (2) in general, the partial derivative with respect to time cannot be moved outside the integral since
the area is a function of time.[28]
7.5 Faradays law and relativity
7.5.1 Two phenomena
Some physicists have remarked that Faradays law is a single equation describing two dierent phenomena: the mo-
tional EMF generated by a magnetic force on a moving wire (see Lorentz force), and the transformer EMF generated
by an electric force due to a changing magnetic eld (due to the MaxwellFaraday equation).
James Clerk Maxwell drew attention to this fact in his 1861 paper On Physical Lines of Force.[29] In the latter half of
Part II of that paper, Maxwell gives a separate physical explanation for each of the two phenomena.
A reference to these two aspects of electromagnetic induction is made in some modern textbooks.[30] As Richard
Feynman states:[17]
So the ux rule that the emf in a circuit is equal to the rate of change of the magnetic ux through
the circuit applies whether the ux changes because the eld changes or because the circuit moves (or
both) ...
Yet in our explanation of the rule we have used two completely distinct laws for the two cases v
B for circuit moves and E = -tB for eld changes.
7.6. SEE ALSO 93
We know of no other place in physics where such a simple and accurate general principle requires
for its real understanding an analysis in terms of two dierent phenomena.
Richard P. Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics
7.5.2 Einsteins view

Reection on this apparent dichotomy was one of the principal paths that led Einstein to develop special relativity:
It is known that Maxwells electrodynamicsas usually understood at the present timewhen ap-
plied to moving bodies, leads to asymmetries which do not appear to be inherent in the phenomena.
Take, for example, the reciprocal electrodynamic action of a magnet and a conductor.
The observable phenomenon here depends only on the relative motion of the conductor and the
magnet, whereas the customary view draws a sharp distinction between the two cases in which either the
one or the other of these bodies is in motion. For if the magnet is in motion and the conductor at rest,
there arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet an electric eld with a certain denite energy, producing
a current at the places where parts of the conductor are situated.
But if the magnet is stationary and the conductor in motion, no electric eld arises in the neighbour-
hood of the magnet. In the conductor, however, we nd an electromotive force, to which in itself there
is no corresponding energy, but which gives riseassuming equality of relative motion in the two cases
discussedto electric currents of the same path and intensity as those produced by the electric forces
in the former case.
Examples of this sort, together with unsuccessful attempts to discover any motion of the earth relative
to the light medium, suggest that the phenomena of electrodynamics as well as of mechanics possess
no properties corresponding to the idea of absolute rest.
Albert Einstein, On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies[31]
7.6 See also

Eddy current
Inductance
Maxwells equations
Alternator
Crosstalk
Faraday paradox
Vector calculus
7.7 References
[1] Sadiku, M. N. O. (2007). Elements of Electromagnetics (4th ed.). New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 386.
ISBN 0-19-530048-3.
[2] Applications of electromagnetic induction. Boston University. 1999-07-22.
[3] Giancoli, Douglas C. (1998). Physics: Principles with Applications (Fifth ed.). pp. 623624.
[4] A Brief History of Electromagnetism (PDF).
[5] Ulaby, Fawwaz (2007). Fundamentals of applied electromagnetics (5th ed.). Pearson:Prentice Hall. p. 255. ISBN 0-13-
241326-4.
[6] Joseph Henry. Member Directory, National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2016-12-30.
[7] Faraday, Michael; Day, P. (1999-02-01). The philosophers tree: a selection of Michael Faradays writings. CRC Press. p.
71. ISBN 978-0-7503-0570-9. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
[8] Michael Faraday, by L. Pearce Williams, pp. 1823
[9] Michael Faraday, by L. Pearce Williams, p. 1915
[10] Michael Faraday, by L. Pearce Williams, p. 510
[11] Maxwell, James Clerk (1904), A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. II, Third Edition. Oxford University Press,
pp. 1789 and 189.
[12] Archives Biographies: Michael Faraday, The Institution of Engineering and Technology.
[13] Lenz, E. (1834), "Ueber die Bestimmung der Richtung der durch elektodynamische Vertheilung erregten galvanischen
Strme", Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 107 (31), pp. 483494. A partial translation of the paper is available in Magie,
W. M. (1963), A Source Book in Physics, Harvard: Cambridge MA, pp. 511513.
[14] Poyser, Arthur William (1892), Magnetism and electricity: A manual for students in advanced classes. London and New
York; Longmans, Green, & Co., p. 285, g. 248. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
[15] Faradays Law, which states that the electromotive force around a closed path is equal to the negative of the time rate
of change of magnetic ux enclosed by the path"Jordan, Edward; Balmain, Keith G. (1968). Electromagnetic Waves and
Radiating Systems (2nd ed.). Prentice-Hall. p. 100.
[16] The magnetic ux is that ux which passes through any and every surface whose perimeter is the closed path"Hayt, William
(1989). Engineering Electromagnetics (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 312. ISBN 0-07-027406-1.
[17] The ux rule is the terminology that Feynman uses to refer to the law relating magnetic ux to EMF. Feynman, R. P.
(2006). Leighton, R. B.; Sands, M. L., eds. The Feynman Lectures on Physics. San Francisco: Pearson/Addison-Wesley.
Vol. II, p. 17-2. ISBN 0-8053-9049-9.
[18] Griths, David J. (1999). Introduction to Electrodynamics (Third ed.). Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall. pp. 301
303. ISBN 0-13-805326-X.
[19] Tipler; Mosca. Physics for Scientists and Engineers. p. 795.
[20] Note that dierent textbooks may give dierent denitions. The set of equations used throughout the text was chosen to
be compatible with the special relativity theory.
[21] Whelan, P. M.; Hodgeson, M. J. (1978). Essential Principles of Physics (2nd ed.). John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-3382-1.
[22] Nave, Carl R. Faradays Law. HyperPhysics. Georgia State University. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
[23] Harrington, Roger F. (2003). Introduction to electromagnetic engineering. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. p. 56. ISBN
0-486-43241-6.
[24] Davison, M. E. (1973). A Simple Proof that the Lorentz Force, Law Implied Faradays Law of Induction, when B is Time
Independent. American Journal of Physics. 41 (5): 713711. Bibcode:1973AmJPh..41..713D. doi:10.1119/1.1987339.
[25] Krey; Owen. Basic Theoretical Physics: A Concise Overview. p. 155.
[26] Simonyi, K. (1973). Theoretische Elektrotechnik (5th ed.). Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. eq. 20, p.
47.
[27] Joseph V. Stewart. Intermediate Electromagnetic Theory. p. 396. This example of Faradays Law [the homopolar generator]
makes it very clear that in the case of extended bodies care must be taken that the boundary used to determine the ux
must not be stationary but must be moving with respect to the body
[28] Hughes, W. F.; Young, F. J. (1965). The Electromagnetodynamics of Fluid. John Wiley. Eq. (2.6-13) p. 53.
[29] Clerk Maxwell, James (1861). On physical lines of force. Philosophical Magazine. Taylor & Francis. 90: 1123.
doi:10.1080/1478643100365918.
[30] Griths, David J. (1999). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. pp. 3013.
ISBN 0-13-805326-X. Note that the law relating ux to EMF, which this article calls Faradays law, is referred to in
Griths terminology as the universal ux rule. Griths uses the term Faradays law to refer to what this article calls
the MaxwellFaraday equation. So in fact, in the textbook, Griths statement is about the universal ux rule.
[31] Einstein, Albert. On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (PDF).

7.8 Further reading

Clerk Maxwell, James (1881). A treatise on electricity and magnetism, Vol. II. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ch.
III, sec. 530, p. 178. ISBN 0-486-60637-6.
7.9 External links

A simple interactive Java tutorial on electromagnetic induction National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
R. Vega Induction: Faradays law and Lenzs law - Highly animated lecture
Notes from Physics and Astronomy HyperPhysics at Georgia State University

Tankersley and Mosca: Introducing Faradays law
A free java simulation on motional EMF

Chapter 8
Speed of light
Lightspeed redirects here. For other uses, see Speed of light (disambiguation) and Lightspeed (disambiguation).
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a universal physical constant important in many areas of
physics. Its exact value is 299,792,458 metres per second (approximately 3.00108 m/s, approximately 186,282
mi/s); it is exact because the unit of length, the metre, is dened from this constant and the international standard for
time.[2] According to special relativity, c is the maximum speed at which all conventional matter and hence all known
forms of information in the universe can travel. It is the speed at which all massless particles and changes of the
associated elds (including light, a type of electromagnetic radiation, and gravitational waves) travel in vacuum. Such
particles and waves travel at c regardless of the motion of the source or the inertial reference frame of the observer.
In the theory of relativity, c interrelates space and time, and also appears in the famous equation of massenergy
equivalence E = mc2 .[3]
The speed at which light propagates through transparent materials, such as glass or air, is less than c; similarly, the
speed of radio waves in wire cables is slower than c. The ratio between c and the speed v at which light travels in a
material is called the refractive index n of the material (n = c / v). For example, for visible light the refractive index
of glass is typically around 1.5, meaning that light in glass travels at c / 1.5 200,000 kilometres (120,000 mi) /s;
the refractive index of air for visible light is about 1.0003, so the speed of light in air is about 299,700 kilometres
(186,200 mi) /s (about 90 kilometres (56 mi) /s slower than c).
For many practical purposes, light and other electromagnetic waves will appear to propagate instantaneously, but
for long distances and very sensitive measurements, their nite speed has noticeable eects. In communicating with
distant space probes, it can take minutes to hours for a message to get from Earth to the spacecraft, or vice versa.
The light seen from stars left them many years ago, allowing the study of the history of the universe by looking at
distant objects. The nite speed of light also limits the theoretical maximum speed of computers, since information
must be sent within the computer from chip to chip. The speed of light can be used with time of ight measurements
to measure large distances to high precision.
Ole Rmer rst demonstrated in 1676 that light travels at a nite speed (as opposed to instantaneously) by studying
the apparent motion of Jupiter's moon Io. In 1865, James Clerk Maxwell proposed that light was an electromagnetic
wave, and therefore travelled at the speed c appearing in his theory of electromagnetism.[4] In 1905, Albert Einstein
postulated that the speed of light c with respect to any inertial frame is a constant and is independent of the motion
of the light source.[5] He explored the consequences of that postulate by deriving the theory of relativity and in doing
so showed that the parameter c had relevance outside of the context of light and electromagnetism.
After centuries of increasingly precise measurements, in 1975 the speed of light was known to be 299792458 m/s
(186,282 mi /s) with a measurement uncertainty of 4 parts per billion. In 1983, the metre was redened in the
International System of Units (SI) as the distance travelled by light in vacuum in 1/299792458 of a second. As a
result, the numerical value of c in metres per second is now xed exactly by the denition of the metre.[6]
8.1 Numerical value, notation, and units

The speed of light in vacuum is usually denoted by a lowercase c, for constant or the Latin celeritas (meaning
swiftness, celerity). In 1856, Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Rudolf Kohlrausch had used c for a dierent constant
96
8.2. FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN PHYSICS 97
later shown to equal 2 times the speed of light in vacuum. Historically, the symbol V was used as an alternative
symbol for the speed of light, introduced by James Clerk Maxwell in 1865. In 1894, Paul Drude redened c with its
modern meaning. Einstein used V in his original German-language papers on special relativity in 1905, but in 1907
he switched to c, which by then had become the standard symbol for the speed of light.[7][8]
Sometimes c is used for the speed of waves in any material medium, and c0 for the speed of light in vacuum.[9]
This subscripted notation, which is endorsed in ocial SI literature,[6] has the same form as other related constants:
namely, 0 for the vacuum permeability or magnetic constant, 0 for the vacuum permittivity or electric constant,
and Z 0 for the impedance of free space. This article uses c exclusively for the speed of light in vacuum.
Since 1983, the metre has been dened in the International System of Units (SI) as the distance light travels in vacuum
in 1 of a second. This denition xes the speed of light in vacuum at exactly 299,792,458 m/s.[10][11][12] As
a dimensional physical constant, the numerical value of c is dierent for dierent unit systems.[Note 3] In branches of
physics in which c appears often, such as in relativity, it is common to use systems of natural units of measurement or
the geometrized unit system where c = 1.[14][15] Using these units, c does not appear explicitly because multiplication
or division by 1 does not aect the result.
8.2 Fundamental role in physics
See also: Special relativity and One-way speed of light
The speed at which light waves propagate in vacuum is independent both of the motion of the wave source and of the
inertial frame of reference of the observer.[Note 4] This invariance of the speed of light was postulated by Einstein in
1905,[5] after being motivated by Maxwells theory of electromagnetism and the lack of evidence for the luminiferous
aether;[16] it has since been consistently conrmed by many experiments. It is only possible to verify experimentally
that the two-way speed of light (for example, from a source to a mirror and back again) is frame-independent, because
it is impossible to measure the one-way speed of light (for example, from a source to a distant detector) without
some convention as to how clocks at the source and at the detector should be synchronized. However, by adopting
Einstein synchronization for the clocks, the one-way speed of light becomes equal to the two-way speed of light by
denition.[17][18] The special theory of relativity explores the consequences of this invariance of c with the assumption
that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference.[19][20] One consequence is that c is the speed
at which all massless particles and waves, including light, must travel in vacuum.
Special relativity has many counterintuitive and experimentally veried implications.[21] These include the equivalence
of mass and energy (E = mc2 ), length contraction (moving objects shorten),[Note 5] and time dilation (moving clocks
run more slowly). The factor by which lengths contract and times dilate is known as the Lorentz factor and is given
by = (1 v2 /c2 )1/2 , where v is the speed of the object. The dierence of from 1 is negligible for speeds much
slower than c, such as most everyday speedsin which case special relativity is closely approximated by Galilean
relativitybut it increases at relativistic speeds and diverges to innity as v approaches c.
The results of special relativity can be summarized by treating space and time as a unied structure known as spacetime
(with c relating the units of space and time), and requiring that physical theories satisfy a special symmetry called
Lorentz invariance, whose mathematical formulation contains the parameter c.[24] Lorentz invariance is an almost
universal assumption for modern physical theories, such as quantum electrodynamics, quantum chromodynamics,
the Standard Model of particle physics, and general relativity. As such, the parameter c is ubiquitous in modern
physics, appearing in many contexts that are unrelated to light. For example, general relativity predicts that c is
also the speed of gravity and of gravitational waves.[25][26] In non-inertial frames of reference (gravitationally curved
spacetime or accelerated reference frames), the local speed of light is constant and equal to c, but the speed of light
along a trajectory of nite length can dier from c, depending on how distances and times are dened.[27]
It is generally assumed that fundamental constants such as c have the same value throughout spacetime, meaning that
they do not depend on location and do not vary with time. However, it has been suggested in various theories that the
speed of light may have changed over time.[28][29] No conclusive evidence for such changes has been found, but they
remain the subject of ongoing research.[30][31]
It also is generally assumed that the speed of light is isotropic, meaning that it has the same value regardless of
the direction in which it is measured. Observations of the emissions from nuclear energy levels as a function of
the orientation of the emitting nuclei in a magnetic eld (see HughesDrever experiment), and of rotating optical
resonators (see Resonator experiments) have put stringent limits on the possible two-way anisotropy.[32][33]
98 CHAPTER 8. SPEED OF LIGHT

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 c/2 c v
The Lorentz factor as a function of velocity. It starts at 1 and approaches innity as v approaches c.
8.2.1 Upper limit on speeds
According to special relativity, the energy of an object with rest mass m and speed v is given by mc2 , where is
the Lorentz factor dened above. When v is zero, is equal to one, giving rise to the famous E = mc2 formula for
massenergy equivalence. The factor approaches innity as v approaches c, and it would take an innite amount
of energy to accelerate an object with mass to the speed of light. The speed of light is the upper limit for the speeds
of objects with positive rest mass, and individual photons cannot travel faster than the speed of light.[34][35] This is
experimentally established in many tests of relativistic energy and momentum.[36]
More generally, it is normally impossible for information or energy to travel faster than c. One argument for this
follows from the counter-intuitive implication of special relativity known as the relativity of simultaneity. If the
spatial distance between two events A and B is greater than the time interval between them multiplied by c then
there are frames of reference in which A precedes B, others in which B precedes A, and others in which they are
simultaneous. As a result, if something were travelling faster than c relative to an inertial frame of reference, it would
be travelling backwards in time relative to another frame, and causality would be violated.[Note 6][38] In such a frame of
reference, an eect could be observed before its cause. Such a violation of causality has never been recorded,[18]
and would lead to paradoxes such as the tachyonic antitelephone.[39]
8.3. FASTER-THAN-LIGHT OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS 99
Event A precedes B in the red frame, is simultaneous with B in the green frame, and follows B in the blue frame.
8.3 Faster-than-light observations and experiments
Main article: Faster-than-light

Further information: Superluminal motion
There are situations in which it may seem that matter, energy, or information travels at speeds greater than c, but they
do not. For example, as is discussed in the propagation of light in a medium section below, many wave velocities
can exceed c. For example, the phase velocity of X-rays through most glasses can routinely exceed c,[40] but phase
velocity does not determine the velocity at which waves convey information.[41]
If a laser beam is swept quickly across a distant object, the spot of light can move faster than c, although the initial
movement of the spot is delayed because of the time it takes light to get to the distant object at the speed c. However,
the only physical entities that are moving are the laser and its emitted light, which travels at the speed c from the laser
to the various positions of the spot. Similarly, a shadow projected onto a distant object can be made to move faster
than c, after a delay in time.[42] In neither case does any matter, energy, or information travel faster than light.[43]
The rate of change in the distance between two objects in a frame of reference with respect to which both are moving
(their closing speed) may have a value in excess of c. However, this does not represent the speed of any single object
as measured in a single inertial frame.[43]
Certain quantum eects appear to be transmitted instantaneously and therefore faster than c, as in the EPR paradox.
An example involves the quantum states of two particles that can be entangled. Until either of the particles is observed,
they exist in a superposition of two quantum states. If the particles are separated and one particles quantum state is
observed, the other particles quantum state is determined instantaneously (i.e., faster than light could travel from one
particle to the other). However, it is impossible to control which quantum state the rst particle will take on when it
is observed, so information cannot be transmitted in this manner.[43][44]
Another quantum eect that predicts the occurrence of faster-than-light speeds is called the Hartman eect; under
certain conditions the time needed for a virtual particle to tunnel through a barrier is constant, regardless of the
thickness of the barrier.[45][46] This could result in a virtual particle crossing a large gap faster-than-light. However,
no information can be sent using this eect.[47]
So-called superluminal motion is seen in certain astronomical objects,[48] such as the relativistic jets of radio galaxies
and quasars. However, these jets are not moving at speeds in excess of the speed of light: the apparent superluminal
motion is a projection eect caused by objects moving near the speed of light and approaching Earth at a small angle
to the line of sight: since the light which was emitted when the jet was farther away took longer to reach the Earth,
the time between two successive observations corresponds to a longer time between the instants at which the light
rays were emitted.[49]
In models of the expanding universe, the farther galaxies are from each other, the faster they drift apart. This receding
is not due to motion through space, but rather to the expansion of space itself.[43] For example, galaxies far away from
Earth appear to be moving away from the Earth with a speed proportional to their distances. Beyond a boundary
called the Hubble sphere, the rate at which their distance from Earth increases becomes greater than the speed of
light.[50]
8.4 Propagation of light

In classical physics, light is described as a type of electromagnetic wave. The classical behaviour of the electromagnetic
eld is described by Maxwells equations, which predict that the speed c with which electromagnetic waves (such as
light) propagate through the vacuum is related to the electric constant 0 and the magnetic constant 0 by the equation
[51]
1
c= .
0 0
In modern quantum physics, the electromagnetic eld is described by the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED).
In this theory, light is described by the fundamental excitations (or quanta) of the electromagnetic eld, called photons.
In QED, photons are massless particles and thus, according to special relativity, they travel at the speed of light in
vacuum.
Extensions of QED in which the photon has a mass have been considered. In such a theory, its speed would depend
on its frequency, and the invariant speed c of special relativity would then be the upper limit of the speed of light in
vacuum.[27] No variation of the speed of light with frequency has been observed in rigorous testing,[52][53][54] putting
stringent limits on the mass of the photon. The limit obtained depends on the model used: if the massive photon is
described by Proca theory,[55] the experimental upper bound for its mass is about 1057 grams;[56] if photon mass is
generated by a Higgs mechanism, the experimental upper limit is less sharp, m 1014 eV/c2 [55] (roughly 2 1047
g).
Another reason for the speed of light to vary with its frequency would be the failure of special relativity to apply
to arbitrarily small scales, as predicted by some proposed theories of quantum gravity. In 2009, the observation
of the spectrum of gamma-ray burst GRB 090510 did not nd any dierence in the speeds of photons of dierent
energies, conrming that Lorentz invariance is veried at least down to the scale of the Planck length (lP = G/c3
1.61631035 m) divided by 1.2.[57]
8.4.1 In a medium
See also: Refractive index

8.4. PROPAGATION OF LIGHT 101
In a medium, light usually does not propagate at a speed equal to c; further, dierent types of light wave will travel at
dierent speeds. The speed at which the individual crests and troughs of a plane wave (a wave lling the whole space,
with only one frequency) propagate is called the phase velocity v . An actual physical signal with a nite extent (a
pulse of light) travels at a dierent speed. The largest part of the pulse travels at the group velocity v , and its earliest
part travels at the front velocity v .
The blue dot moves at the speed of the ripples, the phase velocity; the green dot moves with the speed of the envelope, the group
velocity; and the red dot moves with the speed of the foremost part of the pulse, the front velocity
The phase velocity is important in determining how a light wave travels through a material or from one material to
another. It is often represented in terms of a refractive index. The refractive index of a material is dened as the
ratio of c to the phase velocity v in the material: larger indices of refraction indicate lower speeds. The refrac-
tive index of a material may depend on the lights frequency, intensity, polarization, or direction of propagation; in
many cases, though, it can be treated as a material-dependent constant. The refractive index of air is approximately
1.0003.[58] Denser media, such as water,[59] glass,[60] and diamond,[61] have refractive indexes of around 1.3, 1.5 and
2.4, respectively, for visible light. In exotic materials like BoseEinstein condensates near absolute zero, the eec-
tive speed of light may be only a few metres per second. However, this represents absorption and re-radiation delay
between atoms, as do all slower-than-c speeds in material substances. As an extreme example of light slowing in
matter, two independent teams of physicists claimed to bring light to a complete standstill by passing it through a
BoseEinstein condensate of the element rubidium, one team at Harvard University and the Rowland Institute for
Science in Cambridge, Mass., and the other at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics, also in Cambridge.
However, the popular description of light being stopped in these experiments refers only to light being stored in
the excited states of atoms, then re-emitted at an arbitrarily later time, as stimulated by a second laser pulse. During
the time it had stopped, it had ceased to be light. This type of behaviour is generally microscopically true of all
transparent media which slow the speed of light.[62]
In transparent materials, the refractive index generally is greater than 1, meaning that the phase velocity is less than c.
In other materials, it is possible for the refractive index to become smaller than 1 for some frequencies; in some exotic
materials it is even possible for the index of refraction to become negative.[63] The requirement that causality is not
violated implies that the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant of any material, corresponding respectively
to the index of refraction and to the attenuation coecient, are linked by the KramersKronig relations.[64] In practical
terms, this means that in a material with refractive index less than 1, the absorption of the wave is so quick that no
signal can be sent faster than c.
A pulse with dierent group and phase velocities (which occurs if the phase velocity is not the same for all the
frequencies of the pulse) smears out over time, a process known as dispersion. Certain materials have an exceptionally
low (or even zero) group velocity for light waves, a phenomenon called slow light, which has been conrmed in
various experiments.[65][66][67][68] The opposite, group velocities exceeding c, has also been shown in experiment.[69]
It should even be possible for the group velocity to become innite or negative, with pulses travelling instantaneously
or backwards in time.[70]
None of these options, however, allow information to be transmitted faster than c. It is impossible to transmit in-
formation with a light pulse any faster than the speed of the earliest part of the pulse (the front velocity). It can be
shown that this is (under certain assumptions) always equal to c.[70]
It is possible for a particle to travel through a medium faster than the phase velocity of light in that medium (but still
slower than c). When a charged particle does that in a dielectric material, the electromagnetic equivalent of a shock
wave, known as Cherenkov radiation, is emitted.[71]
8.5 Practical eects of niteness

The speed of light is of relevance to communications: the one-way and round-trip delay time are greater than zero.
This applies from small to astronomical scales. On the other hand, some techniques depend on the nite speed of
light, for example in distance measurements.
8.5.1 Small scales

In supercomputers, the speed of light imposes a limit on how quickly data can be sent between processors. If a
processor operates at 1 gigahertz, a signal can only travel a maximum of about 30 centimetres (1 ft) in a single cycle.
Processors must therefore be placed close to each other to minimize communication latencies; this can cause diculty
with cooling. If clock frequencies continue to increase, the speed of light will eventually become a limiting factor for
the internal design of single chips.[72]
8.5.2 Large distances on Earth

For example, given the equatorial circumference of the Earth is about 40075 km and c about 300000 km/s, the
theoretical shortest time for a piece of information to travel half the globe along the surface is about 67 milliseconds.
When light is travelling around the globe in an optical bre, the actual transit time is longer, in part because the speed
of light is slower by about 35% in an optical bre, depending on its refractive index n.[73] Furthermore, straight lines
rarely occur in global communications situations, and delays are created when the signal passes through an electronic
switch or signal regenerator.[74]
8.5.3 Spaceights and astronomy
A beam of light is depicted travelling between the Earth and the Moon in the time it takes a light pulse to move between them: 1.255
seconds at their mean orbital (surface-to-surface) distance. The relative sizes and separation of the EarthMoon system are shown
to scale.
Similarly, communications between the Earth and spacecraft are not instantaneous. There is a brief delay from
the source to the receiver, which becomes more noticeable as distances increase. This delay was signicant for
communications between ground control and Apollo 8 when it became the rst manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon:
for every question, the ground control station had to wait at least three seconds for the answer to arrive.[75] The
communications delay between Earth and Mars can vary between ve and twenty minutes depending upon the relative
positions of the two planets. As a consequence of this, if a robot on the surface of Mars were to encounter a problem,
its human controllers would not be aware of it until at least ve minutes later, and possibly up to twenty minutes later;
it would then take a further ve to twenty minutes for instructions to travel from Earth to Mars.
NASA must wait several hours for information from a probe orbiting Jupiter, and if it needs to correct a navigation
error, the x will not arrive at the spacecraft for an equal amount of time, creating a risk of the correction not arriving
8.6. MEASUREMENT 103
in time.
Receiving light and other signals from distant astronomical sources can even take much longer. For example, it has
taken 13 billion (13109 ) years for light to travel to Earth from the faraway galaxies viewed in the Hubble Ultra Deep
Field images.[76][77] Those photographs, taken today, capture images of the galaxies as they appeared 13 billion years
ago, when the universe was less than a billion years old.[76] The fact that more distant objects appear to be younger,
due to the nite speed of light, allows astronomers to infer the evolution of stars, of galaxies, and of the universe
itself.
Astronomical distances are sometimes expressed in light-years, especially in popular science publications and media.[78]
A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, around 9461 billion kilometres, 5879 billion miles, or 0.3066
parsecs. In round gures, a light year is nearly 10 trillion kilometres or nearly 6 trillion miles. Proxima Centauri, the
closest star to Earth after the Sun, is around 4.2 light-years away.[79]
8.5.4 Distance measurement
Main article: Distance measurement
Radar systems measure the distance to a target by the time it takes a radio-wave pulse to return to the radar antenna
after being reected by the target: the distance to the target is half the round-trip transit time multiplied by the speed
of light. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver measures its distance to GPS satellites based on how long
it takes for a radio signal to arrive from each satellite, and from these distances calculates the receivers position.
Because light travels about 300000 kilometres (186000 mi) in one second, these measurements of small fractions of
a second must be very precise. The Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment, radar astronomy and the Deep Space Network
determine distances to the Moon,[80] planets[81] and spacecraft,[82] respectively, by measuring round-trip transit times.
8.5.5 High-frequency trading
The speed of light has become important in high-frequency trading, where traders seek to gain minute advantages
by delivering their trades to exchanges fractions of a second ahead of other traders. For example, traders have been
switching to microwave communications between trading hubs, because of the advantage which microwaves travelling
at near to the speed of light in air, have over bre optic signals which travel 3040% slower at the speed of light through
glass.[83]
8.6 Measurement
There are dierent ways to determine the value of c. One way is to measure the actual speed at which light waves
propagate, which can be done in various astronomical and earth-based setups. However, it is also possible to determine
c from other physical laws where it appears, for example, by determining the values of the electromagnetic constants
0 and 0 and using their relation to c. Historically, the most accurate results have been obtained by separately
determining the frequency and wavelength of a light beam, with their product equalling c.
In 1983 the metre was dened as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of
1
of a second,[84] xing the value of the speed of light at 299792458 m/s by denition, as described below.
Consequently, accurate measurements of the speed of light yield an accurate realization of the metre rather than an
accurate value of c.
8.6.1 Astronomical measurements
Outer space is a convenient setting for measuring the speed of light because of its large scale and nearly perfect
vacuum. Typically, one measures the time needed for light to traverse some reference distance in the solar system,
such as the radius of the Earths orbit. Historically, such measurements could be made fairly accurately, compared
to how accurately the length of the reference distance is known in Earth-based units. It is customary to express the
results in astronomical units (AU) per day.
Diameters not to scale

Orbits to scale
Earth
Earth Earth
Sun Jupiter Sun Jupiter Sun Jupiter Sun Jupiter
Earth
Time
Time of eclipse if observed from Sun
8 min 19 s (drawn exaggerated 200) +8 min 19 s (drawn exaggerated 200) 1.769 days (Io's orbital period) Time of eclipse observed from Earth
Approximately 1 year (time between smallest Earth-Jupiter distances)

Distance in million km
1000
900 Jupiter-Sun
800
700
600 Earth-Jupiter
500
400
300
200 Earth-Sun
100
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350
Angle swept by Earth-Sun line relative to Jupiter-Sun line in degrees
Measurement of the speed of light using the eclipse of Io by Jupiter
Ole Christensen Rmer used an astronomical measurement to make the rst quantitative estimate of the speed of
light.[85][86] When measured from Earth, the periods of moons orbiting a distant planet are shorter when the Earth is
approaching the planet than when the Earth is receding from it. The distance travelled by light from the planet (or
its moon) to Earth is shorter when the Earth is at the point in its orbit that is closest to its planet than when the Earth
is at the farthest point in its orbit, the dierence in distance being the diameter of the Earths orbit around the Sun.
The observed change in the moons orbital period is caused by the dierence in the time it takes light to traverse the
shorter or longer distance. Rmer observed this eect for Jupiter's innermost moon Io and deduced that light takes
22 minutes to cross the diameter of the Earths orbit.
Another method is to use the aberration of light, discovered and explained by James Bradley in the 18th century.[87]
This eect results from the vector addition of the velocity of light arriving from a distant source (such as a star) and
the velocity of its observer (see diagram on the right). A moving observer thus sees the light coming from a slightly
dierent direction and consequently sees the source at a position shifted from its original position. Since the direction
of the Earths velocity changes continuously as the Earth orbits the Sun, this eect causes the apparent position of stars
to move around. From the angular dierence in the position of stars (maximally 20.5 arcseconds)[88] it is possible to
express the speed of light in terms of the Earths velocity around the Sun, which with the known length of a year can
be converted to the time needed to travel from the Sun to the Earth. In 1729, Bradley used this method to derive that
light travelled 10,210 times faster than the Earth in its orbit (the modern gure is 10,066 times faster) or, equivalently,
that it would take light 8 minutes 12 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth.[87]
Astronomical unit
An astronomical unit (AU) is approximately the average distance between the Earth and Sun. It was redened in 2012
as exactly 149597870700 m.[89][90] Previously the AU was not based on the International System of Units but in terms
of the gravitational force exerted by the Sun in the framework of classical mechanics.[Note 7] The current denition
uses the recommended value in metres for the previous denition of the astronomical unit, which was determined by
measurement.[89] This redenition is analogous to that of the metre, and likewise has the eect of xing the speed of
light to an exact value in astronomical units per second (via the exact speed of light in metres per second).
Previously, the inverse of c expressed in seconds per astronomical unit was measured by comparing the time for radio
signals to reach dierent spacecraft in the Solar System, with their position calculated from the gravitational eects
of the Sun and various planets. By combining many such measurements, a best t value for the light time per unit
distance could be obtained. For example, in 2009, the best estimate, as approved by the International Astronomical
Union (IAU), was:[92][93]
light time for unit distance: 499.004783836(10) s

c = 0.00200398880410(4) AU/s = 173.144632674(3) AU/day.
Apparent
Source Source
Aberration of light: light from a distant source appears to be from a dierent location for a moving telescope due to the nite speed
of light.
The relative uncertainty in these measurements is 0.02 parts per billion (21011 ), equivalent to the uncertainty in
Earth-based measurements of length by interferometry.[94] Since the metre is dened to be the length travelled by light
in a certain time interval, the measurement of the light time in terms of the previous denition of the astronomical
unit can also be interpreted as measuring the length of an AU (old denition) in metres.[Note 8]
8.6.2 Time of ight techniques
A method of measuring the speed of light is to measure the time needed for light to travel to a mirror at a known
distance and back. This is the working principle behind the FizeauFoucault apparatus developed by Hippolyte Fizeau
and Lon Foucault.
One of the last and most accurate time of ight measurements, Michelson, Pease and Pearsons 193035 experiment used a rotating
mirror and a one-mile (1.6 km) long vacuum chamber which the light beam traversed 10 times. It achieved accuracy of 11 km/s
Diagram of the Fizeau apparatus
The setup as used by Fizeau consists of a beam of light directed at a mirror 8 kilometres (5 mi) away. On the way
from the source to the mirror, the beam passes through a rotating cogwheel. At a certain rate of rotation, the beam
passes through one gap on the way out and another on the way back, but at slightly higher or lower rates, the beam
strikes a tooth and does not pass through the wheel. Knowing the distance between the wheel and the mirror, the
number of teeth on the wheel, and the rate of rotation, the speed of light can be calculated.[95]
The method of Foucault replaces the cogwheel by a rotating mirror. Because the mirror keeps rotating while the light
travels to the distant mirror and back, the light is reected from the rotating mirror at a dierent angle on its way out
than it is on its way back. From this dierence in angle, the known speed of rotation and the distance to the distant
mirror the speed of light may be calculated.[96]
Nowadays, using oscilloscopes with time resolutions of less than one nanosecond, the speed of light can be directly
measured by timing the delay of a light pulse from a laser or an LED reected from a mirror. This method is less
precise (with errors of the order of 1%) than other modern techniques, but it is sometimes used as a laboratory
experiment in college physics classes.[97][98][99]
8.6.3 Electromagnetic constants

An option for deriving c that does not directly depend on a measurement of the propagation of electromagnetic waves
is to use the relation between c and the vacuum permittivity 0 and vacuum permeability 0 established by Maxwells
theory: c2 = 1/(0 0 ). The vacuum permittivity may be determined by measuring the capacitance and dimensions of
a capacitor, whereas the value of the vacuum permeability is xed at exactly 4107 Hm1 through the denition
of the ampere. Rosa and Dorsey used this method in 1907 to nd a value of 29971022 km/s.[100][101]
8.6.4 Cavity resonance
3/2
/2
Electromagnetic standing waves in a cavity.
Another way to measure the speed of light is to independently measure the frequency f and wavelength of an
electromagnetic wave in vacuum. The value of c can then be found by using the relation c = f. One option is to
measure the resonance frequency of a cavity resonator. If the dimensions of the resonance cavity are also known,
these can be used to determine the wavelength of the wave. In 1946, Louis Essen and A.C. Gordon-Smith established
the frequency for a variety of normal modes of microwaves of a microwave cavity of precisely known dimensions.
The dimensions were established to an accuracy of about 0.8 m using gauges calibrated by interferometry.[100] As
the wavelength of the modes was known from the geometry of the cavity and from electromagnetic theory, knowledge
of the associated frequencies enabled a calculation of the speed of light.[100][102]
The EssenGordon-Smith result, 2997929 km/s, was substantially more precise than those found by optical techniques.[100]
By 1950, repeated measurements by Essen established a result of 299792.53.0 km/s.[103]
A household demonstration of this technique is possible, using a microwave oven and food such as marshmallows or
margarine: if the turntable is removed so that the food does not move, it will cook the fastest at the antinodes (the
points at which the wave amplitude is the greatest), where it will begin to melt. The distance between two such spots is
half the wavelength of the microwaves; by measuring this distance and multiplying the wavelength by the microwave
frequency (usually displayed on the back of the oven, typically 2450 MHz), the value of c can be calculated, often
with less than 5% error.[104][105]
8.6.5 Interferometry
/4
An interferometric determination of length. Left: constructive interference; Right: destructive interference.
Interferometry is another method to nd the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation for determining the speed of
light.[106] A coherent beam of light (e.g. from a laser), with a known frequency (f), is split to follow two paths and
then recombined. By adjusting the path length while observing the interference pattern and carefully measuring the
change in path length, the wavelength of the light () can be determined. The speed of light is then calculated using
the equation c = f.
Before the advent of laser technology, coherent radio sources were used for interferometry measurements of the
speed of light.[107] However interferometric determination of wavelength becomes less precise with wavelength and
the experiments were thus limited in precision by the long wavelength (~0.4 cm) of the radiowaves. The precision can
be improved by using light with a shorter wavelength, but then it becomes dicult to directly measure the frequency
of the light. One way around this problem is to start with a low frequency signal of which the frequency can be
precisely measured, and from this signal progressively synthesize higher frequency signals whose frequency can then
be linked to the original signal. A laser can then be locked to the frequency, and its wavelength can be determined
using interferometry.[108] This technique was due to a group at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) (which
later became NIST). They used it in 1972 to measure the speed of light in vacuum with a fractional uncertainty of
3.5109 .[108][109]
8.7. HISTORY 109
8.7 History
Until the early modern period, it was not known whether light travelled instantaneously or at a very fast nite speed.
The rst extant recorded examination of this subject was in ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks, Muslim scholars,
and classical European scientists long debated this until Rmer provided the rst calculation of the speed of light.
Einsteins Theory of Special Relativity concluded that the speed of light is constant regardless of ones frame of
reference. Since then, scientists have provided increasingly accurate measurements.
8.7.1 Early history

Empedocles (c. 490430 BC) was the rst to propose a theory of light[116] and claimed that light has a nite speed.[117]
He maintained that light was something in motion, and therefore must take some time to travel. Aristotle argued,
to the contrary, that light is due to the presence of something, but it is not a movement.[118] Euclid and Ptolemy
advanced Empedocles emission theory of vision, where light is emitted from the eye, thus enabling sight. Based
on that theory, Heron of Alexandria argued that the speed of light must be innite because distant objects such as
stars appear immediately upon opening the eyes. Early Islamic philosophers initially agreed with the Aristotelian
view that light had no speed of travel. In 1021, Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham) published the Book of Optics, in which he
presented a series of arguments dismissing the emission theory of vision in favour of the now accepted intromission
theory, in which light moves from an object into the eye.[119] This led Alhazen to propose that light must have a nite
speed,[118][120][121] and that the speed of light is variable, decreasing in denser bodies.[121][122] He argued that light
is substantial matter, the propagation of which requires time, even if this is hidden from our senses.[123] Also in the
11th century, Ab Rayhn al-Brn agreed that light has a nite speed, and observed that the speed of light is much
faster than the speed of sound.[124]
In the 13th century, Roger Bacon argued that the speed of light in air was not innite, using philosophical arguments
backed by the writing of Alhazen and Aristotle.[125][126] In the 1270s, Witelo considered the possibility of light
travelling at innite speed in vacuum, but slowing down in denser bodies.[127] By the 14th century, Sayana had made
statements about the speed of light in his commentary on the Hindu Rigveda.[128]
In the early 17th century, Johannes Kepler believed that the speed of light was innite, since empty space presents
no obstacle to it. Ren Descartes argued that if the speed of light were to be nite, the Sun, Earth, and Moon would
be noticeably out of alignment during a lunar eclipse. Since such misalignment had not been observed, Descartes
concluded the speed of light was innite. Descartes speculated that if the speed of light were found to be nite, his
whole system of philosophy might be demolished.[118] In Descartes derivation of Snells law, he assumed that even
though the speed of light was instantaneous, the more dense the medium, the faster was lights speed.[129] Pierre
de Fermat derived Snells law using the opposing assumption, the more dense the medium the slower light traveled.
Fermat also argued in support of a nite speed of light.[130]
8.7.2 First measurement attempts

In 1629, Isaac Beeckman proposed an experiment in which a person observes the ash of a cannon reecting o a
mirror about one mile (1.6 km) away. In 1638, Galileo Galilei proposed an experiment, with an apparent claim to
having performed it some years earlier, to measure the speed of light by observing the delay between uncovering a
lantern and its perception some distance away. He was unable to distinguish whether light travel was instantaneous or
not, but concluded that if it were not, it must nevertheless be extraordinarily rapid.[110][111] In 1667, the Accademia
del Cimento of Florence reported that it had performed Galileos experiment, with the lanterns separated by about
one mile, but no delay was observed. The actual delay in this experiment would have been about 11 microseconds.
The rst quantitative estimate of the speed of light was made in 1676 by Rmer (see Rmers determination of the
speed of light).[85][86] From the observation that the periods of Jupiters innermost moon Io appeared to be shorter
when the Earth was approaching Jupiter than when receding from it, he concluded that light travels at a nite speed,
and estimated that it takes light 22 minutes to cross the diameter of Earths orbit. Christiaan Huygens combined this
estimate with an estimate for the diameter of the Earths orbit to obtain an estimate of speed of light of 220000 km/s,
26% lower than the actual value.[114]
In his 1704 book Opticks, Isaac Newton reported Rmers calculations of the nite speed of light and gave a value of
seven or eight minutes for the time taken for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth (the modern value is 8 minutes
19 seconds).[131] Newton queried whether Rmers eclipse shadows were coloured; hearing that they were not, he
concluded the dierent colours travelled at the same speed. In 1729, James Bradley discovered stellar aberration.[87]
From this eect he determined that light must travel 10,210 times faster than the Earth in its orbit (the modern gure
is 10,066 times faster) or, equivalently, that it would take light 8 minutes 12 seconds to travel from the Sun to the
Earth.[87]
8.7.3 Connections with electromagnetism
See also: History of electromagnetic theory and History of special relativity
In the 19th century Hippolyte Fizeau developed a method to determine the speed of light based on time-of-ight
measurements on Earth and reported a value of 315000 km/s.[132] His method was improved upon by Lon Foucault
who obtained a value of 298000 km/s in 1862.[95] In the year 1856, Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Rudolf Kohlrausch
measured the ratio of the electromagnetic and electrostatic units of charge, 1/0 0 , by discharging a Leyden jar, and
found that its numerical value was very close to the speed of light as measured directly by Fizeau. The following year
Gustav Kirchho calculated that an electric signal in a resistanceless wire travels along the wire at this speed.[133] In the
early 1860s, Maxwell showed that, according to the theory of electromagnetism he was working on, electromagnetic
waves propagate in empty space[134][135][136] at a speed equal to the above Weber/Kohrausch ratio, and drawing
attention to the numerical proximity of this value to the speed of light as measured by Fizeau, he proposed that light
is in fact an electromagnetic wave.[137]
8.7.4 Luminiferous aether
It was thought at the time that empty space was lled with a background medium called the luminiferous aether
in which the electromagnetic eld existed. Some physicists thought that this aether acted as a preferred frame of
reference for the propagation of light and therefore it should be possible to measure the motion of the Earth with
respect to this medium, by measuring the isotropy of the speed of light. Beginning in the 1880s several experiments
were performed to try to detect this motion, the most famous of which is the experiment performed by Albert A.
Michelson and Edward W. Morley in 1887.[138] The detected motion was always less than the observational error.
Modern experiments indicate that the two-way speed of light is isotropic (the same in every direction) to within 6
nanometres per second.[139] Because of this experiment Hendrik Lorentz proposed that the motion of the apparatus
through the aether may cause the apparatus to contract along its length in the direction of motion, and he further
assumed, that the time variable for moving systems must also be changed accordingly (local time), which led to
the formulation of the Lorentz transformation. Based on Lorentzs aether theory, Henri Poincar (1900) showed that
this local time (to rst order in v/c) is indicated by clocks moving in the aether, which are synchronized under the
assumption of constant light speed. In 1904, he speculated that the speed of light could be a limiting velocity in
dynamics, provided that the assumptions of Lorentzs theory are all conrmed. In 1905, Poincar brought Lorentzs
aether theory into full observational agreement with the principle of relativity.[140][141]
8.7.5 Special relativity
In 1905 Einstein postulated from the outset that the speed of light in vacuum, measured by a non-accelerating observer,
is independent of the motion of the source or observer. Using this and the principle of relativity as a basis he derived
the special theory of relativity, in which the speed of light in vacuum c featured as a fundamental constant, also
appearing in contexts unrelated to light. This made the concept of the stationary aether (to which Lorentz and
Poincar still adhered) useless and revolutionized the concepts of space and time.[142][143]
8.7.6 Increased accuracy of c and redenition of the metre and second
See also: History of the metre
In the second half of the 20th century much progress was made in increasing the accuracy of measurements of the
speed of light, rst by cavity resonance techniques and later by laser interferometer techniques. These were aided by
new, more precise, denitions of the metre and second. In 1950, Louis Essen determined the speed as 299792.51
km/s, using cavity resonance. This value was adopted by the 12th General Assembly of the Radio-Scientic Union
8.8. SEE ALSO 111
in 1957. In 1960, the metre was redened in terms of the wavelength of a particular spectral line of krypton-86, and,
in 1967, the second was redened in terms of the hyperne transition frequency of the ground state of caesium-133.
In 1972, using the laser interferometer method and the new denitions, a group at the US National Bureau of Standards
in Boulder, Colorado determined the speed of light in vacuum to be c = 299792456.21.1 m/s. This was 100 times
less uncertain than the previously accepted value. The remaining uncertainty was mainly related to the denition of
the metre.[Note 11][109] As similar experiments found comparable results for c, the 15th General Conference on Weights
and Measures in 1975 recommended using the value 299792458 m/s for the speed of light.[146]
8.7.7 Dening the speed of light as an explicit constant

In 1983 the 17th CGPM found that wavelengths from frequency measurements and a given value for the speed of light
are more reproducible than the previous standard. They kept the 1967 denition of second, so the caesium hyperne
frequency would now determine both the second and the metre. To do this, they redened the metre as: The metre
is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second.[84] As a
result of this denition, the value of the speed of light in vacuum is exactly 299792458 m/s[147][148] and has become
a dened constant in the SI system of units.[12] Improved experimental techniques that prior to 1983 would have
measured the speed of light, no longer aect the known value of the speed of light in SI units, but instead allow a
more precise realization of the metre by more accurately measuring the wavelength of Krypton-86 and other light
sources.[149][150]
In 2011, the CGPM stated its intention to redene all seven SI base units using what it calls the explicit-constant
formulation, where each unit is dened indirectly by specifying explicitly an exact value for a well-recognized
fundamental constant, as was done for the speed of light. It proposed a new, but completely equivalent, wording of
the metres denition: The metre, symbol m, is the unit of length; its magnitude is set by xing the numerical value
of the speed of light in vacuum to be equal to exactly 299792458 when it is expressed in the SI unit m s1 .[151] This
is one of the proposed changes to be incorporated in the next revision of the SI also termed the New SI.
8.8 See also

Light-second
Speed of electricity
Speed of gravity
Speed of sound
Velocity factor
Warp factor (ctional)
8.9 Notes
[1] Exact value:
(299792458 60 60 24 / 149597870700) AU/day
[2] Exact value:

999992651/10246429500 pc/y
[3] The speed of light in imperial units and US units is based on an inch of exactly 2.54 cm and is exactly 186,282 miles, 698
yards, 2 feet, and 5 21/127 inches per second.[13]
[4] However, the frequency of light can depend on the motion of the source relative to the observer, due to the Doppler eect.
[5] Whereas moving objects are measured to be shorter along the line of relative motion, they are also seen as being rotated.
This eect, known as Terrell rotation, is due to the dierent times that light from dierent parts of the object takes to reach
the observer.[22][23]
[6] It is thought that the Scharnhorst eect does allow signals to travel slightly faster than c, but the special conditions in which
this eect can occur prevent one from using this eect to violate causality.[37]
[7] The astronomical unit was dened as the radius of an unperturbed circular Newtonian orbit about the Sun of a particle
having innitesimal mass, moving with an angular frequency of 0.01720209895 radians (approximately 1 . of a
revolution) per day.[91]
[8] Nevertheless, at this degree of precision, the eects of general relativity must be taken into consideration when interpreting
the length. The metre is considered to be a unit of proper length, whereas the AU is usually used as a unit of observed
length in a given frame of reference. The values cited here follow the latter convention, and are TDB-compatible.[93]
[9] Galilei (1954),[110] Boyer (1941),[111] Foschi & Leone (2009, p.1252).[112] According to Galileo, the lanterns he used were
at a short distance, less than a mile. Assuming the distance was not too much shorter than a mile, and that about a thirtieth
of a second is the minimum time interval distinguishable by the unaided eye, Boyer notes that Galileos experiment could
at best be said to have established a lower limit of about 60 miles per second for the velocity of light.
[10] Magalotti (1667, pp.2656),[113] Foschi & Leone (2009, p.1253).[112]
[11] Between 1960 and 1983 the metre was dened as: The metre is the length equal to 1650763.73 wavelengths in vacuum of
the radiation corresponding to the transition between the levels 2p10 and 5d5 of the krypton 86 atom.[144] It was discovered
in the 1970s that this spectral line was not symmetric, which put a limit on the precision with which the denition could be
realized in interferometry experiments.[145]
8.10 References
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8.11.1 Historical references

Rmer, O (1676). Dmonstration touchant le mouvement de la lumire trouv par M. Rmer de l'Academie
Royale des Sciences. Journal des savans (in French): 22336. Archived from the original on 2007-07-29.
Translated as A Demonstration concerning the Motion of Light. Philosophical Transactions of the

Royal Society. 12 (136): 8934. 1677. doi:10.1098/rstl.1677.0024. Archived from the original on
2007-07-29.
Halley, E (1694). Monsieur Cassini, his New and Exact Tables for the Eclipses of the First Satellite of Jupiter,
reduced to the Julian Stile and Meridian of London. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 18 (214):
23756. doi:10.1098/rstl.1694.0048.
Fizeau, HL (1849). Sur une exprience relative la vitesse de propagation de la lumire (PDF). Comptes
rendus de l'Acadmie des sciences (in French). 29: 9092, 132. Archived from the original on November 25,
2008.
Foucault, JL (1862). Dtermination exprimentale de la vitesse de la lumire: parallaxe du Soleil. Comptes

rendus de l'Acadmie des sciences (in French). 55: 501503, 792796.
Michelson, AA (1878). Experimental Determination of the Velocity of Light. Proceedings of the American
Association of Advanced Science. 27: 7177.
Michelson, AA; Pease, FG; Pearson, F (1935). Measurement of the Velocity of Light in a Partial Vacuum.
Astrophysical Journal. 82: 2661. Bibcode:1935ApJ....82...26M. doi:10.1086/143655.
Newcomb, S (1886). The Velocity of Light. Nature. 34 (863): 2932. Bibcode:1886Natur..34...29..

doi:10.1038/034029c0.
Perrotin, J (1900). Sur la vitesse de la lumire. Comptes rendus de l'Acadmie des sciences (in French). 131:
7314.
8.11.2 Modern references

Brillouin, L (1960). Wave propagation and group velocity. Academic Press.
Jackson, JD (1975). Classical Electrodynamics (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
Keiser, G (2000). Optical Fiber Communications (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill. p. 32. ISBN 0-07-232101-6.
Ng, YJ (2004). Quantum Foam and Quantum Gravity Phenomenology. In Amelino-Camelia, G; Kowalski-
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Helmcke, J; Riehle, F (2001). Physics behind the denition of the meter. In Quinn, TJ; Leschiutta, S; Tavella,
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Du, MJ (2004). Comment on time-variation of fundamental constants. arXiv:hep-th/0208093 [hep-th].
8.12 External links

Test Light Speed in Mile Long Vacuum Tube. Popular Science Monthly, September 1930, p. 1718.
Denition of the metre (International Bureau of Weights and Measures, BIPM)
Speed of light in vacuum (National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST)

Data Gallery: Michelson Speed of Light (Univariate Location Estimation) (download data gathered by Albert
A. Michelson)
Subluminal (Java applet demonstrating group velocity information limits)
De Mora Luminis at MathPages

Light discussion on adding velocities
Speed of Light (University of Colorado Department of Physics)

c: Speed of Light (Sixty Symbols, University of Nottingham Department of Physics [video])
Usenet Physics FAQ

Speed of light illustration (Speed of light as Live-Counter)
Hendrik Lorentz (right) with Albert Einstein.

Chapter 9
Charge density
Charge distribution redirects here. This article is about the physical quantity in electromagnetism. For other uses
see charge and density (disambiguation).
In electromagnetism, charge density is a measure of electric charge per unit volume of space, in one, two or three
dimensions. More specically: the linear, surface, or volume charge density is the amount of electric charge per unit
length, surface area, or volume, respectively. The respective SI units are Cm1 , Cm2 or Cm3 .[1]
Like any density, charge density can depend on position, but charge and thus charge density can be negative. It should
not be confused with the charge carrier density, the number of charge carriers (e.g. electrons, ions) in a material per
unit volume, not including the actual charge on the carriers
In chemistry, it can refer to the charge distribution over the volume of a particle; such as a molecule, atom or ion.
Therefore, a lithium cation will carry a higher charge density than a sodium cation due to the lithium cations having
a smaller ionic radius, even though sodium has more protons (11) than lithium (3).
9.1 Denitions
9.1.1 Continuous charges

Following are the denitions for continuous charge distributions.[2][3]
The linear charge density is the ratio of an innitesimal electric charge dQ (SI unit: C) to an innitesimal line element,
dQ
q = ,
d
similarly the surface charge density uses a surface area element dS
dQ
q = ,
dS
and the volume charge density uses a volume element dV
dQ
q = ,
dV
Integrating the denitions gives the total charge Q of a region according to line integral of the linear charge density
q(r) over a line or 1d curve C,

Q= q (r) d
L
122
9.1. DEFINITIONS 123
d ^
n
r r'
r' r
Continuous charge distribution. The volume charge density is the amount of charge per unit volume (cube), surface charge density
is amount per unit surface area (circle) with outward unit normal n , d is the dipole moment between two point charges, the volume
density of these is the polarization density P. Position vector r is a point to calculate the electric eld; r is a point in the charged
object.
similarly a surface integral of the surface charge density q(r) over a surface S,

Q= q (r) dS
S
and a volume integral of the volume charge density q(r) over a volume V,
124 CHAPTER 9. CHARGE DENSITY

Q= q (r) dV
V
where the subscript q is to clarify that the density is for electric charge, not other densities like mass density,
number density, probability density, and prevent conict with the many other uses of , , in electromagnetism
for wavelength, electrical resistivity and conductivity.
Within the context of electromagnetism, the subscripts are usually dropped for simplicity: , , . Other notations
may include: , s, v, L, S, V etc.
Linear charge density can also be dened as The total charge divided by the length, surface area, or volume will be
the reapedensities:
Q Q Q
q = , q = , q = .
S V
9.2 Free, bound and total charge

In dielectric materials, the total charge of an object can be separated into free and bound charges.
Bound charges set up electric dipoles in response to an applied electric eld E, and polarize other nearby dipoles
tending to line them up, the net accumulation of charge from the orientation of the dipoles is the bound charge. They
are called bound because they cannot be removed: in the dielectric material the charges are the electrons bound to
the nuclei.[3]
Free charges are the excess charges which can move into electrostatic equilibrium, i.e. when the charges are not
moving and the resultant electric eld is independent of time, or constitute electric currents.[2]
9.2.1 Total charge densities
In terms of volume charges densities, the total charge density is:
= f + b .
as for surface charge densities:
= f + b .
where subscripts f and b denote free and bound respectively.
9.2.2 Bound charge
The bound surface charge is the charge piled up at the surface of the dielectric, given by the dipole moment perpen-
dicular to the surface:[3]
d^ n
qb =
|s|
where s is the separation between the point charges constituting the dipole, d is the electric dipole moment, ^
n is the
unit normal vector to the surface.
Taking innitesimals:
9.3. HOMOGENEOUS CHARGE DENSITY 125
dd
dqb = ^
n
|s|
and dividing by the dierential surface element dS gives the bound surface charge density:
dqb dd dd
b = = ^
n= ^
n = P^
n.
dS |s|dS dV
where P is the polarization density, i.e. density of electric dipole moments within the material, and dV is the dier-
ential volume element.
Using the divergence theorem, the bound volume charge density within the material is

qb = b dV = S P^
ndS = PdV
hence:
b = P .
The negative sign arises due to the opposite signs on the charges in the dipoles, one end is within the volume of the
object, the other at the surface.
A more rigorous derivation is given below.[3]
9.2.3 Free charge density

The free charge density serves as a useful simplication in Gausss law for electricity; the volume integral of it is the
free charge enclosed in a charged object - equal to the net ux of the electric displacement eld D emerging from the
object:

D = S D^
ndS = f dV
See Maxwells equations and constitutive relation for more details.
9.3 Homogeneous charge density

For the special case of a homogeneous charge density 0 , independent of position i.e. constant throughout the region
of the material, the equation simplies to:
Q = V 0 .
The proof of this is immediate. Start with the denition of the charge of any volume:

Q= q (r) dV.
V
Then, by denition of homogeneity, q(r) is a constant denoted by q, (to dier between the constant and non-
constant densities), and so by the properties of an integral can be pulled outside of the integral resulting in:

Q = q,0 dV = 0 V
V
so,
Q = V q,0 .
The equivalent proofs for linear charge density and surface charge density follow the same arguments as above.
9.4 Discrete charges

For a single point charge q at position r0 inside a region of 3d space R, like an electron, the volume charge density
can be expressed by the Dirac delta function:
q (r) = q(r r0 )
where r is the position to calculate the charge.

As always, the integral of the charge density over a region of space is the charge contained in that region. The delta
function has the sifting property for any function f:
d3 rf (r)(r r0 ) = f (r0 )
R
so the delta function ensures that when the charge density is integrated over R, the total charge in R is q:

Q= d3 r q = d3 r q(r r0 ) = q d3 r (r r0 ) = q
R R R
This can be extended to N discrete point-like charge carriers. The charge density of the system at a point r is a sum
of the charge densities for each charge qi at position ri, where i = 1, 2, ..., N:

N
q (r) = qi (r ri )
i=1
The delta function for each charge qi in the sum, (r ri), ensures the integral of charge density over R returns the
total charge in R:

N
N
N
Q= d3 r qi (r ri ) = qi d3 r(r ri ) = qi
R i=1 i=1 R i=1
If all charge carriers have the same charge q (for electrons q = e, the electron charge) the charge density can be
expressed through the number of charge carriers per unit volume, n(r), by
q (r) = qn(r) .
Similar equations are used for the linear and surface charge densities.
9.5. CHARGE DENSITY IN SPECIAL RELATIVITY 127
9.5 Charge density in special relativity

Further information: classical electromagnetism and special relativity and relativistic electromagnetism
In special relativity, the length of a segment of wire depends on velocity of observer because of length contraction,
so charge density will also depend on velocity. Anthony French[4] has described how the magnetic eld force of a
current-bearing wire arises from this relative charge density. He used (p 260) a Minkowski diagram to show how
a neutral current-bearing wire appears to carry a net charge density as observed in a moving frame. When a charge
density is measured in a moving frame of reference it is called proper charge density.[5][6][7]
It turns out the charge density and current density J transform together as a four current vector under Lorentz
transformations.
9.6 Charge density in quantum mechanics

Main article: quantum mechanics
In quantum mechanics, charge density q is related to wavefunction (r) by the equation
q (r) = q|(r)|2
where q is the charge of the particle and |(r)|2 = *(r)(r) is the probability density function i.e. probability per
unit volume of a particle located at r.
When the wavefunction is normalized - the average charge in the region r R is

Q= q|(r)|2 d3 r
R
where d3 r is the integration measure over 3d position space.
9.7 Application
The charge density appears in the continuity equation for electric current, also in Maxwells Equations. It is the
principal source term of the electromagnetic eld, when the charge distribution moves this corresponds to a current
density.
9.8 See also

Continuity equation relating charge density and current density
Ionic potential
charge density wave
9.9 References
[1] P.M. Whelan, M.J. Hodgeson (1978). Essential Principles of Physics (2nd ed.). John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-3382-1.
[2] I.S. Grant, W.R. Phillips (2008). Electromagnetism (2nd ed.). Manchester Physics, John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-
92712-9.
[3] D.J. Griths (2007). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Pearson Education, Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 81-7758-
293-3.
[4] A. French (1968) Special Relativity, chapter 8 Relativity and electricity, pp 22965, W. W. Norton.
[5] Richard A. Mould (2001) Basic Relativity, 62 Lorentz force, Springer Science & Business Media ISBN 0-387-95210-1
[6] Derek F. Lawden (2012) An Introduction to Tensor Calculus: Relativity and Cosmology, page 74, Courier Corporation ISBN
0-486-13214-5
[7] Jack Vanderlinde (2006) Classical Electromagnetic Theory, 11.1 The Four-potential and Coulombs Law, page 314,
Springer Science & Business Media ISBN 1-4020-2700-1
A. Halpern (1988). 3000 Solved Problems in Physics. Schaum Series, Mc Graw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-025734-
4.
G. Woan (2010). The Cambridge Handbook of Physics Formulas. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-
521-57507-2.
P. A. Tipler, G. Mosca (2008). Physics for Scientists and Engineers - with Modern Physics (6th ed.). Freeman.
ISBN 978-0-7167-8964-2.
R.G. Lerner, G.L. Trigg (1991). Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd ed.). VHC publishers. ISBN 978-0-89573-
752-6.
C.B. Parker (1994). McGraw Hill Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd ed.). VHC publishers. ISBN 978-0-07-
051400-3.
9.10 External links

- Spatial charge distributions
Chapter 10
Maxwells equations
For thermodynamic relations, see Maxwell relations. For the history of the equations, see History of Maxwells
equations. For a general description of electromagnetism, see Electromagnetism.
Maxwells equations are a set of partial dierential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the
foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. They underpin all electric, optical
and radio technologies, including power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, cameras, televisions,
computers etc. Maxwells equations describe how electric and magnetic elds are generated by charges, currents, and
changes of each other. One important consequence of the equations is that they demonstrate how uctuating electric
and magnetic elds propagate at the speed of light. Known as electromagnetic radiation, these waves may occur at
various wavelengths to produce a spectrum from radio waves to -rays. The equations are named after the physicist
and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell, who between 1861 and 1862 published an early form of the equations, and
rst proposed that light is an electromagnetic phenomenon.
The equations have two major variants. The microscopic Maxwell equations have universal applicability, but are
unwieldy for common calculations. They relate the electric and magnetic elds to total charge and total current,
including the complicated charges and currents in materials at the atomic scale. The macroscopic Maxwell equations
dene two new auxiliary elds that describe the large-scale behaviour of matter without having to consider atomic
scale details. However, their use requires experimentally determining parameters for a phenomenological description
of the electromagnetic response of materials.
The term Maxwells equations is often used for equivalent alternative formulations. Versions of Maxwells equations
based on the electric and magnetic potentials are preferred for explicitly solving the equations as a boundary value
problem, analytical mechanics, or for use in quantum mechanics. The space-time formulations (i.e., on space-time
rather than space and time separately), are commonly used in high energy and gravitational physics because they
make the compatibility of the equations with special and general relativity manifest.[note 1] In fact, Einstein developed
special and general relativity to accommodate the absolute speed of light that drops out of the Maxwell equations
with the principle that only relative movement has physical consequences.
Since the mid-20th century, it has been understood that Maxwells equations are not exact, but a classical eld theory
approximation of some aspects of the fundamental theory of quantum electrodynamics, although some quantum
features, such as quantum entanglement, are completely absent and in no way approximated. (For example, quantum
cryptography has no approximate version in Maxwell theory.) In many situations, though, deviations from Maxwells
equations are immeasurably small. Exceptions include nonclassical light, photon-photon scattering, quantum optics,
and many other phenomena related to photons or virtual photons.
10.1 Formulation in terms of electric and magnetic elds (microscopic or

in vacuum version)
In the electric and magnetic eld formulation there are four equations. The two inhomogeneous equations describe
how the elds vary in space due to sources. Gausss law describes how electric elds emanate from electric charges.
Gausss law for magnetism describes magnetic elds as closed eld lines not due to magnetic monopoles. The two
homogeneous equations describe how the elds circulate around their respective sources. Ampres law with
Maxwells addition describes how the magnetic eld circulates around electric currents and time varying electric
129
130 CHAPTER 10. MAXWELLS EQUATIONS
Maxwells equations (mid-left) as featured on a monument in front of Warsaw Universitys Center of New Technologies
10.1. FORMULATION IN TERMS OF ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS (MICROSCOPIC OR IN VACUUM VERSION)131
elds, while Faradays law describes how the electric eld circulates around time varying magnetic elds.
A separate law of nature, the Lorentz force law, describes how the electric and magnetic eld act on charged particles
and currents. A version of this law was included in the original equations by Maxwell but, by convention, is no longer.
The precise formulation of Maxwells equations depends on the precise denition of the quantities involved. Conven-
tions dier with the unit systems, because various denitions and dimensions are changed by absorbing dimensionful
factors like the speed of light c. This makes constants come out dierently. The most common form is based on
conventions used when quantities measured using SI units, but other commonly used conventions are used with other
units including Gaussian units based on the cgs system,[1] LorentzHeaviside units (used mainly in particle physics),
and Planck units (used in theoretical physics).
The vector calculus formulation below has become standard. It is mathematically much more convenient than
Maxwells original 20 equations and is due to Oliver Heaviside.[2][3] The dierential and integral equations for-
mulations are mathematically equivalent and are both useful. The integral formulation relates elds within a region
of space to elds on the boundary and can often be used to simplify and directly calculate elds from symmetric
distributions of charges and currents. On the other hand, the dierential equations are purely local and are a more
natural starting point for calculating the elds in more complicated (less symmetric) situations, for example using
nite element analysis.[4] For formulations using tensor calculus or dierential forms, see alternative formulations.
For relativistically invariant formulations, see relativistic formulations.
10.1.1 Formulation in SI units convention
10.1.2 Formulation in Gaussian units convention

Main article: Gaussian units
Gaussian units are a popular system of units, that are part of the centimetregramsecond system of units (cgs).
When using cgs units it is conventional to use a slightly dierent denition of electric eld E = c1 ESI. This
implies that the modied electric and magnetic eld have the same units (in the SI convention this is not the case
making dimensional analysis of the equations dierent: e.g. for an electromagnetic wave in vacuum |E|SI = |c|SI |B|SI
, ). The CGS system uses a unit of charge dened in such a way that the permittivity of the vacuum 0 = 1/4c, hence
0 = 4/c. These units are sometimes preferred over SI units in the context of special relativity,[5]:vii in which the
components of the electromagnetic tensor, the Lorentz covariant object describing the electromagnetic eld, have the
same unit without constant factors. Using these dierent conventions, the Maxwell equations become:[6]
10.1.3 Key to the notation

Symbols in bold represent vector quantities, and symbols in italics represent scalar quantities, unless otherwise indi-
cated.
The equations introduce the electric eld, E, a vector eld, and the magnetic eld, B, a pseudovector eld, each
generally having a time and location dependence. The sources are
the total electric charge density (total charge per unit volume), , and
the total electric current density (total current per unit area), J.
The universal constants appearing in the equations are
the permittivity of free space, 0 , and
the permeability of free space, 0 .

Dierential equations
In the dierential equations,
the nabla symbol, , denotes the three-dimensional gradient operator,

the symbol denotes the divergence operator,
the symbol denotes the curl operator.
Integral equations
In the integral equations,
is any xed volume with closed boundary surface , and

is any xed surface with closed boundary curve ,
Here a xed volume or surface means that it does not change over time. The equations are correct, complete and a
little easier to interpret with time-independent surfaces. For example, since the surface is time-independent, we can
bring the dierentiation under the integral sign in Faradays law:

d B
B dS = dS ,
dt t
Maxwells equations can be formulated with possibly time-dependent surfaces and volumes by substituting the left
hand side with the right hand side in the integral equation version of the Maxwell equations.
is a surface integral over the boundary surface , with the loop indicating the surface is closed

is a volume integral over the volume ,
H

is a line integral around the boundary curve , with the loop indicating the curve is closed.

is a surface integral over the surface ,
The total electric charge Q enclosed in is the volume integral over of the charge density (see the macro-
scopic formulation section below):

Q= dV,

where dV is the volume element.
The net electric current I is the surface integral of the electric current density J passing through a xed surface,
:

I= J dS,

where dS denotes the vector element of surface area S, normal to surface . (Vector area is sometimes
denoted by A rather than S, but this conicts with the notation for magnetic potential).
10.2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENTIAL AND INTEGRAL FORMULATIONS 133
10.2 Relationship between dierential and integral formulations

The equivalence of the dierential and integral formulations are a consequence of the Gauss divergence theorem and
the KelvinStokes theorem.
10.2.1 Flux and divergence
F n
dS
+ F
Volume and its closed boundary , containing (respectively enclosing) a source (+) and sink () of a vector eld F. Here, F
could be the E eld with source electric charges, but not the B eld which has no magnetic charges as shown. The outward unit
normal is n.
The sources of the elds (i.e. their divergence) can be determined from the surface integrals of the elds through
the closed surface . I.e. the electric ux is

E dS =
E dV
where the last equality uses the Gauss divergence theorem. Using the integral version of Gausss equation we can
rewrite this to

( E ) dV = 0
0
Since can be chosen arbitrarily, e.g. as an arbitrary small ball with arbitrary center, this implies that the integrand
must be zero, which is the dierential equations formulation of Gauss equation up to a trivial rearrangement. Gausss
law for magnetism in dierential equations form follows likewise from the integral form by rewriting the magnetic
ux

B dS =
B dV = 0 .
10.2.2 Circulation and curl
F
n
Surface with closed boundary . F could be the E or B elds. Again, n is the unit normal. (The curl of a vector eld doesn't
literally look like the circulations, this is a heuristic depiction.)
The circulation of the elds (i.e. their curls) can be determined from the line integrals of the elds around the
closed curve . E.g. for the magnetic eld
I
B d = ( B) dS

where we used the Kelvin-Stokes theorem. Using the modied Ampere law in integral form and the writing the time
derivative of the ux as the surface integral of the partial time derivative of E we conclude that
10.3. CONCEPTUAL DESCRIPTIONS 135
( )
E
B 0 (J + 0 ) dS = 0
t
Since can be chosen arbitrarily, e.g. as an arbitrary small, arbitrary oriented, and arbitrary centered disk, we
conclude that the integrand must be zero. This is Amperes modied law in dierential equations form up to a trivial
rearrangement. Likewise, the Faraday law in dierential equations form follows from rewriting the integral form
using the Kelvin-Stokes theorem.
The line integrals and curls are analogous to quantities in classical uid dynamics: the circulation of a uid is the line
integral of the uids ow velocity eld around a closed loop, and the vorticity of the uid is the curl of the velocity
eld.
10.3 Conceptual descriptions
10.3.1 Gausss law

Gausss law describes the relationship between a static electric eld and the electric charges that cause it: The static
electric eld points away from positive charges and towards negative charges. In the eld line description, electric eld
lines begin only at positive electric charges and end only at negative electric charges. 'Counting' the number of eld
lines passing through a closed surface, therefore, yields the total charge (including bound charge due to polarization of
material) enclosed by that surface divided by dielectricity of free space (the vacuum permittivity). More technically,
it relates the electric ux through any hypothetical closed "Gaussian surface" to the enclosed electric charge.
10.3.2 Gausss law for magnetism

Gausss law for magnetism states that there are no magnetic charges (also called magnetic monopoles), analogous
to electric charges.[7] Instead, the magnetic eld due to materials is generated by a conguration called a dipole.
Magnetic dipoles are best represented as loops of current but resemble positive and negative 'magnetic charges,
inseparably bound together, having no net 'magnetic charge'. In terms of eld lines, this equation states that magnetic
eld lines neither begin nor end but make loops or extend to innity and back. In other words, any magnetic eld line
that enters a given volume must somewhere exit that volume. Equivalent technical statements are that the sum total
magnetic ux through any Gaussian surface is zero, or that the magnetic eld is a solenoidal vector eld.
10.3.3 Faradays law

The Maxwell-Faraday version of Faradays law of induction describes how a time varying magnetic eld creates
(induces) an electric eld.[7] This dynamically induced electric eld has closed eld lines similar to a magnetic
eld, unless superposed by a static (charge induced) electric eld. This aspect of electromagnetic induction is the
operating principle behind many electric generators: for example, a rotating bar magnet creates a changing magnetic
eld, which in turn generates an electric eld in a nearby wire.
10.3.4 Ampres law with Maxwells addition

Ampres law with Maxwells addition states that magnetic elds can be generated in two ways: by electric current
(this was the original Ampres law) and by changing electric elds (this was Maxwells addition).
Maxwells addition to Ampres law is particularly important: it makes the set of equations mathematically consistent
for non static elds, without changing the laws of Ampere and Gauss for static elds.[8] However, as a consequence, it
predicts that a changing magnetic eld induces an electric eld and vice versa.[7][9] Therefore, these equations allow
self-sustaining "electromagnetic waves" to travel through empty space (see electromagnetic wave equation).
The speed calculated for electromagnetic waves, which could be predicted from experiments on charges and currents,[note 2]
exactly matches the speed of light; indeed, light is one form of electromagnetic radiation (as are X-rays, radio waves,
and others). Maxwell understood the connection between electromagnetic waves and light in 1861, thereby unifying
the theories of electromagnetism and optics.
Gausss law for magnetism: magnetic eld lines never begin nor end but form loops or extend to innity as shown here with the
magnetic eld due to a ring of current.
10.4 Charge conservation

The invariance of charge can be derived as a corollary of Maxwells equations. The left hand side of the modied Am-
peres Law has zero divergence by the div-curl-identity. Combining the right hand side, Gausss law, and interchange
of derivatives gives:
( ) ( )

0 = B = 0 J + 0 E = 0 J +
t t
i.e.

+J=0
t
By the Gauss Divergence Theorem, this means the rate of change of charge in a xed volume equals the net current
owing through the boundary:
10.4. CHARGE CONSERVATION 137
In a geomagnetic storm, a surge in the ux of charged particles temporarily alters Earths magnetic eld, which induces electric elds
in Earths atmosphere, thus causing surges in electrical power grids. (Not to scale.)
Magnetic core memory (1954) is an application of Ampres law. Each core stores one bit of data.

d
dt Q = d
dt
dV = J dS = I .
In particular, in an isolated system the total charge is conserved.
10.5 Vacuum equations, electromagnetic waves and speed of light

Further information: Electromagnetic wave equation, Inhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation, and Sinusoidal
plane-wave solutions of the electromagnetic wave equation
In a region with no charges ( = 0) and no currents (J = 0), such as in a vacuum, Maxwells equations reduce to:
This 3D diagram shows a plane linearly polarized wave propagating from left to right with the same wave equations where E = E0
sin(t + k r) and B = B0 sin(t + k r)
B
E=0 E= ,
t
1 E
B=0 B= 2 .
c t
Taking the curl () of the curl equations, and using the curl of the curl identity ( X) = (X) 2 X we
obtain the wave equations
10.6. MACROSCOPIC FORMULATION 139
1 2E
2 E = 0
c2 t2
1 2B
2 B = 0
c2 t2
which identify
1
c= = 2.99792458 108 m s1
0 0
with the speed of light in free space. In materials with relative permittivity, , and relative permeability, , the phase
velocity of light becomes
1
vp =
0 r 0 r
which is usually[note 3] less than c.

In addition, E and B are mutually perpendicular to each other and the direction of wave propagation, and are in phase
with each other. A sinusoidal plane wave is one special solution of these equations. Maxwells equations explain how
these waves can physically propagate through space. The changing magnetic eld creates a changing electric eld
through Faradays law. In turn, that electric eld creates a changing magnetic eld through Maxwells addition to
Ampres law. This perpetual cycle allows these waves, now known as electromagnetic radiation, to move through
space at velocity c.
10.6 Macroscopic formulation

The above equations are the microscopic version of Maxwells equations, expressing the electric and the magnetic
elds in terms of the (possibly atomic-level) charges and currents present. This is sometimes called the general
form, but the macroscopic version below is equally general, the dierence being one of bookkeeping.
The microscopic version is sometimes called Maxwells equations in a vacuum": this refers to the fact that the
material medium is not built into the structure of the equations, but appears only in the charge and current terms.
The microscopic version was introduced by Lorentz, who tried to use it to derive the macroscopic properties of bulk
matter from its microscopic constituents.[10]:5
Maxwells macroscopic equations, also known as Maxwells equations in matter, are more similar to those that
Maxwell introduced himself.
Unlike the microscopic equations, the macroscopic equations separate out the bound charge Q and bound current
I to obtain equations that depend only on the free charges Q and currents I . This factorization can be made by
splitting the total electric charge and current as follows:

Q = Qf + Qb = (f + b ) dV = dV

I = If + Ib = (Jf + Jb ) dS = J dS

Correspondingly, the total current density J splits into free J and bound J components, and similarly the total charge
density splits into free and bound parts.
The cost of this factorization is that additional elds, the displacement eld D and the magnetizing eld H, are dened
and need to be determined. Phenomenological constituent equations relate the additional elds to the electric eld E
and the magnetic B-eld, often through a simple linear relation.
For a detailed description of the dierences between the microscopic (total charge and current including material
contributes or in air/vacuum)[note 4] and macroscopic (free charge and current; practical to use on materials) variants
of Maxwells equations, see below.
10.6.1 Bound charge and current
Main articles: Current density, Bound charge, and Bound current

When an electric eld is applied to a dielectric material its molecules respond by forming microscopic electric dipoles
Left: A schematic view of how an assembly of microscopic dipoles produces opposite surface charges as shown at top and bottom.
Right: How an assembly of microscopic current loops add together to produce a macroscopically circulating current loop. Inside the
boundaries, the individual contributions tend to cancel, but at the boundaries no cancelation occurs.
their atomic nuclei move a tiny distance in the direction of the eld, while their electrons move a tiny distance in
the opposite direction. This produces a macroscopic bound charge in the material even though all of the charges
involved are bound to individual molecules. For example, if every molecule responds the same, similar to that shown
in the gure, these tiny movements of charge combine to produce a layer of positive bound charge on one side of the
material and a layer of negative charge on the other side. The bound charge is most conveniently described in terms
of the polarization P of the material, its dipole moment per unit volume. If P is uniform, a macroscopic separation
of charge is produced only at the surfaces where P enters and leaves the material. For non-uniform P, a charge is
also produced in the bulk.[11]
Somewhat similarly, in all materials the constituent atoms exhibit magnetic moments that are intrinsically linked to
the angular momentum of the components of the atoms, most notably their electrons. The connection to angular
momentum suggests the picture of an assembly of microscopic current loops. Outside the material, an assembly of
such microscopic current loops is not dierent from a macroscopic current circulating around the materials surface,
despite the fact that no individual charge is traveling a large distance. These bound currents can be described using
the magnetization M.[12]
The very complicated and granular bound charges and bound currents, therefore, can be represented on the macro-
scopic scale in terms of P and M which average these charges and currents on a suciently large scale so as not to
see the granularity of individual atoms, but also suciently small that they vary with location in the material. As
such, Maxwells macroscopic equations ignore many details on a ne scale that can be unimportant to understanding
matters on a gross scale by calculating elds that are averaged over some suitable volume.
10.6. MACROSCOPIC FORMULATION 141
10.6.2 Auxiliary elds, polarization and magnetization

The denitions (not constitutive relations) of the auxiliary elds are:
D(r, t) = 0 E(r, t) + P(r, t)

1
H(r, t) = B(r, t) M(r, t)
0
where P is the polarization eld and M is the magnetization eld which are dened in terms of microscopic bound
charges and bound currents respectively. The macroscopic bound charge density and bound current density J in
terms of polarization P and magnetization M are then dened as
b = P
P
Jb = M +
t
If we dene the total, bound, and free charge and current density by
= b + f ,
J = Jb + Jf ,
and use the dening relations above to eliminate D, and H, the macroscopic Maxwells equations reproduce the
microscopic equations.
10.6.3 Constitutive relations

Main article: Constitutive equation Electromagnetism
In order to apply 'Maxwells macroscopic equations, it is necessary to specify the relations between displacement eld
D and the electric eld E, as well as the magnetizing eld H and the magnetic eld B. Equivalently, we have to specify
the dependence of the polarisation P (hence the bound charge) and the magnetisation M (hence the bound current)
on the applied electric and magnetic eld. The equations specifying this response are called constitutive relations.
For real-world materials, the constitutive relations are rarely simple, except approximately, and usually determined
by experiment. See the main article on constitutive relations for a fuller description.[13]:4445
For materials without polarisation and magnetisation, the constitutive relations are (by denition)[5]:2
1
D = 0 E, H= B
0
where 0 is the permittivity of free space and 0 the permeability of free space. Since there is no bound charge, the
total and the free charge and current are equal.
An alternative viewpoint on the microscopic equations is that they are the macroscopic equations together with the
statement that vacuum behaves like a perfect linear material without additional polarisation and magnetisation.
More generally, for linear materials the constitutive relations are[13]:4445
1
D = E , H= B

where is the permittivity and the permeability of the material. For the displacement eld D the linear approx-
imation is usually excellent because for all but the most extreme electric elds or temperatures obtainable in the
laboratory (high power pulsed lasers) the interatomic electric elds of materials of the order of 1011 V/m are much
higher than the external eld. For the magnetizing eld H , however, the linear approximation can break down in com-
mon materials like iron leading to phenomena like hysteresis. Even the linear case can have various complications,
however.
For homogeneous materials, and are constant throughout the material, while for inhomogeneous materials
they depend on location within the material (and perhaps time).[14]:463
For isotropic materials, and are scalars, while for anisotropic materials (e.g. due to crystal structure) they
are tensors.[13]:421[14]:463
Materials are generally dispersive, so and depend on the frequency of any incident EM waves.[13]:625[14]:397
Even more generally, in the case of non-linear materials (see for example nonlinear optics), D and P are not necessarily
proportional to E, similarly H or M is not necessarily proportional to B. In general D and H depend on both E and
B, on location and time, and possibly other physical quantities.
In applications one also has to describe how the free currents and charge density behave in terms of E and B possibly
coupled to other physical quantities like pressure, and the mass, number density, and velocity of charge-carrying
particles. E.g., the original equations given by Maxwell (see History of Maxwells equations) included Ohms law in
the form
Jf = E .
10.7 Alternative formulations

For an overview, see Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld.
For the equations in quantum eld theory, see quantum electrodynamics.
Following is a summary of some of the numerous other ways to write the microscopic Maxwells equations, show-
ing they can be formulated using dierent mathematical formalisms. In addition, we formulate the equations using
potentials. Originally they were introduced as a convenient way to solve the homogeneous equations, but it was
originally thought that all the observable physics was contained in the electric and magnetic elds (or relativistically,
the Faraday tensor). The potentials play a central role in quantum mechanics, however, and act quantum mechanically
with observable consequences even when the electric and magnetic elds vanish (AharonovBohm eect). See the
main articles for the details of each formulation. SI units are used throughout.
where
In the vector formulation on Euclidean space + time, is the electrical potential, and A is the vector potential.
10.8 Relativistic formulations

For the equations in special relativity, see classical electromagnetism and special relativity and covariant formulation
of classical electromagnetism.
For the equations in general relativity, see Maxwells equations in curved spacetime.
The Maxwell equations can also be formulated on a space-time like Minkowski space where space and time are treated
on equal footing. The direct spacetime formulations make manifest that the Maxwell equations are relativistically
invariant. Because of this symmetry electric and magnetic eld are treated on equal footing and are recognised as
components of the Faraday tensor. This reduces the four Maxwell equations to two, which simplies the equations,
10.9. SOLUTIONS 143
although we can no longer use the familiar vector formulation. In fact the Maxwell equations in the space + time
formulation are not Galileo invariant and have Lorenz invariance a hidden symmetry. This was a major source of
inspiration for the development of relativity theory. The space + time formulation is not a non-relativistic approxima-
tion, however, they describe the same physics by simply renaming variables. For this reason the relativistic invariant
equations are usually simply called the Maxwell equations as well.
In the tensor calculus formulation, the electromagnetic tensor F is an antisymmetric covariant rank 2 ten-
sor; the four-potential, A, is a covariant vector; the current, J , is a vector; the square brackets, [ ], denote
antisymmetrization of indices; is the derivative with respect to the coordinate, x . In Minkowski space
coordinates are chosen with respect to an inertial frame; (x ) = (ct,x,y,z), so that the metric tensor used to raise
and lower indices is = diag(1,1,1,1). The d'Alembert operator on Minkowski space is = as in
the vector formulation. In general spacetimes, the coordinate system x is arbitrary, the covariant derivative
, the Ricci tensor, R and raising and lowering of indices are dened by the Lorentzian metric, g and
the d'Alembert operator is dened as = . The topological restriction is that the second real cohomology
group of the space vanishes (see the dierential form formulation for an explanation). Note that this is violated
for Minkowski space with a line removed, which can model a (at) space-time with a point-like monopole on
the complement of the line.
In the dierential form formulation on arbitrary space times, F = Fdx dx is the electromagnetic tensor
considered as a 2-form, A = Adx is the potential 1-form, J is the current 3-form, d is the exterior derivative,
and is the Hodge star on forms dened by the Lorentzian metric of spacetime. Note that in the special
case of 2-forms such as F, the Hodge star only depends on the metric up to a local scale. This means that,
as formulated, the dierential form eld equations are conformally invariant, but the Lorenz gauge condition
breaks conformal invariance. The operator = (dddd) is the d'AlembertLaplaceBeltrami operator
on 1-forms on an arbitrary Lorentzian spacetime. The topological condition is again that the second real
cohomology group is trivial. By the isomorphism with the second de Rham cohomology this condition means
that every closed 2 form is exact.
Other formalisms include the geometric algebra formulation and a matrix representation of Maxwells equations.
Historically, a quaternionic formulation[15][16] was used.
10.9 Solutions
Maxwells equations are partial dierential equations that relate the electric and magnetic elds to each other and
to the electric charges and currents. Often, the charges and currents are themselves dependent on the electric and
magnetic elds via the Lorentz force equation and the constitutive relations. These all form a set of coupled partial
dierential equations, which are often very dicult to solve. In fact, the solutions of these equations encompass all
the diverse phenomena in the entire eld of classical electromagnetism. A thorough discussion is far beyond the scope
of the article, but some general notes follow.
Like any dierential equation, boundary conditions[17][18][19] and initial conditions[20] are necessary for a unique so-
lution. For example, even with no charges and no currents anywhere in spacetime, many solutions to Maxwells equa-
tions are possible, not just the obvious solution E = B = 0. Another solution is E = constant, B = constant, while yet
other solutions have electromagnetic waves lling spacetime. In some cases, Maxwells equations are solved through
innite space, and boundary conditions are given as asymptotic limits at innity.[21] In other cases, Maxwells equa-
tions are solved in just a nite region of space, with appropriate boundary conditions on that region: For example, the
boundary could be an articial absorbing boundary representing the rest of the universe,[22][23] or periodic boundary
conditions, or (as with a waveguide or cavity resonator) the boundary conditions may describe the walls that isolate
a small region from the outside world.[24]
Jemenkos equations (or the closely related LinardWiechert potentials) are the explicit solution to Maxwells equa-
tions for the electric and magnetic elds created by any given distribution of charges and currents. It assumes specic
initial conditions to obtain the so-called retarded solution, where the only elds present are the ones created by the
charges. Jemenkos equations are not so helpful in situations when the charges and currents are themselves aected
by the elds they create.
Numerical methods for dierential equations can be used to approximately solve Maxwells equations when an exact
solution is impossible. These methods usually require a computer, and include the nite element method and nite-
dierence time-domain method.[17][19][25][26][27] For more details, see Computational electromagnetics.
10.10 Overdetermination of Maxwells equations

Maxwells equations seem overdetermined, in that they involve six unknowns (the three components of E and B) but
eight equations (one for each of the two Gausss laws, three vector components each for Faradays and Amperes laws).
(The currents and charges are not unknowns, being freely speciable subject to charge conservation.) This is related to
a certain limited kind of redundancy in Maxwells equations: It can be proven that any system satisfying Faradays law
and Amperes law automatically also satises the two Gausss laws, as long as the systems initial condition does.[28][29]
This explanation was rst introduced by Julius Adams Stratton in 1941.[30] Although it is possible to simply ignore
the two Gausss laws in a numerical algorithm (apart from the initial conditions), the imperfect precision of the
calculations can lead to ever-increasing violations of those laws. By introducing dummy variables characterizing
these violations, the four equations become not overdetermined after all. The resulting formulation can lead to more
accurate algorithms that take all four laws into account.[31]
10.11 Limitations of the Maxwell equations as a theory of electromag-

netism
While Maxwells equations (along with the rest of classical electromagnetism) are extraordinarily successful at ex-
plaining and predicting a variety of phenomena, they are not exact, but approximations. In some special situations,
they can be noticeably inaccurate. Examples include extremely strong elds (see EulerHeisenberg Lagrangian)
and extremely short distances (see vacuum polarization). Moreover, various phenomena occur in the world even
though Maxwells equations predict them to be impossible, such as "nonclassical light" and quantum entanglement
of electromagnetic elds (see quantum optics). Finally, any phenomenon involving individual photons, such as the
photoelectric eect, Plancks law, the DuaneHunt law, single-photon light detectors, etc., would be dicult or im-
possible to explain if Maxwells equations were exactly true, as Maxwells equations do not involve photons. For the
most accurate predictions in all situations, Maxwells equations have been superseded by quantum electrodynamics.
10.12 Variations
Popular variations on the Maxwell equations as a classical theory of electromagnetic elds are relatively scarce because
the standard equations have stood the test of time remarkably well.
10.12.1 Magnetic monopoles

Main article: Magnetic monopole
Maxwells equations posit that there is electric charge, but no magnetic charge (also called magnetic monopoles), in
the universe. Indeed, magnetic charge has never been observed (despite extensive searches)[note 5] and may not exist.
If they did exist, both Gausss law for magnetism and Faradays law would need to be modied, and the resulting four
equations would be fully symmetric under the interchange of electric and magnetic elds.[5]:273275
10.13 See also

Algebra of physical space
Fresnel equations
Gravitoelectromagnetism
10.14. NOTES 145
Interface conditions for electromagnetic elds
RiemannSilberstein vector
Spacetime algebra
10.14 Notes
[1] Maxwells equations in any form are compatible with relativity. These space-time formulations, though, make that com-
patibility more readily apparent by revealing that the electric and magnetic elds blend into a single tensor, and that their
distinction depends on the movement of the observer and the corresponding observer dependent notion of time.
[2] The quantity we would now call 1 0 0 , with units of velocity, was directly measured before Maxwells equations, in an
1855 experiment by Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Rudolf Kohlrausch. They charged a leyden jar (a kind of capacitor), and
measured the electrostatic force associated with the potential; then, they discharged it while measuring the magnetic force
from the current in the discharge wire. Their result was 3.107108 m/s, remarkably close to the speed of light. See The
story of electrical and magnetic measurements: from 500 B.C. to the 1940s, by Joseph F. Keithley, p115
[3] There are cases (anomalous dispersion) where the phase velocity can exceed c, but the signal velocity will still be < c
[4] In some bookse.g., in U. Krey and A. Owens Basic Theoretical Physics (Springer 2007)the term eective charge is
used instead of total charge, while free charge is simply called charge.
[5] See magnetic monopole for a discussion of monopole searches. Recently, scientists have discovered that some types of
condensed matter, including spin ice and topological insulators, which display emergent behavior resembling magnetic
monopoles. (See and .) Although these were described in the popular press as the long-awaited discovery of magnetic
monopoles, they are only supercially related. A true magnetic monopole is something where B 0, whereas in these
condensed-matter systems, B = 0 while only H 0.
10.15 References
[1] David J Griths (1999). Introduction to electrodynamics (Third ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 559562. ISBN 0-13-805326-X.
[2] Bruce J. Hunt (1991) The Maxwellians, chapter 5 and appendix, Cornell University Press
[3] IEEEGHN: Maxwells Equations. Ieeeghn.org. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
[4] oln, Pavel (2006). Partial dierential equations and the nite element method. John Wiley and Sons. p. 273. ISBN
0-471-72070-4.
[5] J.D. Jackson. Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). ISBN 0-471-43132-X.
[6] Littlejohn, Robert (Fall 2007). Gaussian, SI and Other Systems of Units in Electromagnetic Theory (PDF). Physics 221A,
University of California, Berkeley lecture notes. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
[7] Jackson, John. Maxwells equations. Science Video Glossary. Berkeley Lab.
[8] Classical Electrodynamics, by J.D. Jackson, section 6.3
[9] Principles of physics: a calculus-based text, by R.A. Serway, J.W. Jewett, page 809.
[10] Kimball Milton; J. Schwinger (18 June 2006). Electromagnetic Radiation: Variational Methods, Waveguides and Acceler-
ators. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-3-540-29306-4.
[11] See David J. Griths (1999). 4.2.2. Introduction to Electrodynamics (third ed.). Prentice Hall. for a good description of
how P relates to the bound charge.
[12] See David J. Griths (1999). 6.2.2. Introduction to Electrodynamics (third ed.). Prentice Hall. for a good description of
how M relates to the bound current.
[13] Andrew Zangwill (2013). Modern Electrodynamics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89697-9.
[14] Kittel, Charles (2005), Introduction to Solid State Physics (8th ed.), USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ISBN 978-0-471-41526-
8
[15] P.M. Jack (2003). Physical Space as a Quaternion Structure I: Maxwell Equations. A Brief Note.. Toronto, Canada.
arXiv:math-ph/0307038 .
[16] A. Waser (2000). On the Notation of Maxwells Field Equations (PDF). AW-Verlag.
[17] Peter Monk (2003). Finite Element Methods for Maxwells Equations. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. p. 1 . ISBN
0-19-850888-3.
[18] Thomas B. A. Senior & John Leonidas Volakis (1995-03-01). Approximate Boundary Conditions in Electromagnetics.
London UK: Institution of Electrical Engineers. p. 261 . ISBN 0-85296-849-3.
[19] T Hagstrom (Bjrn Engquist & Gregory A. Kriegsmann, Eds.) (1997). Computational Wave Propagation. Berlin: Springer.
p. 1 . ISBN 0-387-94874-0.
[20] Henning F. Harmuth & Malek G. M. Hussain (1994). Propagation of Electromagnetic Signals. Singapore: World Scientic.
p. 17. ISBN 981-02-1689-0.
[21] David M Cook (2002). The Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. Mineola NY: Courier Dover Publications. p. 335 .
ISBN 0-486-42567-3.
[22] Jean-Michel Lourtioz (2005-05-23). Photonic Crystals: Towards Nanoscale Photonic Devices. Berlin: Springer. p. 84.
ISBN 3-540-24431-X.
[23] S. G. Johnson, Notes on Perfectly Matched Layers, online MIT course notes (Aug. 2007).
[24] S. F. Mahmoud (1991). Electromagnetic Waveguides: Theory and Applications. London UK: Institution of Electrical
Engineers. Chapter 2. ISBN 0-86341-232-7.
[25] John Leonidas Volakis, Arindam Chatterjee & Leo C. Kempel (1998). Finite element method for electromagnetics : anten-
nas, microwave circuits, and scattering applications. New York: Wiley IEEE. p. 79 . ISBN 0-7803-3425-6.
[26] Bernard Friedman (1990). Principles and Techniques of Applied Mathematics. Mineola NY: Dover Publications. ISBN
0-486-66444-9.
[27] Taove A & Hagness S C (2005). Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-dierence Time-domain Method. Boston
MA: Artech House. Chapters 6 & 7. ISBN 1-58053-832-0.
[28] H Freisthler & G Warnecke (2001). Hyperbolic Problems: Theory, Numerics, Applications. p. 605.
[29] J Rosen. Redundancy and superuity for electromagnetic elds and potentials. American Journal of Physics. 48 (12):
1071. Bibcode:1980AmJPh..48.1071R. doi:10.1119/1.12289.
[30] J.A. Stratton (1941). Electromagnetic Theory. McGraw-Hill Book Company. pp. 16.
[31] B Jiang & J Wu & L.A. Povinelli (1996). The Origin of Spurious Solutions in Computational Electromagnetics. Journal
of Computational Physics. 125 (1): 104. Bibcode:1996JCoPh.125..104J. doi:10.1006/jcph.1996.0082.
Further reading can be found in list of textbooks in electromagnetism
10.16 Historical publications

On Faradays Lines of Force 1855/56 Maxwells rst paper (Part 1 & 2) Compiled by Blaze Labs Research
(PDF)
On Physical Lines of Force 1861 Maxwells 1861 paper describing magnetic lines of Force Predecessor to
1873 Treatise
James Clerk Maxwell, "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field", Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London 155, 459512 (1865). (This article accompanied a December 8, 1864 presentation
by Maxwell to the Royal Society.)
A Dynamical Theory Of The Electromagnetic Field 1865 Maxwells 1865 paper describing his 20
Equations, link from Google Books.
J. Clerk Maxwell (1873) A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism
Maxwell, J.C., A Treatise on Electricity And Magnetism Volume 1 1873 Posner Memorial Collec-
tion Carnegie Mellon University
Maxwell, J.C., A Treatise on Electricity And Magnetism Volume 2 1873 Posner Memorial Collec-
tion Carnegie Mellon University
The developments before relativity:
Joseph Larmor (1897) On a dynamical theory of the electric and luminiferous medium, Phil. Trans. Roy.
Soc. 190, 205300 (third and last in a series of papers with the same name).
Hendrik Lorentz (1899) Simplied theory of electrical and optical phenomena in moving systems, Proc.
Acad. Science Amsterdam, I, 42743.
Hendrik Lorentz (1904) Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any velocity less than that of
light, Proc. Acad. Science Amsterdam, IV, 66978.
Henri Poincar (1900) La thorie de Lorentz et le Principe de Raction, Archives Nerlandaises, V, 25378.
Henri Poincar (1902) La Science et l'Hypothse
Henri Poincar (1905) Sur la dynamique de l'lectron, Comptes rendus de l'Acadmie des Sciences, 140,
15048.
Catt, Walton and Davidson. The History of Displacement Current. Wireless World, March 1979.
10.17 External links

Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), Maxwell equations, Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-
55608-010-4
maxwells-equations.com An intuitive tutorial of Maxwells equations.

Mathematical aspects of Maxwells equation are discussed on the Dispersive PDE Wiki.
10.17.1 Modern treatments

Electromagnetism (ch. 11), B. Crowell, Fullerton College
Lecture series: Relativity and electromagnetism, R. Fitzpatrick, University of Texas at Austin
Electromagnetic waves from Maxwells equations on Project PHYSNET.

MIT Video Lecture Series (36 x 50 minute lectures) (in .mp4 format) Electricity and Magnetism Taught by
Professor Walter Lewin.
10.17.2 Other
Feynmans derivation of Maxwell equations and extra dimensions
Nature Milestones: Photons Milestone 2 (1861) Maxwells equations

Chapter 11
Vector calculus
Not to be confused with geometric calculus or matrix calculus.
Vector calculus, or vector analysis, is a branch of mathematics concerned with dierentiation and integration of
vector elds, primarily in 3-dimensional Euclidean space R3 . The term vector calculus is sometimes used as a
synonym for the broader subject of multivariable calculus, which includes vector calculus as well as partial dier-
entiation and multiple integration. Vector calculus plays an important role in dierential geometry and in the study
of partial dierential equations. It is used extensively in physics and engineering, especially in the description of
electromagnetic elds, gravitational elds and uid ow.
Vector calculus was developed from quaternion analysis by J. Willard Gibbs and Oliver Heaviside near the end of the
19th century, and most of the notation and terminology was established by Gibbs and Edwin Bidwell Wilson in their
1901 book, Vector Analysis. In the conventional form using cross products, vector calculus does not generalize to
higher dimensions, while the alternative approach of geometric algebra, which uses exterior products does generalize,
as discussed below.
11.1 Basic objects
11.1.1 Scalar elds
Main article: Scalar eld
A scalar eld associates a scalar value to every point in a space. The scalar may either be a mathematical number or
a physical quantity. Examples of scalar elds in applications include the temperature distribution throughout space,
the pressure distribution in a uid, and spin-zero quantum elds, such as the Higgs eld. These elds are the subject
of scalar eld theory.
11.1.2 Vector elds
Main article: Vector eld
A vector eld is an assignment of a vector to each point in a subset of space.[1] A vector eld in the plane, for instance,
can be visualized as a collection of arrows with a given magnitude and direction each attached to a point in the plane.
Vector elds are often used to model, for example, the speed and direction of a moving uid throughout space, or the
strength and direction of some force, such as the magnetic or gravitational force, as it changes from point to point.
148
11.2. VECTOR ALGEBRA 149
11.1.3 Vectors and pseudovectors

In more advanced treatments, one further distinguishes pseudovector elds and pseudoscalar elds, which are identical
to vector elds and scalar elds except that they change sign under an orientation-reversing map: for example, the
curl of a vector eld is a pseudovector eld, and if one reects a vector eld, the curl points in the opposite direction.
This distinction is claried and elaborated in geometric algebra, as described below.
11.2 Vector algebra

Main article: Vector algebra
The algebraic (non-dierential) operations in vector calculus are referred to as vector algebra, being dened for a
vector space and then globally applied to a vector eld. The basic algebraic operations consist of:
Also commonly used are the two triple products:
11.3 Operators and theorems

Main article: Vector calculus identities
11.3.1 Dierential operators

Main articles: Gradient, Divergence, Curl (mathematics), and Laplacian
Vector calculus studies various dierential operators dened on scalar or vector elds, which are typically expressed
in terms of the del operator ( ), also known as nabla. The three basic vector operators are:
Also commonly used are the two Laplace operators:
A quantity called the Jacobian is useful for studying functions when both the domain and range of the function are
multivariable, such as a change of variables during integration.
11.3.2 Integral theorems

The three basic vector operators have corresponding theorems which generalize the fundamental theorem of calculus
to higher dimensions:
In two dimensions, the divergence and curl theorems reduce to the Greens theorem:
11.4 Applications
11.4.1 Linear approximations

Main article: Linear approximation
Linear approximations are used to replace complicated functions with linear functions that are almost the same. Given
a dierentiable function f (x, y) with real values, one can approximate f (x, y) for (x, y) close to (a, b) by the formula
f f
f (x, y) f (a, b) + (a, b)(x a) + (a, b)(y b).
x y
The right-hand side is the equation of the plane tangent to the graph of z = f (x, y) at (a, b).
150 CHAPTER 11. VECTOR CALCULUS
11.4.2 Optimization
Main article: Mathematical optimization
For a continuously dierentiable function of several real variables, a point P (that is a set of values for the input
variables, which is viewed as a point in Rn ) is critical if all of the partial derivatives of the function are zero at P, or,
equivalently, if its gradient is zero. The critical values are the values of the function at the critical points.
If the function is smooth, or, at least twice continuously dierentiable, a critical point may be either a local maximum,
a local minimum or a saddle point. The dierent cases may be distinguished by considering the eigenvalues of the
Hessian matrix of second derivatives.
By Fermats theorem, all local maxima and minima of a dierentiable function occur at critical points. Therefore, to
nd the local maxima and minima, it suces, theoretically, to compute the zeros of the gradient and the eigenvalues
of the Hessian matrix at these zeros.
11.4.3 Physics and engineering

Vector calculus is particularly useful in studying:
Center of mass
Field theory
Kinematics
Maxwells equations
11.5 Generalizations
11.5.1 Dierent 3-manifolds

Vector calculus is initially dened for Euclidean 3-space, R3 , which has additional structure beyond simply being a
3-dimensional real vector space, namely: a norm (giving a notion of length) dened via an inner product (the dot
product), which in turn gives a notion of angle, and an orientation, which gives a notion of left-handed and right-
handed. These structures give rise to a volume form, and also the cross product, which is used pervasively in vector
calculus.
The gradient and divergence require only the inner product, while the curl and the cross product also requires the
handedness of the coordinate system to be taken into account (see cross product and handedness for more detail).
Vector calculus can be dened on other 3-dimensional real vector spaces if they have an inner product (or more
generally a symmetric nondegenerate form) and an orientation; note that this is less data than an isomorphism to
Euclidean space, as it does not require a set of coordinates (a frame of reference), which reects the fact that vector
calculus is invariant under rotations (the special orthogonal group SO(3)).
More generally, vector calculus can be dened on any 3-dimensional oriented Riemannian manifold, or more generally
pseudo-Riemannian manifold. This structure simply means that the tangent space at each point has an inner product
(more generally, a symmetric nondegenerate form) and an orientation, or more globally that there is a symmetric
nondegenerate metric tensor and an orientation, and works because vector calculus is dened in terms of tangent
vectors at each point.
11.5.2 Other dimensions

Most of the analytic results are easily understood, in a more general form, using the machinery of dierential geom-
etry, of which vector calculus forms a subset. Grad and div generalize immediately to other dimensions, as do the
gradient theorem, divergence theorem, and Laplacian (yielding harmonic analysis), while curl and cross product do
not generalize as directly.
11.6. SEE ALSO 151
From a general point of view, the various elds in (3-dimensional) vector calculus are uniformly seen as being k-vector
elds: scalar elds are 0-vector elds, vector elds are 1-vector elds, pseudovector elds are 2-vector elds, and pseu-
doscalar elds are 3-vector elds. In higher dimensions there are additional types of elds (scalar/vector/pseudovector/pseudoscalar
corresponding to 0/1/n1/n dimensions, which is exhaustive in dimension 3), so one cannot only work with (pseudo)scalars
and (pseudo)vectors.
In any dimension, assuming a nondegenerate form, grad of a scalar function is a vector eld, and div of a vector eld is
a scalar function, but only in dimension 3 or 7 (and, trivially, in dimension 0 or 1) is the curl of a vector eld a vector
eld, and only in 3 or 7 dimensions can a cross product be dened (generalizations in other dimensionalities either
require n 1 vectors to yield 1 vector, or are alternative Lie algebras, which are more general antisymmetric bilinear
products). The generalization of grad and div, and how curl may be generalized is elaborated at Curl: Generalizations;
in brief, the curl of a vector eld is a bivector eld, which may be interpreted as the special orthogonal Lie algebra
of innitesimal rotations; however, this cannot be identied with a vector eld because the dimensions dier there
are
(n) 3 dimensions of rotations in 3 dimensions, but 6 dimensions of rotations in 4 dimensions (and more generally
2 = 1
2 n(n 1) dimensions of rotations in n dimensions).
There are two important alternative generalizations of vector calculus. The rst, geometric algebra, uses k-vector
elds instead of vector elds (in 3 or fewer dimensions, every k-vector eld can be identied with a scalar function
or vector eld, but this is not true in higher dimensions). This replaces the cross product, which is specic to 3
dimensions, taking in two vector elds and giving as output a vector eld, with the exterior product, which exists in
all dimensions and takes in two vector elds, giving as output a bivector (2-vector) eld. This product yields Cliord
algebras as the algebraic structure on vector spaces (with an orientation and nondegenerate form). Geometric algebra
is mostly used in generalizations of physics and other applied elds to higher dimensions.
The second generalization uses dierential forms (k-covector elds) instead of vector elds or k-vector elds, and
is widely used in mathematics, particularly in dierential geometry, geometric topology, and harmonic analysis, in
particular yielding Hodge theory on oriented pseudo-Riemannian manifolds. From this point of view, grad, curl, and
div correspond to the exterior derivative of 0-forms, 1-forms, and 2-forms, respectively, and the key theorems of
vector calculus are all special cases of the general form of Stokes theorem.
From the point of view of both of these generalizations, vector calculus implicitly identies mathematically distinct
objects, which makes the presentation simpler but the underlying mathematical structure and generalizations less
clear. From the point of view of geometric algebra, vector calculus implicitly identies k-vector elds with vector
elds or scalar functions: 0-vectors and 3-vectors with scalars, 1-vectors and 2-vectors with vectors. From the point
of view of dierential forms, vector calculus implicitly identies k-forms with scalar elds or vector elds: 0-forms
and 3-forms with scalar elds, 1-forms and 2-forms with vector elds. Thus for example the curl naturally takes as
input a vector eld or 1-form, but naturally has as output a 2-vector eld or 2-form (hence pseudovector eld), which
is then interpreted as a vector eld, rather than directly taking a vector eld to a vector eld; this is reected in the
curl of a vector eld in higher dimensions not having as output a vector eld.
11.6 See also

Real-valued function
Function of a real variable
Real multivariable function
Vector calculus identities
Del in cylindrical and spherical coordinates
Directional derivative
Irrotational vector eld
Solenoidal vector eld
Laplacian vector eld
Orthogonal coordinates
152 CHAPTER 11. VECTOR CALCULUS
Skew coordinates
Curvilinear coordinates
Tensor
11.7 References
[1] Galbis, Antonio & Maestre, Manuel (2012). Vector Analysis Versus Vector Calculus. Springer. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4614-
2199-3.
Sandro Caparrini (2002) The discovery of the vector representation of moments and angular velocity, Archive
for History of Exact Sciences 56:15181.
Michael J. Crowe (1967). A History of Vector Analysis : The Evolution of the Idea of a Vectorial System. Dover
Publications; Reprint edition. ISBN 0-486-67910-1.
J.E. Marsden (1976). Vector Calculus. W. H. Freeman & Company. ISBN 0-7167-0462-5.
H. M. Schey (2005). Div Grad Curl and all that: An informal text on vector calculus. W. W. Norton &
Company. ISBN 0-393-92516-1.
Barry Spain (1965) Vector Analysis, 2nd edition, link from Internet Archive.
Chen-To Tai (1995). A historical study of vector analysis. Technical Report RL 915, Radiation Laboratory,
University of Michigan.
11.8 External links

Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), Vector analysis, Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-
55608-010-4
Hazewinkel, Michiel, ed. (2001), Vector algebra, Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Springer, ISBN 978-1-
55608-010-4
Vector Calculus Video Lectures from University of New South Wales on Academic Earth
A survey of the improper use of in vector analysis (1994) Tai, Chen
Expanding vector analysis to an oblique coordinate system

Vector Analysis: A Text-book for the Use of Students of Mathematics and Physics, (based upon the lectures
of Willard Gibbs) by Edwin Bidwell Wilson, published 1902.
Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics: Vector Analysis
Chapter 12
Maxwell stress tensor
The Maxwell stress tensor (named after James Clerk Maxwell) is a second-order tensor used in classical electromag-
netism to represent the interaction between electromagnetic forces and mechanical momentum. In simple situations,
such as a point charge moving freely in a homogeneous magnetic eld, it is easy to calculate the forces on the charge
from the Lorentz force law. When the situation becomes more complicated, this ordinary procedure can become
impossibly dicult, with equations spanning multiple lines. It is therefore convenient to collect many of these terms
in the Maxwell stress tensor, and to use tensor arithmetic to nd the answer to the problem at hand.
In the relativistic formulation of electromagnetism, the Maxwells tensor appears as a part of the electromagnetic
stressenergy tensor which is the electromagnetic component of the total stressenergy tensor. The latter describes
the density and ux of energy and momentum in spacetime.
12.1 Motivation
As outlined below, the electromagnetic force is written in terms of E and B, using vector calculus and Maxwells equa-
tions symmetry in the terms containing E and B are sought for, and introducing the Maxwell stress tensor simplies
the result.
1. Starting with the Lorentz force law
F = q(E + v B)
the force per unit volume is
f = E + J B
2. Next, and J can be replaced by the elds E and B, using Gausss law and Ampres circuital law:
1 E
f = 0 ( E) E + ( B) B 0 B
0 t
3. The time derivative can be rewritten to something that can be interpreted physically, namely the Poynting
vector. Using the product rule and Faradays law of induction gives
E B E
(E B) = B+E = B E ( E)
t t t t
and we can now rewrite f as
1
f = 0 ( E) E + ( B) B 0 (E B) 0 E ( E),
0 t
153
154 CHAPTER 12. MAXWELL STRESS TENSOR
f
d F = fd V
B
E
E B
+
v
= v
dq = dV
Lorentz force (per unit 3-volume) f on a continuous charge distribution (charge density ) in motion. The 3-current density J
corresponds to the motion of the charge element dq in volume element dV and varies throughout the continuum.
then collecting terms with E and B gives
1
f = 0 [( E)E E ( E)] + [B ( B)] 0 (E B) .
0 t
4. A term seems to be missing from the symmetry in E and B, which can be achieved by inserting ( B)B
12.2. EQUATION 155
because of Gauss law for magnetism:
1
f = 0 [( E)E E ( E)] + [( B)B B ( B)] 0 (E B) .
0 t
Eliminating the curls (which are fairly complicated to calculate), using the vector calculus identity
2 (A A) = A ( A) + (A )A,
1
leads to:
( )
1 1 1 2
f = 0 [( E)E + (E )E] + [( B)B + (B )B] 0 E +
2
B 0 (E B) .
0 2 0 t
5. This expression contains every aspect of electromagnetism and momentum and is relatively easy to compute.
It can be written more compactly by introducing the Maxwell stress tensor,
( ) ( )
1 1 1
ij 0 Ei Ej ij E 2 + Bi Bj ij B 2 ,
2 0 2
and notice that all but the last term of f can be written as the divergence of the above, giving:
S
f + 0 0 =
t
As in the Poyntings theorem, the second term in the left side of above equation can be interpreted as time
derivative of EM elds momentum density and this way, the above equation will be the law of conservation of
momentum in classical electrodynamics.
where we have nally introduced the Poynting vector,
1
S= E B.
0
in the above relation for conservation of momentum, is the momentum ux density and plays a role similar
to S in Poyntings theorem.
Note that the above derivation assumes complete knowledge of both and J (both free and bounded charges and
currents). For the case of nonlinear materials (such as magnetic iron with a BH-curve), the nonlinear Maxwell stress
tensor must be used.[1]
12.2 Equation
In physics, the Maxwell stress tensor is the stress tensor of an electromagnetic eld. As derived above in SI units,
it is given by:
1 1( )
ij = 0 Ei Ej + Bi Bj 0 E 2 + 1
0 B
2
ij
0 2
where 0 is the electric constant and 0 is the magnetic constant, E is the electric eld, B is the magnetic eld and ij
is Kroneckers delta. In Gaussian cgs unit, it is given by:
( )
1 1
ij = Ei Ej + Hi Hj (E 2 + H 2 )ij
4 2
156 CHAPTER 12. MAXWELL STRESS TENSOR
where H is the magnetizing eld.

An alternative way of expressing this tensor is:
[ ]
1 E2 + H 2
= EE+HH I
4 2
where is the dyadic product, and the last tensor is the unit dyad::

1 0 0
I 0 1 0 = (^
x^ y^
x+^ z ^
y +^ z)
0 0 1
The element ij of the Maxwell stress tensor has units of momentum per unit of area per unit time and gives the ux
of momentum parallel to the ith axis crossing a surface normal to the jth axis (in the negative direction) per unit of
time.
These units can also be seen as units of force per unit of area (negative pressure), and the ij element of the tensor
can also be interpreted as the force parallel to the ith axis suered by a surface normal to the jth axis per unit of
area. Indeed, the diagonal elements give the tension (pulling) acting on a dierential area element normal to the
corresponding axis. Unlike forces due to the pressure of an ideal gas, an area element in the electromagnetic eld
also feels a force in a direction that is not normal to the element. This shear is given by the o-diagonal elements of
the stress tensor.
12.3 Magnetism only

If the eld is only magnetic (which is largely true in motors, for instance), some of the terms drop out, and the equation
in SI units becomes:
1 1 2
ij = Bi Bj B ij .
0 20
For cylindrical objects, such as the rotor of a motor, this is further simplied to:
1 1 2
rt = Br Bt B rt .
0 20
where r is the shear in the radial (outward from the cylinder) direction, and t is the shear in the tangential (around the
cylinder) direction. It is the tangential force which spins the motor. Br is the ux density in the radial direction, and
Bt is the ux density in the tangential direction.
12.4 Eigenvalue
The eigenvalues of the Maxwell stress tensor are given by:
(
E 2 + B 2 / 2 B 2 /
)2
0 0 0 E 0 0 2
{} = , + (E B)
2 2 0
These eigenvalues are obtained by iteratively applying the Matrix Determinant Lemma, in conjunction with the
Sherman-Morrison Formula.
Noting that the characteristic equation matrix,

I , can be written as
I = ( + V ) I + 0 EET + BBT
0
12.5. SEE ALSO 157
1
( )
where V = 2 0 E 2 + B 2 /0
we set
U = ( + V ) I + 0 EET
Applying the Matrix Determinant Lemma once, this gives us
( )
det (

I) = 1 + 1 BT U1 B det (U)
0
Applying it again yields,

( )( )
det (

I) = 1 + 1 T 1 0 ET E 3
0 B U B 1 (+V ) ( V )
From the last multiplicand on the RHS, we immediately see that = V is one of the eigenvalues.
To nd the inverse of U , we use the Sherman-Morrison formula:
1 0 EET
U1 = ( + V ) (+V )2 (+V )(0 ET E)
Factoring out a ( V ) term in the determinant, we are left with nding the zeros of the rational function:
( )( )
0 (EB)2
( + V ) 0 ((+V )+0 ET E)
( + V ) + 0 ET E
Thus, once we solve
( ) 0 (EB)2
( + V ) ( + V ) + 0 E 2 0 =0
we obtain the other two eigenvalues.
12.5 See also

Ricci calculus
Energy density of electric and magnetic elds

Poynting vector
Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor

Magnetic pressure
Magnetic tension force
12.6 References
[1] Brauer, John R. (2014-01-13). Magnetic Actuators and Sensors. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118754979.
David J. Griths,"Introduction to Electrodynamics pp. 351352, Benjamin Cummings Inc., 2008

John David Jackson,"Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999.
Richard Becker,"Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions,Dover Publications Inc., 1964.

Chapter 13
Poynting vector
Dipole radiation of a dipole vertically in the page showing electric eld strength (colour) and Poynting vector (arrows) in the plane
of the page.
In physics, the Poynting vector represents the directional energy ux density (the energy transfer per unit area per
unit time) of an electromagnetic eld. The SI unit of the Poynting vector is the watt per square metre (W/m2 ). It is
named after its discoverer John Henry Poynting who rst derived it in 1884.[1]:132 Oliver Heaviside[1]:132 and Nikolay
Umov[2]:147 also independently discovered the Poynting vector.
158
13.1. DEFINITION 159
13.1 Denition
In Poyntings original paper and in many textbooks, the Poynting vector is dened as[3] [4][5]
S = E H,
where bold letters represent vectors and
E is the electric eld vector;

H is the magnetic eld's auxiliary eld vector.
This expression is often called the Abraham form.[6] The Poynting vector is usually denoted by S or N.
In the microscopic version of Maxwells equations, this denition must be replaced by a denition in terms of the
electric eld E and the magnetic eld B (it is described later in the article).
It is also possible to combine the electric displacement eld D with the magnetic eld B to get the Minkowski form
of the Poynting vector, or use D and H to construct yet another version. The choice has been controversial: Pfeifer
et al.[7] summarize and to a certain extent resolve the century-long dispute between proponents of the Abraham and
Minkowski forms (see AbrahamMinkowski controversy).
The Poynting vector represents the particular case of an energy ux vector for electromagnetic energy. However, any
type of energy has its direction of movement in space, as well as its density, so energy ux vectors can be dened
for other types of energy as well, e.g., for mechanical energy. The UmovPoynting vector[8] discovered by Nikolay
Umov in 1874 describes energy ux in liquid and elastic media in a completely generalized view.
13.2 Interpretation
i
+ V R
H
S
E
P i
A DC circuit consisting of a battery (V) and resistor (R), showing the direction of the Poynting vector (S, blue) in the space surrounding
it, along with the elds it is derived from; the electric eld (E, red) and the magnetic eld (H, green). In the region around the battery
the Poynting vector is directed outward, indicating power owing out of the battery into the elds; in the region around the resistor
the vector is directed inward, indicating eld power owing into the resistor. Across any plane P between the battery and resistor, the
Poynting ux is in the direction of the resistor. The magnitudes (lengths) of the vectors are not shown accurately; only the directions
are signicant.
The Poynting vector appears in Poyntings theorem (see that article for the derivation), an energy-conservation law:
u
= S Jf E,
t
160 CHAPTER 13. POYNTING VECTOR
where J is the current density of free charges and u is the electromagnetic energy density for linear, nondispersive
materials, given by
1
u= (E D + B H),
2
where
E is the electric eld;

D is the electric displacement eld;
B is the magnetic eld;
H is the magnetic auxiliary eld.[9]:258260
The rst term in the right-hand side represents the electromagnetic energy ow into a small volume, while the sec-
ond term subtracts the work done by the eld on free electrical currents, which thereby exits from electromagnetic
energy as dissipation, heat, etc. In this denition, bound electrical currents are not included in this term, and instead
contribute to S and u.
For linear, nondispersive and isotropic (for simplicity) materials, the constitutive relations can be written as
1
D = E, H= B,

where
is the permittivity of the material;

is the permeability of the material.[9]:258260
Here and are scalar, real-valued constants independent of position, direction, and frequency.
In principle, this limits Poyntings theorem in this form to elds in vacuum and nondispersive linear materials. A
generalization to dispersive materials is possible under certain circumstances at the cost of additional terms.[9]:262264
13.3 Formulation in terms of microscopic elds

The microscopic version of Maxwells equations admits only the fundamental elds E and B, without a built-in
model of material media. Only the vacuum permittivity and permeability are used, and there is no D or H. When
this model is used, the Poynting vector is dened as
1
S= E B,
0
where
0 is the vacuum permeability;

B is the magnetic eld.
The corresponding form of Poyntings theorem is
u
= S J E,
t
13.4. TIME-AVERAGED POYNTING VECTOR 161
where J is the total current density and the energy density u is given by
( )
1 2 1 2
u= 0 E + B ,
2 0
where 0 is the vacuum permittivity. It can be derived directly from Maxwells equations in terms of total charge and
current and the Lorentz force law only.
The two alternative denitions of the Poynting vector are equal in vacuum or in non-magnetic materials, where B =
0 H. In all other cases, they dier in that S = (1/0 ) E B and the corresponding u are purely radiative, since the
dissipation term J E covers the total current, while the E H denition has contributions from bound currents
which are then excluded from the dissipation term.[10]
Since only the microscopic elds E and B occur in the derivation of S = (1/0 ) E B, assumptions about any material
present are completely avoided, and Poynting vector and theorem are universally valid, in vacuum as in all kinds of
material. This is especially true for the electromagnetic energy density, in contrast to the macroscopic form E
H.[10]
13.4 Time-averaged Poynting vector

The above form for the Poynting vector represents the instantaneous power ow due to instantaneous electric and
magnetic elds. More commonly, problems in electromagnetics are solved in terms of sinusoidally varying elds at a
specied frequency. The results can then be applied more generally, for instance, by representing incoherent radiation
as a superposition of such waves at dierent frequencies and with uctuating amplitudes.
We would thus not be considering the instantaneous E(t) and H(t) used above, but rather a complex (vector) amplitude
for each which describes a coherent waves phase (as well as amplitude) using phasor notation. Note that these
complex amplitude vectors are not functions of time, as they are understood to refer to oscillations over all time. A
phasor such as Em is understood to signify a sinusoidally varying eld whose instantaneous amplitude E(t) follows
the real part of Em ejt where is the (radian) frequency of the sinusoidal wave being considered.
In the time domain it will be seen that the instantaneous power ow will be uctuating at a frequency of 2. But
what is normally of interest is the average power ow in which those uctuations are not considered. In the math
below, this is accomplished by integrating over a full cycle T = 2/ . The following quantity, still referred to as a
Poynting vector, is expressed directly in terms of the phasors as:
Sm = 21 Em Hm
where * denotes the complex conjugate. The time-averaged power ow (according to the instantaneous Poynting
vector averaged over a full cycle, for instance) is then given by the real part of Sm . The imaginary part is usually
ignored, however it signies reactive power such as the interference due to a standing wave or the near eld of an
antenna. In a single electromagnetic plane wave (rather than a standing wave which can be described as two such
waves travelling in opposite directions), E and H are exactly in phase, so Sm is simply a real number according to the
above denition.
The equivalence of Re(Sm ) to the time-average of the instantaneous Poynting vector S can be shown as follows.
S(t) = E(t) H(t)

( ) ( )
= Re Em ejt Re Hm ejt
( ) ( )
= 21 Em ejt + Em ejt 12 Hm ejt + Hm ejt
( )
= 14 Em Hm + Em Hm + Em Hm e2jt + Em Hm e2jt
( )
= 21 Re(Em Hm ) + 12 Re Em Hm e2jt .
The average of the instantaneous Poynting vector S over time is given by:
T[
1 T
1 ( )]
S = S(t) dt = 1
2 Re(Em Hm ) + 1
2 Re Em Hm e2jt dt.
T 0 T 0
The second term is the double-frequency component having an average value of zero, so we nd:
(1 )
S = Re 2 Em Hm = Re(Sm )
According to some conventions the factor of 1/2 in the above denition may be left out. Multiplication by 1/2 is
required to properly describe the power ow since the magnitudes of Em and Hm refer to the peak elds of the
the elds are described in terms of their root mean square (rms) values (which are
oscillating quantities. If rather
each smaller by the factor 2/2 ), then the correct average power ow is obtained without multiplication by 1/2.
13.5 Examples and applications
13.5.1 Coaxial cable
Inner conductor
Outer conductor
I
I
Current
E
S Electric eld
Poynting vector H
Magnetic eld
Poynting vector in a coaxial cable, shown in red.
For example, the Poynting vector within the dielectric insulator of a coaxial cable is nearly parallel to the wire axis
(assuming no elds outside the cable and a wavelength longer than the diameter of the cable, including DC). Electrical
energy delivered to the load is owing entirely through the dielectric between the conductors. Very little energy ows
in the conductors themselves, since the electric eld strength is nearly zero. The energy owing in the conductors
ows radially into the conductors and accounts for energy lost to resistive heating of the conductor. No energy ows
outside the cable, either, since there the magnetic elds of inner and outer conductors cancel to zero.
13.6. ADDING THE CURL OF A VECTOR FIELD 163
13.5.2 Resistive dissipation

If a conductor has signicant resistance, then, near the surface of that conductor, the Poynting vector would be tilted
toward and impinge upon the conductor. Once the Poynting vector enters the conductor, it is bent to a direction that
is almost perpendicular to the surface.[11]:61 This is a consequence of Snells law and the very slow speed of light
inside a conductor. The denition and computation of the speed of light in a conductor can be given.[12]:402 Inside
the conductor, the Poynting vector represents energy ow from the electromagnetic eld into the wire, producing
resistive Joule heating in the wire. For a derivation that starts with Snells law see Reitz page 454.[13]:454
13.5.3 Plane waves

In a propagating sinusoidal linearly polarized electromagnetic plane wave of a xed frequency, the Poynting vector
always points in the direction of propagation while oscillating in magnitude. The time-averaged magnitude of the
Poynting vector is found as above to be:
1
S = |Em |2
2
where E is the complex amplitude of the electric eld and is the characteristic impedance of the transmission
medium, or just 0 = 377 for a plane wave in free space. This directly follows from the above expression for the
average Poynting vector using phasor quantities, and the fact that in a plane wave the magnetic eld Hm is equal to
the electric eld Em divided by (and thus exactly in phase).
In optics, the time-averaged value of the radiated ux is technically known as the irradiance, more often simply
referred to as the intensity.
13.5.4 Radiation pressure

The density of the linear momentum of the electromagnetic eld is S/c2 where S is the magnitude of the Poynting
vector and c is the speed of light in free space. The radiation pressure exerted by an electromagnetic wave on the
surface of a target is given by
S
Prad = .
c
13.5.5 Static elds

The consideration of the Poynting vector in static elds shows the relativistic nature of the Maxwell equations and
allows a better understanding of the magnetic component of the Lorentz force, q(v B). To illustrate, the accompa-
nying picture is considered, which describes the Poynting vector in a cylindrical capacitor, which is located in an H
eld (pointing into the page) generated by a permanent magnet. Although there are only static electric and magnetic
elds, the calculation of the Poynting vector produces a clockwise circular ow of electromagnetic energy, with no
beginning or end.
While the circulating energy ow may seem nonsensical or paradoxical, it is necessary to maintain conservation of
momentum. Momentum density is proportional to energy ow density, so the circulating ow of energy contains an
angular momentum.[14] This is the cause of the magnetic component of the Lorentz force which occurs when the
capacitor is discharged. During discharge, the angular momentum contained in the energy ow is depleted as it is
transferred to the charges of the discharge current crossing the magnetic eld.
13.6 Adding the curl of a vector eld

The Poynting vector occurs in Poyntings theorem only through its divergence S, that is, it is only required that the
surface integral of the Poynting vector around a closed surface describe the net ow of electromagnetic energy into or
E
S
H
Poynting vector in a static eld, where E is the electric eld, H the magnetic eld, and S the Poynting vector.
out of the enclosed volume. This means that adding a eld to S which has zero divergence will result in a eld which
satises this required property of a Poynting vector eld according to Poyntings theorem. Since the divergence of
any curl is zero, one can add the curl of any vector eld to the Poynting vector and the resulting vector eld S' will
still satisfy Poyntings theorem.[9]:258260
However the theory of special relativity, in which energy and momentum are dened locally and invariantly via the
stressenergy tensor, shows that the above given expression for the Poynting vector is unique.[9]:258260,605612
13.7 References
[1] Stratton, Julius Adams (1941). Electromagnetic Theory (1st ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-470-13153-4.
[2] Turowski, Janusz; Turowski, Marek (2014). Engineering Electrodynamics: Electric Machine, Transformer, and Power
Equipment Design (1st ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4665-8932-2.
[3] Poynting, John Henry (1884). On the Transfer of Energy in the Electromagnetic Field. Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society of London. 175: 343361. doi:10.1098/rstl.1884.0016.
[4] Grant, Ian S.; Phillips, William R. (1990). Electromagnetism (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-
92712-9.
[5] Griths, David J. (2012). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Boston: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-85656-2.
[6] Kinsler, Paul; Favaro, Alberto; McCall, Martin W. (2009). Four Poynting Theorems. European Journal of Physics. 30
(5): 983. Bibcode:2009EJPh...30..983K. arXiv:0908.1721 . doi:10.1088/0143-0807/30/5/007.
[7] Pfeifer, Robert N. C.; Nieminen, Timo A.; Heckenberg, Norman R.; Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Halina (2007). Momentum of
an Electromagnetic Wave in Dielectric Media. Reviews of Modern Physics. 79 (4): 1197. Bibcode:2007RvMP...79.1197P.
arXiv:0710.0461 . doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.79.1197.
[8] Umov, Nikolay Alekseevich (1874). Ein Theorem ber die Wechselwirkungen in Endlichen Entfernungen. Zeitschrift
fr Mathematik und Physik. 19: 97114.
[9] Jackson, John David (1998). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-
30932-1.
[10] Richter, Felix; Florian, Matthias; Henneberger, Klaus (2008). Poyntings Theorem and Energy Conservation in the Prop-
agation of Light in Bounded Media. Europhysics Letters Association. 81 (6): 67005. Bibcode:2008EL.....8167005R.
arXiv:0710.0515 . doi:10.1209/0295-5075/81/67005.
[11] Harrington, Roger F. (2001). Time-Harmonic Electromagnetic Fields (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-471-20806-8.
[12] Hayt, William (2011). Engineering Electromagnetics (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-338066-7.
[13] Reitz, John R.; Milford, Frederick J.; Christy, Robert W. (2008). Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory (4th ed.). Boston:
Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-58174-7.
[14] Feynman, Richard Phillips (2011). The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Vol. II: Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter (The
New Millennium ed.). New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02494-0.

Becker, Richard (1982). Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions (1st ed.). Mineola, New York: Dover Publi-
cations. ISBN 978-0-486-64290-1.
Edminister, Joseph; Nahvi, Mahmood (2013). Electromagnetics (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN
978-0-07-183149-9.
Chapter 14
Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor
In relativistic physics, the electromagnetic stressenergy tensor is the contribution to the stressenergy tensor due to
the electromagnetic eld.[1] The stressenergy tensor describes the ow of energy and momentum in spacetime. The
electromagnetic stressenergy tensor contains the classical Maxwell stress tensor that governs the electromagnetic
interactions.
14.1 Denition
14.1.1 SI units
In free space and at spacetime, the electromagnetic stressenergy tensor in SI units is[2]
[ ]
1 1
T = F F F F .
0 4
where F is the electromagnetic tensor and where is the Minkowski metric tensor of metric signature (+++).
When using the metric with signature (+), the expression for T will have opposite sign.
Explicitly in matrix form:
( )
1
0 E 2 + 10 B 2 Sx /c Sy /c Sz /c
2
Sx /c xx xy xz
T = ,
Sy /c yx yy yz
Sz /c zx zy zz
where
1
S= E B,
0
is the Poynting vector,
( )
1 1 1 2
ij = 0 Ei Ej + Bi Bj 2
0 E + B ij
0 2 0
is the Maxwell stress tensor, and c is the speed of light. Thus, T is expressed and measured in SI pressure units
(pascals).
166
14.2. ALGEBRAIC PROPERTIES 167
14.1.2 CGS units

The permittivity of free space and permeability of free space in cgs-Gaussian units are
1
0 = , 0 = 4
4
then:
1 1
T = [F F F F ] .
4 4
and in explicit matrix form:
1 2 2

8 (E + B ) Sx /c Sy /c Sz /c
S /c xx xy xz
T = x
Sy /c yx yy yz
Sz /c zx zy zz
where Poynting vector becomes:
c
S= E B.
4
The stressenergy tensor for an electromagnetic eld in a dielectric medium is less well understood and is the subject
of the unresolved AbrahamMinkowski controversy.[3]
The element T of the stressenergy tensor represents the ux of the th-component of the four-momentum of the
electromagnetic eld, P , going through a hyperplane ( x is constant). It represents the contribution of electromag-
netism to the source of the gravitational eld (curvature of spacetime) in general relativity.
14.2 Algebraic properties

The electromagnetic stressenergy tensor has several algebraic properties:
It is a symmetric tensor:
T = T
The tensor T is traceless:
T = 0
The energy density is positive-denite:
T 00 0
The symmetry of the tensor is as for a general stressenergy tensor in general relativity. The tracelessness relates to
the masslessness of the photon.[4]
14.3 Conservation laws

Main article: Conservation laws
168 CHAPTER 14. ELECTROMAGNETIC STRESSENERGY TENSOR
The electromagnetic stressenergy tensor allows a compact way of writing the conservation laws of linear momentum
and energy in electromagnetism. The divergence of the stressenergy tensor is:
T + f = 0
where f is the (4D) Lorentz force per unit volume on matter.

This equation is equivalent to the following 4D conservation laws
uem
+S+JE=0
t
pem
+ E + J B = 0
t
respectively describing the ux of electromagnetic energy density
0 2 1 2
uem = E + B
2 20
and electromagnetic momentum density
S
pem =
c2
where J is the electric current density and the electric charge density.
14.4 See also

Ricci calculus
Covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism
Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld

Maxwells equations
Maxwells equations in curved spacetime

General relativity
Einstein eld equations

Magnetohydrodynamics
Vector calculus
14.5 References
[1] Gravitation, J.A. Wheeler, C. Misner, K.S. Thorne, W.H. Freeman & Co, 1973, ISBN 0-7167-0344-0
[2] Gravitation, J.A. Wheeler, C. Misner, K.S. Thorne, W.H. Freeman & Co, 1973, ISBN 0-7167-0344-0
[3] however see Pfeifer et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 1197 (2007)
[4] Garg, Anupam. Classical Electromagnetism in a Nutshell, p. 564 (Princeton University Press, 2012).
Chapter 15
General relativity
For the book by Robert Wald, see General Relativity (book).

For a more accessible and less technical introduction to this topic, see Introduction to general relativity.
General relativity (GR, also known as the general theory of relativity or GTR) is the geometric theory of
gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915[2] and the current description of gravitation in modern physics.
General relativity is considered probably the most beautiful of all existing physical theories.[3] General relativity gen-
eralizes special relativity and Newtons law of universal gravitation, providing a unied description of gravity as a
geometric property of space and time, or spacetime. In particular, the curvature of spacetime is directly related to the
energy and momentum of whatever matter and radiation are present. The relation is specied by the Einstein eld
equations, a system of partial dierential equations.
Some predictions of general relativity dier signicantly from those of classical physics, especially concerning the
passage of time, the geometry of space, the motion of bodies in free fall, and the propagation of light. Examples of
such dierences include gravitational time dilation, gravitational lensing, the gravitational redshift of light, and the
gravitational time delay. The predictions of general relativity have been conrmed in all observations and experiments
to date. Although general relativity is not the only relativistic theory of gravity, it is the simplest theory that is
consistent with experimental data. However, unanswered questions remain, the most fundamental being how general
relativity can be reconciled with the laws of quantum physics to produce a complete and self-consistent theory of
quantum gravity.
Einsteins theory has important astrophysical implications. For example, it implies the existence of black holes
regions of space in which space and time are distorted in such a way that nothing, not even light, can escapeas an
end-state for massive stars. There is ample evidence that the intense radiation emitted by certain kinds of astronomical
objects is due to black holes; for example, microquasars and active galactic nuclei result from the presence of stellar
black holes and supermassive black holes, respectively. The bending of light by gravity can lead to the phenomenon
of gravitational lensing, in which multiple images of the same distant astronomical object are visible in the sky.
General relativity also predicts the existence of gravitational waves, which have since been observed directly by
physics collaboration LIGO. In addition, general relativity is the basis of current cosmological models of a consistently
expanding universe.
15.1 History
Main articles: History of general relativity and Classical theories of gravitation
Soon after publishing the special theory of relativity in 1905, Einstein started thinking about how to incorporate
gravity into his new relativistic framework. In 1907, beginning with a simple thought experiment involving an observer
in free fall, he embarked on what would be an eight-year search for a relativistic theory of gravity. After numerous
detours and false starts, his work culminated in the presentation to the Prussian Academy of Science in November
1915 of what are now known as the Einstein eld equations. These equations specify how the geometry of space and
time is inuenced by whatever matter and radiation are present, and form the core of Einsteins general theory of
relativity.[4]
169
170 CHAPTER 15. GENERAL RELATIVITY
The Einstein eld equations are nonlinear and very dicult to solve. Einstein used approximation methods in working
out initial predictions of the theory. But as early as 1916, the astrophysicist Karl Schwarzschild found the rst non-
trivial exact solution to the Einstein eld equations, the Schwarzschild metric. This solution laid the groundwork for
the description of the nal stages of gravitational collapse, and the objects known today as black holes. In the same
year, the rst steps towards generalizing Schwarzschilds solution to electrically charged objects were taken, which
eventually resulted in the ReissnerNordstrm solution, now associated with electrically charged black holes.[5] In
1917, Einstein applied his theory to the universe as a whole, initiating the eld of relativistic cosmology. In line with
contemporary thinking, he assumed a static universe, adding a new parameter to his original eld equationsthe
cosmological constantto match that observational presumption.[6] By 1929, however, the work of Hubble and others
had shown that our universe is expanding. This is readily described by the expanding cosmological solutions found
by Friedmann in 1922, which do not require a cosmological constant. Lematre used these solutions to formulate the
earliest version of the Big Bang models, in which our universe has evolved from an extremely hot and dense earlier
state.[7] Einstein later declared the cosmological constant the biggest blunder of his life.[8]
During that period, general relativity remained something of a curiosity among physical theories. It was clearly
superior to Newtonian gravity, being consistent with special relativity and accounting for several eects unexplained
by the Newtonian theory. Einstein himself had shown in 1915 how his theory explained the anomalous perihelion
advance of the planet Mercury without any arbitrary parameters ("fudge factors").[9] Similarly, a 1919 expedition
led by Eddington conrmed general relativitys prediction for the deection of starlight by the Sun during the total
solar eclipse of May 29, 1919,[10] making Einstein instantly famous.[11] Yet the theory entered the mainstream of
theoretical physics and astrophysics only with the developments between approximately 1960 and 1975, now known
as the golden age of general relativity.[12] Physicists began to understand the concept of a black hole, and to identify
quasars as one of these objects astrophysical manifestations.[13] Ever more precise solar system tests conrmed the
theorys predictive power,[14] and relativistic cosmology, too, became amenable to direct observational tests.[15]
15.2 From classical mechanics to general relativity

General relativity can be understood by examining its similarities with and departures from classical physics. The rst
step is the realization that classical mechanics and Newtons law of gravity admit a geometric description. The com-
bination of this description with the laws of special relativity results in a heuristic derivation of general relativity.[16]
15.2.1 Geometry of Newtonian gravity

At the base of classical mechanics is the notion that a body's motion can be described as a combination of free (or
inertial) motion, and deviations from this free motion. Such deviations are caused by external forces acting on a body
in accordance with Newtons second law of motion, which states that the net force acting on a body is equal to that
bodys (inertial) mass multiplied by its acceleration.[17] The preferred inertial motions are related to the geometry of
space and time: in the standard reference frames of classical mechanics, objects in free motion move along straight
lines at constant speed. In modern parlance, their paths are geodesics, straight world lines in curved spacetime.[18]
Conversely, one might expect that inertial motions, once identied by observing the actual motions of bodies and
making allowances for the external forces (such as electromagnetism or friction), can be used to dene the geometry
of space, as well as a time coordinate. However, there is an ambiguity once gravity comes into play. According to
Newtons law of gravity, and independently veried by experiments such as that of Etvs and its successors (see
Etvs experiment), there is a universality of free fall (also known as the weak equivalence principle, or the universal
equality of inertial and passive-gravitational mass): the trajectory of a test body in free fall depends only on its position
and initial speed, but not on any of its material properties.[19] A simplied version of this is embodied in Einsteins
elevator experiment, illustrated in the gure on the right: for an observer in a small enclosed room, it is impossible
to decide, by mapping the trajectory of bodies such as a dropped ball, whether the room is at rest in a gravitational
eld, or in free space aboard a rocket that is accelerating at a rate equal to that of the gravitational eld.[20]
Given the universality of free fall, there is no observable distinction between inertial motion and motion under the
inuence of the gravitational force. This suggests the denition of a new class of inertial motion, namely that of
objects in free fall under the inuence of gravity. This new class of preferred motions, too, denes a geometry
of space and timein mathematical terms, it is the geodesic motion associated with a specic connection which
depends on the gradient of the gravitational potential. Space, in this construction, still has the ordinary Euclidean
geometry. However, spacetime as a whole is more complicated. As can be shown using simple thought experiments
following the free-fall trajectories of dierent test particles, the result of transporting spacetime vectors that can
15.2. FROM CLASSICAL MECHANICS TO GENERAL RELATIVITY 171
According to general relativity, objects in a gravitational eld behave similarly to objects within an accelerating enclosure. For
example, an observer will see a ball fall the same way in a rocket (left) as it does on Earth (right), provided that the acceleration of
the rocket is equal to 9.8 m/s2 (the acceleration due to gravity at the surface of the Earth).
denote a particles velocity (time-like vectors) will vary with the particles trajectory; mathematically speaking, the
Newtonian connection is not integrable. From this, one can deduce that spacetime is curved. The resulting Newton
Cartan theory is a geometric formulation of Newtonian gravity using only covariant concepts, i.e. a description which
is valid in any desired coordinate system.[21] In this geometric description, tidal eectsthe relative acceleration of
bodies in free fallare related to the derivative of the connection, showing how the modied geometry is caused by
the presence of mass.[22]
15.2.2 Relativistic generalization

As intriguing as geometric Newtonian gravity may be, its basis, classical mechanics, is merely a limiting case of
(special) relativistic mechanics.[23] In the language of symmetry: where gravity can be neglected, physics is Lorentz
invariant as in special relativity rather than Galilei invariant as in classical mechanics. (The dening symmetry of
special relativity is the Poincar group, which includes translations, rotations and boosts.) The dierences between the
two become signicant when dealing with speeds approaching the speed of light, and with high-energy phenomena.[24]
With Lorentz symmetry, additional structures come into play. They are dened by the set of light cones (see image).
The light-cones dene a causal structure: for each event A, there is a set of events that can, in principle, either inuence
or be inuenced by A via signals or interactions that do not need to travel faster than light (such as event B in the
image), and a set of events for which such an inuence is impossible (such as event C in the image). These sets are
observer-independent.[25] In conjunction with the world-lines of freely falling particles, the light-cones can be used to
reconstruct the spacetimes semi-Riemannian metric, at least up to a positive scalar factor. In mathematical terms,
this denes a conformal structure[26] or conformal geometry.
Special relativity is dened in the absence of gravity, so for practical applications, it is a suitable model whenever
gravity can be neglected. Bringing gravity into play, and assuming the universality of free fall, an analogous reasoning
as in the previous section applies: there are no global inertial frames. Instead there are approximate inertial frames
moving alongside freely falling particles. Translated into the language of spacetime: the straight time-like lines that
dene a gravity-free inertial frame are deformed to lines that are curved relative to each other, suggesting that the
inclusion of gravity necessitates a change in spacetime geometry.[27]
A priori, it is not clear whether the new local frames in free fall coincide with the reference frames in which the laws
of special relativity holdthat theory is based on the propagation of light, and thus on electromagnetism, which could
have a dierent set of preferred frames. But using dierent assumptions about the special-relativistic frames (such as
their being earth-xed, or in free fall), one can derive dierent predictions for the gravitational redshift, that is, the
way in which the frequency of light shifts as the light propagates through a gravitational eld (cf. below). The actual
measurements show that free-falling frames are the ones in which light propagates as it does in special relativity.[28]
The generalization of this statement, namely that the laws of special relativity hold to good approximation in freely
falling (and non-rotating) reference frames, is known as the Einstein equivalence principle, a crucial guiding principle
for generalizing special-relativistic physics to include gravity.[29]
The same experimental data shows that time as measured by clocks in a gravitational eldproper time, to give the
technical termdoes not follow the rules of special relativity. In the language of spacetime geometry, it is not mea-
sured by the Minkowski metric. As in the Newtonian case, this is suggestive of a more general geometry. At small
scales, all reference frames that are in free fall are equivalent, and approximately Minkowskian. Consequently, we
are now dealing with a curved generalization of Minkowski space. The metric tensor that denes the geometryin
particular, how lengths and angles are measuredis not the Minkowski metric of special relativity, it is a generaliza-
tion known as a semi- or pseudo-Riemannian metric. Furthermore, each Riemannian metric is naturally associated
with one particular kind of connection, the Levi-Civita connection, and this is, in fact, the connection that satises
the equivalence principle and makes space locally Minkowskian (that is, in suitable locally inertial coordinates, the
metric is Minkowskian, and its rst partial derivatives and the connection coecients vanish).[30]
15.2.3 Einsteins equations

Main articles: Einstein eld equations and Mathematics of general relativity
Having formulated the relativistic, geometric version of the eects of gravity, the question of gravitys source re-
mains. In Newtonian gravity, the source is mass. In special relativity, mass turns out to be part of a more general
quantity called the energymomentum tensor, which includes both energy and momentum densities as well as stress
(that is, pressure and shear).[31] Using the equivalence principle, this tensor is readily generalized to curved spacetime.
Drawing further upon the analogy with geometric Newtonian gravity, it is natural to assume that the eld equation for
gravity relates this tensor and the Ricci tensor, which describes a particular class of tidal eects: the change in volume
for a small cloud of test particles that are initially at rest, and then fall freely. In special relativity, conservation of
energymomentum corresponds to the statement that the energymomentum tensor is divergence-free. This formula,
too, is readily generalized to curved spacetime by replacing partial derivatives with their curved-manifold counter-
parts, covariant derivatives studied in dierential geometry. With this additional conditionthe covariant divergence
of the energymomentum tensor, and hence of whatever is on the other side of the equation, is zero the simplest
set of equations are what are called Einsteins (eld) equations:
On the left-hand side is the Einstein tensor, a specic divergence-free combination of the Ricci tensor R and the
metric. Where G is symmetric. In particular,
R = g R
is the curvature scalar. The Ricci tensor itself is related to the more general Riemann curvature tensor as
R = R .
On the right-hand side, T is the energymomentum tensor. All tensors are written in abstract index notation.[32]
Matching the theorys prediction to observational results for planetary orbits (or, equivalently, assuring that the weak-
gravity, low-speed limit is Newtonian mechanics), the proportionality constant can be xed as = 8G/c4 , with G
the gravitational constant and c the speed of light.[33] When there is no matter present, so that the energymomentum
tensor vanishes, the results are the vacuum Einstein equations,
R = 0.
15.3. DEFINITION AND BASIC APPLICATIONS 173
15.2.4 Alternatives to general relativity
Main article: Alternatives to general relativity
There are alternatives to general relativity built upon the same premises, which include additional rules and/or con-
straints, leading to dierent eld equations. Examples are BransDicke theory, teleparallelism, f(R) gravity and
EinsteinCartan theory.[34]
15.3 Denition and basic applications

See also: Mathematics of general relativity and Physical theories modied by general relativity
The derivation outlined in the previous section contains all the information needed to dene general relativity, describe
its key properties, and address a question of crucial importance in physics, namely how the theory can be used for
model-building.
15.3.1 Denition and basic properties
General relativity is a metric theory of gravitation. At its core are Einsteins equations, which describe the relation
between the geometry of a four-dimensional, pseudo-Riemannian manifold representing spacetime, and the energy
momentum contained in that spacetime.[35] Phenomena that in classical mechanics are ascribed to the action of the
force of gravity (such as free-fall, orbital motion, and spacecraft trajectories), correspond to inertial motion within
a curved geometry of spacetime in general relativity; there is no gravitational force deecting objects from their
natural, straight paths. Instead, gravity corresponds to changes in the properties of space and time, which in turn
changes the straightest-possible paths that objects will naturally follow.[36] The curvature is, in turn, caused by the
energymomentum of matter. Paraphrasing the relativist John Archibald Wheeler, spacetime tells matter how to
move; matter tells spacetime how to curve.[37]
While general relativity replaces the scalar gravitational potential of classical physics by a symmetric rank-two tensor,
the latter reduces to the former in certain limiting cases. For weak gravitational elds and slow speed relative to the
speed of light, the theorys predictions converge on those of Newtons law of universal gravitation.[38]
As it is constructed using tensors, general relativity exhibits general covariance: its lawsand further laws formu-
lated within the general relativistic frameworktake on the same form in all coordinate systems.[39] Furthermore,
the theory does not contain any invariant geometric background structures, i.e. it is background independent. It
thus satises a more stringent general principle of relativity, namely that the laws of physics are the same for all
observers.[40] Locally, as expressed in the equivalence principle, spacetime is Minkowskian, and the laws of physics
exhibit local Lorentz invariance.[41]
15.3.2 Model-building
The core concept of general-relativistic model-building is that of a solution of Einsteins equations. Given both
Einsteins equations and suitable equations for the properties of matter, such a solution consists of a specic semi-
Riemannian manifold (usually dened by giving the metric in specic coordinates), and specic matter elds de-
ned on that manifold. Matter and geometry must satisfy Einsteins equations, so in particular, the matters energy
momentum tensor must be divergence-free. The matter must, of course, also satisfy whatever additional equations
were imposed on its properties. In short, such a solution is a model universe that satises the laws of general relativity,
and possibly additional laws governing whatever matter might be present.[42]
Einsteins equations are nonlinear partial dierential equations and, as such, dicult to solve exactly.[43] Nevertheless,
a number of exact solutions are known, although only a few have direct physical applications.[44] The best-known exact
solutions, and also those most interesting from a physics point of view, are the Schwarzschild solution, the Reissner
Nordstrm solution and the Kerr metric, each corresponding to a certain type of black hole in an otherwise empty
universe,[45] and the FriedmannLematreRobertsonWalker and de Sitter universes, each describing an expanding
cosmos.[46] Exact solutions of great theoretical interest include the Gdel universe (which opens up the intriguing
possibility of time travel in curved spacetimes), the Taub-NUT solution (a model universe that is homogeneous, but
anisotropic), and anti-de Sitter space (which has recently come to prominence in the context of what is called the
Maldacena conjecture).[47]
Given the diculty of nding exact solutions, Einsteins eld equations are also solved frequently by numerical inte-
gration on a computer, or by considering small perturbations of exact solutions. In the eld of numerical relativity,
powerful computers are employed to simulate the geometry of spacetime and to solve Einsteins equations for in-
teresting situations such as two colliding black holes.[48] In principle, such methods may be applied to any system,
given sucient computer resources, and may address fundamental questions such as naked singularities. Approx-
imate solutions may also be found by perturbation theories such as linearized gravity[49] and its generalization, the
post-Newtonian expansion, both of which were developed by Einstein. The latter provides a systematic approach to
solving for the geometry of a spacetime that contains a distribution of matter that moves slowly compared with the
speed of light. The expansion involves a series of terms; the rst terms represent Newtonian gravity, whereas the
later terms represent ever smaller corrections to Newtons theory due to general relativity.[50] An extension of this
expansion is the parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism, which allows quantitative comparisons between the
predictions of general relativity and alternative theories.[51]
15.4 Consequences of Einsteins theory

General relativity has a number of physical consequences. Some follow directly from the theorys axioms, whereas
others have become clear only in the course of many years of research that followed Einsteins initial publication.
15.4.1 Gravitational time dilation and frequency shift
Main article: Gravitational time dilation

Assuming that the equivalence principle holds,[52] gravity inuences the passage of time. Light sent down into
a gravity well is blueshifted, whereas light sent in the opposite direction (i.e., climbing out of the gravity well) is
redshifted; collectively, these two eects are known as the gravitational frequency shift. More generally, processes
close to a massive body run more slowly when compared with processes taking place farther away; this eect is known
as gravitational time dilation.[53]
Gravitational redshift has been measured in the laboratory[54] and using astronomical observations.[55] Gravitational
time dilation in the Earths gravitational eld has been measured numerous times using atomic clocks,[56] while on-
going validation is provided as a side eect of the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS).[57] Tests in
stronger gravitational elds are provided by the observation of binary pulsars.[58] All results are in agreement with
general relativity.[59] However, at the current level of accuracy, these observations cannot distinguish between general
relativity and other theories in which the equivalence principle is valid.[60]
15.4.2 Light deection and gravitational time delay
Main articles: Kepler problem in general relativity, Gravitational lens, and Shapiro delay
General relativity predicts that the path of light is bent in a gravitational eld; light passing a massive body is deected
towards that body. This eect has been conrmed by observing the light of stars or distant quasars being deected
as it passes the Sun.[61]
This and related predictions follow from the fact that light follows what is called a light-like or null geodesica
generalization of the straight lines along which light travels in classical physics. Such geodesics are the generalization
of the invariance of lightspeed in special relativity.[62] As one examines suitable model spacetimes (either the exterior
Schwarzschild solution or, for more than a single mass, the post-Newtonian expansion),[63] several eects of gravity
on light propagation emerge. Although the bending of light can also be derived by extending the universality of
free fall to light,[64] the angle of deection resulting from such calculations is only half the value given by general
relativity.[65]
Closely related to light deection is the gravitational time delay (or Shapiro delay), the phenomenon that light signals
take longer to move through a gravitational eld than they would in the absence of that eld. There have been nu-
merous successful tests of this prediction.[66] In the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism (PPN), measurements
of both the deection of light and the gravitational time delay determine a parameter called , which encodes the
inuence of gravity on the geometry of space.[67]
15.4. CONSEQUENCES OF EINSTEINS THEORY 175
15.4.3 Gravitational waves

Main article: Gravitational wave
Predicted in 1916[68][69] by Albert Einstein, there are gravitational waves: ripples in the metric of spacetime that
propagate at the speed of light. These are one of several analogies between weak-eld gravity and electromagnetism
in that, they are analogous to electromagnetic waves. On February 11, 2016, the Advanced LIGO team announced
that they had directly detected gravitational waves from a pair of black holes merging.[70][71][72]
The simplest type of such a wave can be visualized by its action on a ring of freely oating particles. A sine wave
propagating through such a ring towards the reader distorts the ring in a characteristic, rhythmic fashion (animated
image to the right).[73] Since Einsteins equations are non-linear, arbitrarily strong gravitational waves do not obey
linear superposition, making their description dicult. However, for weak elds, a linear approximation can be
made. Such linearized gravitational waves are suciently accurate to describe the exceedingly weak waves that are
expected to arrive here on Earth from far-o cosmic events, which typically result in relative distances increasing and
decreasing by 1021 or less. Data analysis methods routinely make use of the fact that these linearized waves can be
Fourier decomposed.[74]
Some exact solutions describe gravitational waves without any approximation, e.g., a wave train traveling through
empty space[75] or Gowdy universes, varieties of an expanding cosmos lled with gravitational waves.[76] But for
gravitational waves produced in astrophysically relevant situations, such as the merger of two black holes, numerical
methods are presently the only way to construct appropriate models.[77]
15.4.4 Orbital eects and the relativity of direction

Main article: Kepler problem in general relativity
General relativity diers from classical mechanics in a number of predictions concerning orbiting bodies. It predicts
an overall rotation (precession) of planetary orbits, as well as orbital decay caused by the emission of gravitational
waves and eects related to the relativity of direction.
Precession of apsides
In general relativity, the apsides of any orbit (the point of the orbiting bodys closest approach to the systems center
of mass) will precessthe orbit is not an ellipse, but akin to an ellipse that rotates on its focus, resulting in a rose
curve-like shape (see image). Einstein rst derived this result by using an approximate metric representing the New-
tonian limit and treating the orbiting body as a test particle. For him, the fact that his theory gave a straightforward
explanation of Mercurys anomalous perihelion shift, discovered earlier by Urbain Le Verrier in 1859, was important
evidence that he had at last identied the correct form of the gravitational eld equations.[78]
The eect can also be derived by using either the exact Schwarzschild metric (describing spacetime around a spher-
ical mass)[79] or the much more general post-Newtonian formalism.[80] It is due to the inuence of gravity on the
geometry of space and to the contribution of self-energy to a bodys gravity (encoded in the nonlinearity of Ein-
steins equations).[81] Relativistic precession has been observed for all planets that allow for accurate precession mea-
surements (Mercury, Venus, and Earth),[82] as well as in binary pulsar systems, where it is larger by ve orders of
magnitude.[83]
In general relativity the perihelion shift , expressed in radians per revolution, is approximately given by:[84]
24 3 L2
= ,
T 2 c2 (1 e2 )
where:
L is the semi-major axis

T is the orbital period
c is the speed of light
e is the orbital eccentricity
Orbital decay
According to general relativity, a binary system will emit gravitational waves, thereby losing energy. Due to this loss,
the distance between the two orbiting bodies decreases, and so does their orbital period. Within the Solar System or
for ordinary double stars, the eect is too small to be observable. This is not the case for a close binary pulsar, a system
of two orbiting neutron stars, one of which is a pulsar: from the pulsar, observers on Earth receive a regular series
of radio pulses that can serve as a highly accurate clock, which allows precise measurements of the orbital period.
Because neutron stars are immensely compact, signicant amounts of energy are emitted in the form of gravitational
radiation.[86]
The rst observation of a decrease in orbital period due to the emission of gravitational waves was made by Hulse and
Taylor, using the binary pulsar PSR1913+16 they had discovered in 1974. This was the rst detection of gravitational
waves, albeit indirect, for which they were awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in physics.[87] Since then, several other
binary pulsars have been found, in particular the double pulsar PSR J0737-3039, in which both stars are pulsars.[88]
Geodetic precession and frame-dragging
Main articles: Geodetic precession and Frame dragging
Several relativistic eects are directly related to the relativity of direction.[89] One is geodetic precession: the axis
direction of a gyroscope in free fall in curved spacetime will change when compared, for instance, with the direction
of light received from distant starseven though such a gyroscope represents the way of keeping a direction as stable
as possible ("parallel transport").[90] For the MoonEarth system, this eect has been measured with the help of
lunar laser ranging.[91] More recently, it has been measured for test masses aboard the satellite Gravity Probe B to a
precision of better than 0.3%.[92][93]
Near a rotating mass, there are gravitomagnetic or frame-dragging eects. A distant observer will determine that
objects close to the mass get dragged around. This is most extreme for rotating black holes where, for any object
entering a zone known as the ergosphere, rotation is inevitable.[94] Such eects can again be tested through their
inuence on the orientation of gyroscopes in free fall.[95] Somewhat controversial tests have been performed using
the LAGEOS satellites, conrming the relativistic prediction.[96] Also the Mars Global Surveyor probe around Mars
has been used.[97][98]
15.5 Astrophysical applications
15.5.1 Gravitational lensing
Main article: Gravitational lensing

The deection of light by gravity is responsible for a new class of astronomical phenomena. If a massive object is sit-
uated between the astronomer and a distant target object with appropriate mass and relative distances, the astronomer
will see multiple distorted images of the target. Such eects are known as gravitational lensing.[99] Depending on the
conguration, scale, and mass distribution, there can be two or more images, a bright ring known as an Einstein ring,
or partial rings called arcs.[100] The earliest example was discovered in 1979;[101] since then, more than a hundred
gravitational lenses have been observed.[102] Even if the multiple images are too close to each other to be resolved,
the eect can still be measured, e.g., as an overall brightening of the target object; a number of such "microlensing
events have been observed.[103]
Gravitational lensing has developed into a tool of observational astronomy. It is used to detect the presence and
distribution of dark matter, provide a natural telescope for observing distant galaxies, and to obtain an independent
estimate of the Hubble constant. Statistical evaluations of lensing data provide valuable insight into the structural
evolution of galaxies.[104]
15.5.2 Gravitational wave astronomy
Main articles: Gravitational wave and Gravitational wave astronomy

Observations of binary pulsars provide strong indirect evidence for the existence of gravitational waves (see Orbital
15.5. ASTROPHYSICAL APPLICATIONS 177
decay, above). Detection of these waves is a major goal of current relativity-related research.[105] Several land-
based gravitational wave detectors are currently in operation, most notably the interferometric detectors GEO 600,
LIGO (two detectors), TAMA 300 and VIRGO.[106] Various pulsar timing arrays are using millisecond pulsars to
detect gravitational waves in the 109 to 106 Hertz frequency range, which originate from binary supermassive
blackholes.[107] A European space-based detector, eLISA / NGO, is currently under development,[108] with a precur-
sor mission (LISA Pathnder) having launched in December 2015.[109]
Observations of gravitational waves promise to complement observations in the electromagnetic spectrum.[110] They
are expected to yield information about black holes and other dense objects such as neutron stars and white dwarfs,
about certain kinds of supernova implosions, and about processes in the very early universe, including the signature
of certain types of hypothetical cosmic string.[111] In February 2016, the Advanced LIGO team announced that they
had detected gravitational waves from a black hole merger.[70][71][112]
15.5.3 Black holes and other compact objects

Main article: Black hole
Whenever the ratio of an objects mass to its radius becomes suciently large, general relativity predicts the formation
of a black hole, a region of space from which nothing, not even light, can escape. In the currently accepted models
of stellar evolution, neutron stars of around 1.4 solar masses, and stellar black holes with a few to a few dozen solar
masses, are thought to be the nal state for the evolution of massive stars.[113] Usually a galaxy has one supermassive
black hole with a few million to a few billion solar masses in its center,[114] and its presence is thought to have played
an important role in the formation of the galaxy and larger cosmic structures.[115]
Astronomically, the most important property of compact objects is that they provide a supremely ecient mecha-
nism for converting gravitational energy into electromagnetic radiation.[116] Accretion, the falling of dust or gaseous
matter onto stellar or supermassive black holes, is thought to be responsible for some spectacularly luminous as-
tronomical objects, notably diverse kinds of active galactic nuclei on galactic scales and stellar-size objects such
as microquasars.[117] In particular, accretion can lead to relativistic jets, focused beams of highly energetic parti-
cles that are being ung into space at almost light speed.[118] General relativity plays a central role in modelling all
these phenomena,[119] and observations provide strong evidence for the existence of black holes with the properties
predicted by the theory.[120]
Black holes are also sought-after targets in the search for gravitational waves (cf. Gravitational waves, above). Merg-
ing black hole binaries should lead to some of the strongest gravitational wave signals reaching detectors here on
Earth, and the phase directly before the merger (chirp) could be used as a "standard candle" to deduce the dis-
tance to the merger eventsand hence serve as a probe of cosmic expansion at large distances.[121] The gravitational
waves produced as a stellar black hole plunges into a supermassive one should provide direct information about the
supermassive black holes geometry.[122]
15.5.4 Cosmology
Main article: Physical cosmology
The current models of cosmology are based on Einsteins eld equations, which include the cosmological constant
since it has important inuence on the large-scale dynamics of the cosmos,
1 8G
R R g + g = 4 T
2 c
where g is the spacetime metric.[123] Isotropic and homogeneous solutions of these enhanced equations, the
FriedmannLematreRobertsonWalker solutions,[124] allow physicists to model a universe that has evolved over
the past 14 billion years from a hot, early Big Bang phase.[125] Once a small number of parameters (for example the
universes mean matter density) have been xed by astronomical observation,[126] further observational data can be
used to put the models to the test.[127] Predictions, all successful, include the initial abundance of chemical elements
formed in a period of primordial nucleosynthesis,[128] the large-scale structure of the universe,[129] and the existence
and properties of a "thermal echo from the early cosmos, the cosmic background radiation.[130]
Astronomical observations of the cosmological expansion rate allow the total amount of matter in the universe to be
estimated, although the nature of that matter remains mysterious in part. About 90% of all matter appears to be dark
matter, which has mass (or, equivalently, gravitational inuence), but does not interact electromagnetically and, hence,
cannot be observed directly.[131] There is no generally accepted description of this new kind of matter, within the
framework of known particle physics[132] or otherwise.[133] Observational evidence from redshift surveys of distant
supernovae and measurements of the cosmic background radiation also show that the evolution of our universe is
signicantly inuenced by a cosmological constant resulting in an acceleration of cosmic expansion or, equivalently,
by a form of energy with an unusual equation of state, known as dark energy, the nature of which remains unclear.[134]
An inationary phase,[135] an additional phase of strongly accelerated expansion at cosmic times of around 1033
seconds, was hypothesized in 1980 to account for several puzzling observations that were unexplained by classical
cosmological models, such as the nearly perfect homogeneity of the cosmic background radiation.[136] Recent mea-
surements of the cosmic background radiation have resulted in the rst evidence for this scenario.[137] However, there
is a bewildering variety of possible inationary scenarios, which cannot be restricted by current observations.[138] An
even larger question is the physics of the earliest universe, prior to the inationary phase and close to where the clas-
sical models predict the big bang singularity. An authoritative answer would require a complete theory of quantum
gravity, which has not yet been developed[139] (cf. the section on quantum gravity, below).
15.5.5 Time travel
Kurt Gdel showed[140] that solutions to Einsteins equations exist that contain closed timelike curves (CTCs), which
allow for loops in time. The solutions require extreme physical conditions unlikely ever to occur in practice, and it
remains an open question whether further laws of physics will eliminate them completely. Since then othersimilarly
impracticalGR solutions containing CTCs have been found, such as the Tipler cylinder and traversable wormholes.
15.6 Advanced concepts
15.6.1 Causal structure and global geometry
Main article: Causal structure

In general relativity, no material body can catch up with or overtake a light pulse. No inuence from an event A
can reach any other location X before light sent out at A to X. In consequence, an exploration of all light world-
lines (null geodesics) yields key information about the spacetimes causal structure. This structure can be dis-
played using PenroseCarter diagrams in which innitely large regions of space and innite time intervals are shrunk
("compactied") so as to t onto a nite map, while light still travels along diagonals as in standard spacetime dia-
grams.[141]
Aware of the importance of causal structure, Roger Penrose and others developed what is known as global geometry.
In global geometry, the object of study is not one particular solution (or family of solutions) to Einsteins equations.
Rather, relations that hold true for all geodesics, such as the Raychaudhuri equation, and additional non-specic
assumptions about the nature of matter (usually in the form of energy conditions) are used to derive general results.[142]
15.6.2 Horizons
Main articles: Horizon (general relativity), No hair theorem, and Black hole mechanics
Using global geometry, some spacetimes can be shown to contain boundaries called horizons, which demarcate one
region from the rest of spacetime. The best-known examples are black holes: if mass is compressed into a suciently
compact region of space (as specied in the hoop conjecture, the relevant length scale is the Schwarzschild radius[143] ),
no light from inside can escape to the outside. Since no object can overtake a light pulse, all interior matter is
imprisoned as well. Passage from the exterior to the interior is still possible, showing that the boundary, the black
holes horizon, is not a physical barrier.[144]
Early studies of black holes relied on explicit solutions of Einsteins equations, notably the spherically symmetric
Schwarzschild solution (used to describe a static black hole) and the axisymmetric Kerr solution (used to describe a
rotating, stationary black hole, and introducing interesting features such as the ergosphere). Using global geometry,
15.6. ADVANCED CONCEPTS 179
later studies have revealed more general properties of black holes. In the long run, they are rather simple objects
characterized by eleven parameters specifying energy, linear momentum, angular momentum, location at a specied
time and electric charge. This is stated by the black hole uniqueness theorems: black holes have no hair, that is, no
distinguishing marks like the hairstyles of humans. Irrespective of the complexity of a gravitating object collapsing
to form a black hole, the object that results (having emitted gravitational waves) is very simple.[145]
Even more remarkably, there is a general set of laws known as black hole mechanics, which is analogous to the laws
of thermodynamics. For instance, by the second law of black hole mechanics, the area of the event horizon of a
general black hole will never decrease with time, analogous to the entropy of a thermodynamic system. This limits
the energy that can be extracted by classical means from a rotating black hole (e.g. by the Penrose process).[146]
There is strong evidence that the laws of black hole mechanics are, in fact, a subset of the laws of thermodynamics,
and that the black hole area is proportional to its entropy.[147] This leads to a modication of the original laws of
black hole mechanics: for instance, as the second law of black hole mechanics becomes part of the second law of
thermodynamics, it is possible for black hole area to decreaseas long as other processes ensure that, overall, entropy
increases. As thermodynamical objects with non-zero temperature, black holes should emit thermal radiation. Semi-
classical calculations indicate that indeed they do, with the surface gravity playing the role of temperature in Plancks
law. This radiation is known as Hawking radiation (cf. the quantum theory section, below).[148]
There are other types of horizons. In an expanding universe, an observer may nd that some regions of the past cannot
be observed ("particle horizon"), and some regions of the future cannot be inuenced (event horizon).[149] Even in
at Minkowski space, when described by an accelerated observer (Rindler space), there will be horizons associated
with a semi-classical radiation known as Unruh radiation.[150]
15.6.3 Singularities
Main article: Spacetime singularity
Another general feature of general relativity is the appearance of spacetime boundaries known as singularities. Space-
time can be explored by following up on timelike and lightlike geodesicsall possible ways that light and particles
in free fall can travel. But some solutions of Einsteins equations have ragged edgesregions known as spacetime
singularities, where the paths of light and falling particles come to an abrupt end, and geometry becomes ill-dened.
In the more interesting cases, these are curvature singularities, where geometrical quantities characterizing space-
time curvature, such as the Ricci scalar, take on innite values.[151] Well-known examples of spacetimes with future
singularitieswhere worldlines endare the Schwarzschild solution, which describes a singularity inside an eternal
static black hole,[152] or the Kerr solution with its ring-shaped singularity inside an eternal rotating black hole.[153]
The FriedmannLematreRobertsonWalker solutions and other spacetimes describing universes have past singu-
larities on which worldlines begin, namely Big Bang singularities, and some have future singularities (Big Crunch) as
well.[154]
Given that these examples are all highly symmetricand thus simpliedit is tempting to conclude that the occur-
rence of singularities is an artifact of idealization.[155] The famous singularity theorems, proved using the methods of
global geometry, say otherwise: singularities are a generic feature of general relativity, and unavoidable once the col-
lapse of an object with realistic matter properties has proceeded beyond a certain stage[156] and also at the beginning
of a wide class of expanding universes.[157] However, the theorems say little about the properties of singularities, and
much of current research is devoted to characterizing these entities generic structure (hypothesized e.g. by the BKL
conjecture).[158] The cosmic censorship hypothesis states that all realistic future singularities (no perfect symmetries,
matter with realistic properties) are safely hidden away behind a horizon, and thus invisible to all distant observers.
While no formal proof yet exists, numerical simulations oer supporting evidence of its validity.[159]
15.6.4 Evolution equations

Main article: Initial value formulation (general relativity)
Each solution of Einsteins equation encompasses the whole history of a universe it is not just some snapshot of how
things are, but a whole, possibly matter-lled, spacetime. It describes the state of matter and geometry everywhere
and at every moment in that particular universe. Due to its general covariance, Einsteins theory is not sucient by
itself to determine the time evolution of the metric tensor. It must be combined with a coordinate condition, which
is analogous to gauge xing in other eld theories.[160]
To understand Einsteins equations as partial dierential equations, it is helpful to formulate them in a way that
describes the evolution of the universe over time. This is done in 3+1 formulations, where spacetime is split
into three space dimensions and one time dimension. The best-known example is the ADM formalism.[161] These
decompositions show that the spacetime evolution equations of general relativity are well-behaved: solutions always
exist, and are uniquely dened, once suitable initial conditions have been specied.[162] Such formulations of Einsteins
eld equations are the basis of numerical relativity.[163]
15.6.5 Global and quasi-local quantities

Main article: Mass in general relativity
The notion of evolution equations is intimately tied in with another aspect of general relativistic physics. In Einsteins
theory, it turns out to be impossible to nd a general denition for a seemingly simple property such as a systems
total mass (or energy). The main reason is that the gravitational eldlike any physical eldmust be ascribed a
certain energy, but that it proves to be fundamentally impossible to localize that energy.[164]
Nevertheless, there are possibilities to dene a systems total mass, either using a hypothetical innitely distant ob-
server (ADM mass)[165] or suitable symmetries (Komar mass).[166] If one excludes from the systems total mass the
energy being carried away to innity by gravitational waves, the result is the Bondi mass at null innity.[167] Just as
in classical physics, it can be shown that these masses are positive.[168] Corresponding global denitions exist for
momentum and angular momentum.[169] There have also been a number of attempts to dene quasi-local quantities,
such as the mass of an isolated system formulated using only quantities dened within a nite region of space con-
taining that system. The hope is to obtain a quantity useful for general statements about isolated systems, such as a
more precise formulation of the hoop conjecture.[170]
15.7 Relationship with quantum theory

If general relativity were considered to be one of the two pillars of modern physics, then quantum theory, the basis
of understanding matter from elementary particles to solid state physics, would be the other.[171] However, how to
reconcile quantum theory with general relativity is still an open question.
15.7.1 Quantum eld theory in curved spacetime

Main article: Quantum eld theory in curved spacetime
Ordinary quantum eld theories, which form the basis of modern elementary particle physics, are dened in at
Minkowski space, which is an excellent approximation when it comes to describing the behavior of microscopic
particles in weak gravitational elds like those found on Earth.[172] In order to describe situations in which gravity
is strong enough to inuence (quantum) matter, yet not strong enough to require quantization itself, physicists have
formulated quantum eld theories in curved spacetime. These theories rely on general relativity to describe a curved
background spacetime, and dene a generalized quantum eld theory to describe the behavior of quantum matter
within that spacetime.[173] Using this formalism, it can be shown that black holes emit a blackbody spectrum of par-
ticles known as Hawking radiation, leading to the possibility that they evaporate over time.[174] As briey mentioned
above, this radiation plays an important role for the thermodynamics of black holes.[175]
15.7.2 Quantum gravity

Main article: Quantum gravity
See also: String theory, Canonical general relativity, Loop quantum gravity, Causal Dynamical Triangulations, and
Causal sets
The demand for consistency between a quantum description of matter and a geometric description of spacetime,[176]
as well as the appearance of singularities (where curvature length scales become microscopic), indicate the need
for a full theory of quantum gravity: for an adequate description of the interior of black holes, and of the very
15.8. CURRENT STATUS 181
early universe, a theory is required in which gravity and the associated geometry of spacetime are described in the
language of quantum physics.[177] Despite major eorts, no complete and consistent theory of quantum gravity is
currently known, even though a number of promising candidates exist.[178][179]
Attempts to generalize ordinary quantum eld theories, used in elementary particle physics to describe fundamental
interactions, so as to include gravity have led to serious problems.[180] Some have argued that at low energies, this
approach proves successful, in that it results in an acceptable eective (quantum) eld theory of gravity.[181] At very
high energies, however, the perturbative results are badly divergent and lead to models devoid of predictive power
(perturbative non-renormalizability").[182]
One attempt to overcome these limitations is string theory, a quantum theory not of point particles, but of minute one-
dimensional extended objects.[183] The theory promises to be a unied description of all particles and interactions,
including gravity;[184] the price to pay is unusual features such as six extra dimensions of space in addition to the
usual three.[185] In what is called the second superstring revolution, it was conjectured that both string theory and a
unication of general relativity and supersymmetry known as supergravity[186] form part of a hypothesized eleven-
dimensional model known as M-theory, which would constitute a uniquely dened and consistent theory of quantum
gravity.[187]
Another approach starts with the canonical quantization procedures of quantum theory. Using the initial-value-
formulation of general relativity (cf. evolution equations above), the result is the WheelerdeWitt equation (an ana-
logue of the Schrdinger equation) which, regrettably, turns out to be ill-dened without a proper ultraviolet (lattice)
cuto.[188] However, with the introduction of what are now known as Ashtekar variables,[189] this leads to a promising
model known as loop quantum gravity. Space is represented by a web-like structure called a spin network, evolving
over time in discrete steps.[190]
Depending on which features of general relativity and quantum theory are accepted unchanged, and on what level
changes are introduced,[191] there are numerous other attempts to arrive at a viable theory of quantum gravity, some
examples being the lattice theory of gravity based on the Feynman Path Integral approach and Regge Calculus,[178]
dynamical triangulations,[192] causal sets,[193] twistor models[194] or the path-integral based models of quantum cos-
mology.[195]
All candidate theories still have major formal and conceptual problems to overcome. They also face the common
problem that, as yet, there is no way to put quantum gravity predictions to experimental tests (and thus to decide
between the candidates where their predictions vary), although there is hope for this to change as future data from
cosmological observations and particle physics experiments becomes available.[196]
15.8 Current status

General relativity has emerged as a highly successful model of gravitation and cosmology, which has so far passed
many unambiguous observational and experimental tests. However, there are strong indications the theory is incomplete.[197]
The problem of quantum gravity and the question of the reality of spacetime singularities remain open.[198] Obser-
vational data that is taken as evidence for dark energy and dark matter could indicate the need for new physics.[199]
Even taken as is, general relativity is rich with possibilities for further exploration. Mathematical relativists seek to
understand the nature of singularities and the fundamental properties of Einsteins equations,[200] while numerical
relativists run increasingly powerful computer simulations (such as those describing merging black holes).[201] In
February 2016, it was announced that the existence of gravitational waves was directly detected by the Advanced
LIGO team on September 14, 2015.[72][202][203] A century after its introduction, general relativity remains a highly
active area of research.[204]
15.9 See also

Alcubierre drive (warp drive)
Center of mass (relativistic)
Contributors to general relativity
Derivations of the Lorentz transformations
Ehrenfest paradox
EinsteinHilbert action
Introduction to mathematics of general relativity
Relativity priority dispute
Ricci calculus
Tests of general relativity
Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity
Two-body problem in general relativity
Weak Gravity Conjecture
15.10 Notes
[1] GW150914: LIGO Detects Gravitational Waves. Black-holes.org. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
[2] O'Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F. (1996), General relativity. Mathematical Physics index, School of Mathematics and
Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
[3] Landau, Lev Davidovich, ed. The classical theory of elds. Vol. 2. Elsevier, 2013, p 245
[4] Pais 1982, ch. 9 to 15, Janssen 2005; an up-to-date collection of current research, including reprints of many of the original
articles, is Renn 2007; an accessible overview can be found in Renn 2005, pp. 110. Einsteins original papers are found
in Digital Einstein, volumes 4 and 6. An early key article is Einstein 1907, cf. Pais 1982, ch. 9. The publication featuring
the eld equations is Einstein 1915, cf. Pais 1982, ch. 1115
[5] Schwarzschild 1916a, Schwarzschild 1916b and Reissner 1916 (later complemented in Nordstrm 1918)
[6] Einstein 1917, cf. Pais 1982, ch. 15e
[7] Hubbles original article is Hubble 1929; an accessible overview is given in Singh 2004, ch. 24
[8] As reported in Gamow 1970. Einsteins condemnation would prove to be premature, cf. the section Cosmology, below
[9] Pais 1982, pp. 253254
[10] Kenneck 2005, Kenneck 2007
[11] Pais 1982, ch. 16
[12] Thorne, Kip (2003). The future of theoretical physics and cosmology: celebrating Stephen Hawkings 60th birthday. Cam-
bridge University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-521-82081-2. Extract of page 74
[13] Israel 1987, ch. 7.87.10, Thorne 1994, ch. 39
[14] Sections Orbital eects and the relativity of direction, Gravitational time dilation and frequency shift and Light deection
and gravitational time delay, and references therein
[15] Section Cosmology and references therein; the historical development is in Overbye 1999
[16] The following exposition re-traces that of Ehlers 1973, sec. 1
[17] Arnold 1989, ch. 1
[18] Ehlers 1973, pp. 5f
[19] Will 1993, sec. 2.4, Will 2006, sec. 2
[20] Wheeler 1990, ch. 2
[21] Ehlers 1973, sec. 1.2, Havas 1964, Knzle 1972. The simple thought experiment in question was rst described in
Heckmann & Schcking 1959
[22] Ehlers 1973, pp. 10f

15.10. NOTES 183
[23] Good introductions are, in order of increasing presupposed knowledge of mathematics, Giulini 2005, Mermin 2005, and
Rindler 1991; for accounts of precision experiments, cf. part IV of Ehlers & Lmmerzahl 2006
[24] An in-depth comparison between the two symmetry groups can be found in Giulini 2006a
[25] Rindler 1991, sec. 22, Synge 1972, ch. 1 and 2
[26] Ehlers 1973, sec. 2.3
[27] Ehlers 1973, sec. 1.4, Schutz 1985, sec. 5.1
[28] Ehlers 1973, pp. 17; a derivation can be found in Mermin 2005, ch. 12. For the experimental evidence, cf. the section
Gravitational time dilation and frequency shift, below
[29] Rindler 2001, sec. 1.13; for an elementary account, see Wheeler 1990, ch. 2; there are, however, some dierences between
the modern version and Einsteins original concept used in the historical derivation of general relativity, cf. Norton 1985
[30] Ehlers 1973, sec. 1.4 for the experimental evidence, see once more section Gravitational time dilation and frequency shift.
Choosing a dierent connection with non-zero torsion leads to a modied theory known as EinsteinCartan theory
[31] Ehlers 1973, p. 16, Kenyon 1990, sec. 7.2, Weinberg 1972, sec. 2.8
[32] Ehlers 1973, pp. 1922; for similar derivations, see sections 1 and 2 of ch. 7 in Weinberg 1972. The Einstein tensor is the
only divergence-free tensor that is a function of the metric coecients, their rst and second derivatives at most, and allows
the spacetime of special relativity as a solution in the absence of sources of gravity, cf. Lovelock 1972. The tensors on
both side are of second rank, that is, they can each be thought of as 44 matrices, each of which contains ten independent
terms; hence, the above represents ten coupled equations. The fact that, as a consequence of geometric relations known
as Bianchi identities, the Einstein tensor satises a further four identities reduces these to six independent equations, e.g.
Schutz 1985, sec. 8.3
[33] Kenyon 1990, sec. 7.4
[34] Brans & Dicke 1961, Weinberg 1972, sec. 3 in ch. 7, Goenner 2004, sec. 7.2, and Trautman 2006, respectively
[35] Wald 1984, ch. 4, Weinberg 1972, ch. 7 or, in fact, any other textbook on general relativity
[36] At least approximately, cf. Poisson 2004
[37] Wheeler 1990, p. xi
[38] Wald 1984, sec. 4.4
[39] Wald 1984, sec. 4.1
[40] For the (conceptual and historical) diculties in dening a general principle of relativity and separating it from the notion
of general covariance, see Giulini 2006b
[41] section 5 in ch. 12 of Weinberg 1972
[42] Introductory chapters of Stephani et al. 2003
[43] A review showing Einsteins equation in the broader context of other PDEs with physical signicance is Geroch 1996
[44] For background information and a list of solutions, cf. Stephani et al. 2003; a more recent review can be found in
MacCallum 2006
[45] Chandrasekhar 1983, ch. 3,5,6
[46] Narlikar 1993, ch. 4, sec. 3.3
[47] Brief descriptions of these and further interesting solutions can be found in Hawking & Ellis 1973, ch. 5
[48] Lehner 2002
[49] For instance Wald 1984, sec. 4.4
[50] Will 1993, sec. 4.1 and 4.2
[51] Will 2006, sec. 3.2, Will 1993, ch. 4
[52] Rindler 2001, pp. 2426 vs. pp. 236237 and Ohanian & Runi 1994, pp. 164172. Einstein derived these eects using
the equivalence principle as early as 1907, cf. Einstein 1907 and the description in Pais 1982, pp. 196198
[53] Rindler 2001, pp. 2426; Misner, Thorne & Wheeler 1973, 38.5
[54] PoundRebka experiment, see Pound & Rebka 1959, Pound & Rebka 1960; Pound & Snider 1964; a list of further
experiments is given in Ohanian & Runi 1994, table 4.1 on p. 186
[55] Greenstein, Oke & Shipman 1971; the most recent and most accurate Sirius B measurements are published in Barstow,
Bond et al. 2005.
[56] Starting with the HafeleKeating experiment, Hafele & Keating 1972a and Hafele & Keating 1972b, and culminating in
the Gravity Probe A experiment; an overview of experiments can be found in Ohanian & Runi 1994, table 4.1 on p. 186
[57] GPS is continually tested by comparing atomic clocks on the ground and aboard orbiting satellites; for an account of
relativistic eects, see Ashby 2002 and Ashby 2003
[58] Stairs 2003 and Kramer 2004
[59] General overviews can be found in section 2.1. of Will 2006; Will 2003, pp. 3236; Ohanian & Runi 1994, sec. 4.2
[60] Ohanian & Runi 1994, pp. 164172
[61] Cf. Kenneck 2005 for the classic early measurements by Arthur Eddingtons expeditions; for an overview of more recent
measurements, see Ohanian & Runi 1994, ch. 4.3. For the most precise direct modern observations using quasars, cf.
Shapiro et al. 2004
[62] This is not an independent axiom; it can be derived from Einsteins equations and the Maxwell Lagrangian using a WKB
approximation, cf. Ehlers 1973, sec. 5
[63] Blanchet 2006, sec. 1.3
[64] Rindler 2001, sec. 1.16; for the historical examples, Israel 1987, pp. 202204; in fact, Einstein published one such
derivation as Einstein 1907. Such calculations tacitly assume that the geometry of space is Euclidean, cf. Ehlers & Rindler
1997
[65] From the standpoint of Einsteins theory, these derivations take into account the eect of gravity on time, but not its
consequences for the warping of space, cf. Rindler 2001, sec. 11.11
[66] For the Suns gravitational eld using radar signals reected from planets such as Venus and Mercury, cf. Shapiro 1964,
Weinberg 1972, ch. 8, sec. 7; for signals actively sent back by space probes (transponder measurements), cf. Bertotti, Iess
& Tortora 2003; for an overview, see Ohanian & Runi 1994, table 4.4 on p. 200; for more recent measurements using
signals received from a pulsar that is part of a binary system, the gravitational eld causing the time delay being that of the
other pulsar, cf. Stairs 2003, sec. 4.4
[67] Will 1993, sec. 7.1 and 7.2
[68] Einstein, A (June 1916). Nherungsweise Integration der Feldgleichungen der Gravitation. Sitzungsberichte der Kniglich
Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Berlin. part 1: 688696.
[69] Einstein, A (1918). "ber Gravitationswellen. Sitzungsberichte der Kniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Berlin. part 1: 154167.
[70] Castelvecchi, Davide; Witze, Witze (February 11, 2016). Einsteins gravitational waves found at last. Nature News.
doi:10.1038/nature.2016.19361. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
[71] B. P. Abbott; et al. (LIGO Scientic Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration) (2016). Observation of Gravitational Waves
from a Binary Black Hole Merger. Physical Review Letters. 116 (6): 061102. PMID 26918975. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102.
[72] Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einsteins prediction | NSF - National Science Foundation. www.nsf.gov.
[73] Most advanced textbooks on general relativity contain a description of these properties, e.g. Schutz 1985, ch. 9
[74] For example Jaranowski & Krlak 2005
[75] Rindler 2001, ch. 13
[76] Gowdy 1971, Gowdy 1974
[77] See Lehner 2002 for a brief introduction to the methods of numerical relativity, and Seidel 1998 for the connection with
gravitational wave astronomy
[78] Schutz 2003, pp. 4849, Pais 1982, pp. 253254

15.10. NOTES 185
[79] Rindler 2001, sec. 11.9
[80] Will 1993, pp. 177181
[81] In consequence, in the parameterized post-Newtonian formalism (PPN), measurements of this eect determine a linear
combination of the terms and , cf. Will 2006, sec. 3.5 and Will 1993, sec. 7.3
[82] The most precise measurements are VLBI measurements of planetary positions; see Will 1993, ch. 5, Will 2006, sec. 3.5,
Anderson et al. 1992; for an overview, Ohanian & Runi 1994, pp. 406407
[83] Kramer et al. 2006
[84] Dediu, Adrian-Horia; Magdalena, Luis; Martn-Vide, Carlos (2015). Theory and Practice of Natural Computing: Fourth
International Conference, TPNC 2015, Mieres, Spain, December 1516, 2015. Proceedings (illustrated ed.). Springer. p.
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[85] A gure that includes error bars is g. 7 in Will 2006, sec. 5.1
[86] Stairs 2003, Schutz 2003, pp. 317321, Bartusiak 2000, pp. 7086
[87] Weisberg & Taylor 2003; for the pulsar discovery, see Hulse & Taylor 1975; for the initial evidence for gravitational
radiation, see Taylor 1994
[88] Kramer 2004
[89] Penrose 2004, 14.5, Misner, Thorne & Wheeler 1973, 11.4
[90] Weinberg 1972, sec. 9.6, Ohanian & Runi 1994, sec. 7.8
[91] Bertotti, Ciufolini & Bender 1987, Nordtvedt 2003
[92] Kahn 2007
[93] A mission description can be found in Everitt et al. 2001; a rst post-ight evaluation is given in Everitt, Parkinson & Kahn
2007; further updates will be available on the mission website Kahn & 19962012.
[94] Townsend 1997, sec. 4.2.1, Ohanian & Runi 1994, pp. 469471
[95] Ohanian & Runi 1994, sec. 4.7, Weinberg 1972, sec. 9.7; for a more recent review, see Schfer 2004
[96] Ciufolini & Pavlis 2004, Ciufolini, Pavlis & Peron 2006, Iorio 2009
[97] Iorio L. (August 2006), COMMENTS, REPLIES AND NOTES: A note on the evidence of the gravitomagnetic eld
of Mars, Classical Quantum Gravity, 23 (17): 54515454, Bibcode:2006CQGra..23.5451I, arXiv:gr-qc/0606092 ,
doi:10.1088/0264-9381/23/17/N01
[98] Iorio L. (June 2010), On the LenseThirring test with the Mars Global Surveyor in the gravitational eld of Mars, Central
European Journal of Physics, 8 (3): 509513, Bibcode:2010CEJPh...8..509I, arXiv:gr-qc/0701146 , doi:10.2478/s11534-
009-0117-6
[99] For overviews of gravitational lensing and its applications, see Ehlers, Falco & Schneider 1992 and Wambsganss 1998
[100] For a simple derivation, see Schutz 2003, ch. 23; cf. Narayan & Bartelmann 1997, sec. 3
[101] Walsh, Carswell & Weymann 1979
[102] Images of all the known lenses can be found on the pages of the CASTLES project, Kochanek et al. 2007
[103] Roulet & Mollerach 1997
[104] Narayan & Bartelmann 1997, sec. 3.7
[105] Barish 2005, Bartusiak 2000, Blair & McNamara 1997
[106] Hough & Rowan 2000
[107] Hobbs, George; Archibald, A.; Arzoumanian, Z.; Backer, D.; Bailes, M.; Bhat, N. D. R.; Burgay, M.; Burke-Spolaor,
S.; et al. (2010), The international pulsar timing array project: using pulsars as a gravitational wave detector, Clas-
sical and Quantum Gravity, 27 (8): 084013, Bibcode:2010CQGra..27h4013H, arXiv:0911.5206 , doi:10.1088/0264-
9381/27/8/084013
[108] Danzmann & Rdiger 2003
[109] LISA pathnder overview. ESA. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
[110] Thorne 1995
[111] Cutler & Thorne 2002
[112] Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einsteins prediction | NSF National Science Foundation. www.nsf.gov.
[113] Miller 2002, lectures 19 and 21
[114] Celotti, Miller & Sciama 1999, sec. 3
[115] Springel et al. 2005 and the accompanying summary Gnedin 2005
[116] Blandford 1987, sec. 8.2.4
[117] For the basic mechanism, see Carroll & Ostlie 1996, sec. 17.2; for more about the dierent types of astronomical objects
associated with this, cf. Robson 1996
[118] For a review, see Begelman, Blandford & Rees 1984. To a distant observer, some of these jets even appear to move faster
than light; this, however, can be explained as an optical illusion that does not violate the tenets of relativity, see Rees 1966
[119] For stellar end states, cf. Oppenheimer & Snyder 1939 or, for more recent numerical work, Font 2003, sec. 4.1; for
supernovae, there are still major problems to be solved, cf. Buras et al. 2003; for simulating accretion and the formation of
jets, cf. Font 2003, sec. 4.2. Also, relativistic lensing eects are thought to play a role for the signals received from X-ray
pulsars, cf. Kraus 1998
[120] The evidence includes limits on compactness from the observation of accretion-driven phenomena ("Eddington luminos-
ity"), see Celotti, Miller & Sciama 1999, observations of stellar dynamics in the center of our own Milky Way galaxy, cf.
Schdel et al. 2003, and indications that at least some of the compact objects in question appear to have no solid surface,
which can be deduced from the examination of X-ray bursts for which the central compact object is either a neutron star
or a black hole; cf. Remillard et al. 2006 for an overview, Narayan 2006, sec. 5. Observations of the shadow of the
Milky Way galaxys central black hole horizon are eagerly sought for, cf. Falcke, Melia & Agol 2000
[121] Dalal et al. 2006
[122] Barack & Cutler 2004
[123] Originally Einstein 1917; cf. Pais 1982, pp. 285288
[124] Carroll 2001, ch. 2
[125] Bergstrm & Goobar 2003, ch. 911; use of these models is justied by the fact that, at large scales of around hundred
million light-years and more, our own universe indeed appears to be isotropic and homogeneous, cf. Peebles et al. 1991
[126] E.g. with WMAP data, see Spergel et al. 2003
[127] These tests involve the separate observations detailed further on, see, e.g., g. 2 in Bridle et al. 2003
[128] Peebles 1966; for a recent account of predictions, see Coc, VangioniFlam et al. 2004; an accessible account can be found
in Weiss 2006; compare with the observations in Olive & Skillman 2004, Bania, Rood & Balser 2002, O'Meara et al.
2001, and Charbonnel & Primas 2005
[129] Lahav & Suto 2004, Bertschinger 1998, Springel et al. 2005
[130] Alpher & Herman 1948, for a pedagogical introduction, see Bergstrm & Goobar 2003, ch. 11; for the initial detection, see
Penzias & Wilson 1965 and, for precision measurements by satellite observatories, Mather et al. 1994 (COBE) and Bennett
et al. 2003 (WMAP). Future measurements could also reveal evidence about gravitational waves in the early universe; this
additional information is contained in the background radiations polarization, cf. Kamionkowski, Kosowsky & Stebbins
1997 and Seljak & Zaldarriaga 1997
[131] Evidence for this comes from the determination of cosmological parameters and additional observations involving the
dynamics of galaxies and galaxy clusters cf. Peebles 1993, ch. 18, evidence from gravitational lensing, cf. Peacock 1999,
sec. 4.6, and simulations of large-scale structure formation, see Springel et al. 2005
[132] Peacock 1999, ch. 12, Peskin 2007; in particular, observations indicate that all but a negligible portion of that matter is
not in the form of the usual elementary particles (non-baryonic matter), cf. Peacock 1999, ch. 12
15.10. NOTES 187
[133] Namely, some physicists have questioned whether or not the evidence for dark matter is, in fact, evidence for deviations
from the Einsteinian (and the Newtonian) description of gravity cf. the overview in Mannheim 2006, sec. 9
[134] Carroll 2001; an accessible overview is given in Caldwell 2004. Here, too, scientists have argued that the evidence indicates
not a new form of energy, but the need for modications in our cosmological models, cf. Mannheim 2006, sec. 10;
aforementioned modications need not be modications of general relativity, they could, for example, be modications in
the way we treat the inhomogeneities in the universe, cf. Buchert 2007
[135] A good introduction is Linde 1990; for a more recent review, see Linde 2005
[136] More precisely, these are the atness problem, the horizon problem, and the monopole problem; a pedagogical introduction
can be found in Narlikar 1993, sec. 6.4, see also Brner 1993, sec. 9.1
[137] Spergel et al. 2007, sec. 5,6
[138] More concretely, the potential function that is crucial to determining the dynamics of the inaton is simply postulated, but
not derived from an underlying physical theory
[139] Brandenberger 2007, sec. 2
[140] Gdel 1949
[141] Frauendiener 2004, Wald 1984, sec. 11.1, Hawking & Ellis 1973, sec. 6.8, 6.9
[142] Wald 1984, sec. 9.29.4 and Hawking & Ellis 1973, ch. 6
[143] Thorne 1972; for more recent numerical studies, see Berger 2002, sec. 2.1
[144] Israel 1987. A more exact mathematical description distinguishes several kinds of horizon, notably event horizons and
apparent horizons cf. Hawking & Ellis 1973, pp. 312320 or Wald 1984, sec. 12.2; there are also more intuitive denitions
for isolated systems that do not require knowledge of spacetime properties at innity, cf. Ashtekar & Krishnan 2004
[145] For rst steps, cf. Israel 1971; see Hawking & Ellis 1973, sec. 9.3 or Heusler 1996, ch. 9 and 10 for a derivation, and
Heusler 1998 as well as Beig & Chruciel 2006 as overviews of more recent results
[146] The laws of black hole mechanics were rst described in Bardeen, Carter & Hawking 1973; a more pedagogical presentation
can be found in Carter 1979; for a more recent review, see Wald 2001, ch. 2. A thorough, book-length introduction
including an introduction to the necessary mathematics Poisson 2004. For the Penrose process, see Penrose 1969
[147] Bekenstein 1973, Bekenstein 1974
[148] The fact that black holes radiate, quantum mechanically, was rst derived in Hawking 1975; a more thorough derivation
can be found in Wald 1975. A review is given in Wald 2001, ch. 3
[149] Narlikar 1993, sec. 4.4.4, 4.4.5
[150] Horizons: cf. Rindler 2001, sec. 12.4. Unruh eect: Unruh 1976, cf. Wald 2001, ch. 3
[151] Hawking & Ellis 1973, sec. 8.1, Wald 1984, sec. 9.1
[152] Townsend 1997, ch. 2; a more extensive treatment of this solution can be found in Chandrasekhar 1983, ch. 3
[153] Townsend 1997, ch. 4; for a more extensive treatment, cf. Chandrasekhar 1983, ch. 6
[154] Ellis & Van Elst 1999; a closer look at the singularity itself is taken in Brner 1993, sec. 1.2
[155] Here one should remind to the well-known fact that the important quasi-optical singularities of the so-called eikonal
approximations of many wave-equations, namely the "caustics", are resolved into nite peaks beyond that approximation.
[156] Namely when there are trapped null surfaces, cf. Penrose 1965
[157] Hawking 1966
[158] The conjecture was made in Belinskii, Khalatnikov & Lifschitz 1971; for a more recent review, see Berger 2002. An
accessible exposition is given by Garnkle 2007
[159] The restriction to future singularities naturally excludes initial singularities such as the big bang singularity, which in prin-
ciple be visible to observers at later cosmic time. The cosmic censorship conjecture was rst presented in Penrose 1969;
a textbook-level account is given in Wald 1984, pp. 302305. For numerical results, see the review Berger 2002, sec. 2.1
[160] Hawking & Ellis 1973, sec. 7.1

[161] Arnowitt, Deser & Misner 1962; for a pedagogical introduction, see Misner, Thorne & Wheeler 1973, 21.421.7
[162] Fours-Bruhat 1952 and Bruhat 1962; for a pedagogical introduction, see Wald 1984, ch. 10; an online review can be
found in Reula 1998
[163] Gourgoulhon 2007; for a review of the basics of numerical relativity, including the problems arising from the peculiarities
of Einsteins equations, see Lehner 2001
[164] Misner, Thorne & Wheeler 1973, 20.4
[165] Arnowitt, Deser & Misner 1962
[166] Komar 1959; for a pedagogical introduction, see Wald 1984, sec. 11.2; although dened in a totally dierent way, it can
be shown to be equivalent to the ADM mass for stationary spacetimes, cf. Ashtekar & Magnon-Ashtekar 1979
[167] For a pedagogical introduction, see Wald 1984, sec. 11.2
[168] Wald 1984, p. 295 and refs therein; this is important for questions of stabilityif there were negative mass states, then
at, empty Minkowski space, which has mass zero, could evolve into these states
[169] Townsend 1997, ch. 5
[170] Such quasi-local massenergy denitions are the Hawking energy, Geroch energy, or Penroses quasi-local energymomentum
based on twistor methods; cf. the review article Szabados 2004
[171] An overview of quantum theory can be found in standard textbooks such as Messiah 1999; a more elementary account is
given in Hey & Walters 2003
[172] Ramond 1990, Weinberg 1995, Peskin & Schroeder 1995; a more accessible overview is Auyang 1995
[173] Wald 1994, Birrell & Davies 1984
[174] For Hawking radiation Hawking 1975, Wald 1975; an accessible introduction to black hole evaporation can be found in
Traschen 2000
[175] Wald 2001, ch. 3
[176] Put simply, matter is the source of spacetime curvature, and once matter has quantum properties, we can expect spacetime
to have them as well. Cf. Carlip 2001, sec. 2
[177] Schutz 2003, p. 407
[178] Hamber 2009
[179] A timeline and overview can be found in Rovelli 2000
[180] 't Hooft & Veltman 1974
[181] Donoghue 1995
[182] In particular, a perturbative technique known as renormalization, an integral part of deriving predictions which take into
account higher-energy contributions, cf. Weinberg 1996, ch. 17, 18, fails in this case; cf. Veltman 1975, Goro & Sagnotti
1985; for a recent comprehensive review of the failure of perturbative renormalizability for quantum gravity see Hamber
2009
[183] An accessible introduction at the undergraduate level can be found in Zwiebach 2004; more complete overviews can be
found in Polchinski 1998a and Polchinski 1998b
[184] At the energies reached in current experiments, these strings are indistinguishable from point-like particles, but, crucially,
dierent modes of oscillation of one and the same type of fundamental string appear as particles with dierent (electric
and other) charges, e.g. Ibanez 2000. The theory is successful in that one mode will always correspond to a graviton, the
messenger particle of gravity, e.g. Green, Schwarz & Witten 1987, sec. 2.3, 5.3
[185] Green, Schwarz & Witten 1987, sec. 4.2
[186] Weinberg 2000, ch. 31
[187] Townsend 1996, Du 1996
[188] Kucha 1973, sec. 3

[189] These variables represent geometric gravity using mathematical analogues of electric and magnetic elds; cf. Ashtekar
1986, Ashtekar 1987
[190] For a review, see Thiemann 2006; more extensive accounts can be found in Rovelli 1998, Ashtekar & Lewandowski 2004
as well as in the lecture notes Thiemann 2003
[191] Isham 1994, Sorkin 1997
[192] Loll 1998
[193] Sorkin 2005
[194] Penrose 2004, ch. 33 and refs therein
[195] Hawking 1987
[196] Ashtekar 2007, Schwarz 2007
[197] Maddox 1998, pp. 5259, 98122; Penrose 2004, sec. 34.1, ch. 30
[198] section Quantum gravity, above
[199] section Cosmology, above
[200] Friedrich 2005
[201] A review of the various problems and the techniques being developed to overcome them, see Lehner 2002
[202] See Bartusiak 2000 for an account up to that year; up-to-date news can be found on the websites of major detector collab-
orations such as GEO 600 and LIGO
[203] For the most recent papers on gravitational wave polarizations of inspiralling compact binaries, see Blanchet et al. 2008,
and Arun et al. 2007; for a review of work on compact binaries, see Blanchet 2006 and Futamase & Itoh 2006; for a
general review of experimental tests of general relativity, see Will 2006
[204] See, e.g., the electronic review journal Living Reviews in Relativity
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06-12
Zwiebach, Barton (2004), A First Course in String Theory, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-83143-1
15.12.1 Popular books

Geroch, R. (1981), General Relativity from A to B, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-28864-1
Lieber, Lillian (2008), The Einstein Theory of Relativity: A Trip to the Fourth Dimension, Philadelphia: Paul
Dry Books, Inc., ISBN 978-1-58988-044-3
Wald, Robert M. (1992), Space, Time, and Gravity: the Theory of the Big Bang and Black Holes, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-87029-4
Wheeler, John; Ford, Kenneth (1998), Geons, Black Holes, & Quantum Foam: a life in physics, New York: W.
W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-31991-1
15.12.2 Beginning undergraduate textbooks

Callahan, James J. (2000), The Geometry of Spacetime: an Introduction to Special and General Relativity, New
York: Springer, ISBN 0-387-98641-3
Taylor, Edwin F.; Wheeler, John Archibald (2000), Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity,
Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-38423-X
15.12.3 Advanced undergraduate textbooks

B. F. Schutz (2009), A First Course in General Relativity (Second Edition), Cambridge University Press, ISBN
978-0-521-88705-2
Cheng, Ta-Pei (2005), Relativity, Gravitation and Cosmology: a Basic Introduction, Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-852957-0
Gron, O.; Hervik, S. (2007), Einsteins General theory of Relativity, Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-69199-2
Hartle, James B. (2003), Gravity: an Introduction to Einsteins General Relativity, San Francisco: Addison-
Wesley, ISBN 0-8053-8662-9
Hughston, L. P. & Tod, K. P. (1991), Introduction to General Relativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, ISBN 0-521-33943-X
d'Inverno, Ray (1992), Introducing Einsteins Relativity, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-859686-
3
Ludyk, Gnter (2013). Einstein in Matrix Form (1st ed.). Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-35797-8.
15.12.4 Graduate-level textbooks

Carroll, Sean M. (2004), Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity, San Francisco:
Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-8053-8732-3
Grn, yvind; Hervik, Sigbjrn (2007), Einsteins General Theory of Relativity, New York: Springer, ISBN
978-0-387-69199-2
Landau, Lev D.; Lifshitz, Evgeny F. (1980), The Classical Theory of Fields (4th ed.), London: Butterworth-
Heinemann, ISBN 0-7506-2768-9
Misner, Charles W.; Thorne, Kip. S.; Wheeler, John A. (1973), Gravitation, W. H. Freeman, ISBN 0-7167-
0344-0
Stephani, Hans (1990), General Relativity: An Introduction to the Theory of the Gravitational Field, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-37941-5
Wald, Robert M. (1984), General Relativity, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-87033-2

Einstein Online Articles on a variety of aspects of relativistic physics for a general audience; hosted by the
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics
NCSA Spacetime Wrinkles produced by the numerical relativity group at the NCSA, with an elementary
introduction to general relativity
Courses
Lectures
Tutorials
Einsteins General Theory of Relativity on YouTube (lecture by Leonard Susskind recorded September 22,
2008 at Stanford University).
Series of lectures on General Relativity given in 2006 at the Institut Henri Poincar (introductory/advanced).
General Relativity Tutorials by John Baez.

Brown, Kevin. Reections on relativity. Mathpages.com. Retrieved May 29, 2005.
Carroll, Sean M. Lecture Notes on General Relativity. Retrieved January 5, 2014.

Moor, Ra. Understanding General Relativity. Retrieved July 11, 2006.
Waner, Stefan. Introduction to Dierential Geometry and General Relativity (PDF). Retrieved 2015-04-05.
Time
C
A
Space
Light cone
Schematic representation of the gravitational redshift of a light wave escaping from the surface of a massive body
Deection of light (sent out from the location shown in blue) near a compact body (shown in gray)
Ring of test particles deformed by a passing (linearized, amplied for better visibility) gravitational wave
Newtonian (red) vs. Einsteinian orbit (blue) of a lone planet orbiting a star
Orbital decay for PSR1913+16: time shift in seconds, tracked over three decades.[85]
Einstein cross: four images of the same astronomical object, produced by a gravitational lens
Artists impression of the space-borne gravitational wave detector LISA

Simulation based on the equations of general relativity: a star collapsing to form a black hole while emitting gravitational waves
This blue horseshoe is a distant galaxy that has been magnied and warped into a nearly complete ring by the strong gravitational
pull of the massive foreground luminous red galaxy.
Timelike
Infinity
Distant
Lightlike
Future Infinity
Distant Distant Spacelike

Spacetime Photon
Spacetime Infinity
Ray
Distant
time Past
space
PenroseCarter diagram of an innite Minkowski universe

The ergosphere of a rotating black hole, which plays a key role when it comes to extracting energy from such a black hole
Projection of a CalabiYau manifold, one of the ways of compactifying the extra dimensions posited by string theory
2
1 1
2
3 1
2 2
2 4 1
2 3
1 3
1 2
4 1
4 4
1
2
3 2
2
1
Simple spin network of the type used in loop quantum gravity.
Hanford, Washington (H1) Livingston, Louisiana (L1)
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
)
-1.0
-21
L1 observed
H1 observed (shifted, inverted)
Strain (10
H1 observed
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0 Numerical relativity Numerical relativity
Reconstructed (wavelet) Reconstructed (wavelet)
Reconstructed (template) Reconstructed (template)
0.5
0.0
-0.5 Residual Residual
Frequency (Hz)
Normalized amplitude
512
256
128
64
32
0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.30 0.35 0.40 0,45
Time (s) Time (s)
Observation of gravitational waves from binary black hole merger GW150914.

Chapter 16
Covariant formulation of classical

electromagnetism
Main article: Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld
The covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism refers to ways of writing the laws of classical electro-
magnetism (in particular, Maxwells equations and the Lorentz force) in a form that is manifestly invariant under
Lorentz transformations, in the formalism of special relativity using rectilinear inertial coordinate systems. These ex-
pressions both make it simple to prove that the laws of classical electromagnetism take the same form in any inertial
coordinate system, and also provide a way to translate the elds and forces from one frame to another. However, this
is not as general as Maxwells equations in curved spacetime or non-rectilinear coordinate systems.
This article uses the classical treatment of tensors and Einstein summation convention throughout and the Minkowski
metric has the form diag (+1, 1, 1, 1). Where the equations are specied as holding in a vacuum, one could
instead regard them as the formulation of Maxwells equations in terms of total charge and current.
For a more general overview of the relationships between classical electromagnetism and special relativity, including
various conceptual implications of this picture, see Classical electromagnetism and special relativity.
16.1 Covariant objects
16.1.1 Preliminary 4-vectors

Main article: Lorentz covariance
Lorentz tensors of the following kinds may be used in this article to describe bodies or particles:
4-Displacement:
x = (ct, x) = (ct, x, y, z) .
4-Velocity:
u = (c, u),
where (u) is the Lorentz factor at the 3-velocity u.
4-Momentum:
218
16.1. COVARIANT OBJECTS 219
p = (E/c, p) = m0 u
where p is 3-momentum, E is the kinetic energy, and m0 is rest mass.
4-Gradient
( )
1
= = , ,
x c t
The d'Alembertian operator is denoted .
The signs in the following tensor analysis depend on the convention used for the metric tensor. The convention used
here is +, corresponding to the Minkowski metric tensor:

1 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
=
0 0 1

0
0 0 0 1
16.1.2 Electromagnetic tensor
Main article: Electromagnetic tensor
The electromagnetic tensor is the combination of the electric and magnetic elds into a covariant antisymmetric tensor
whose entries are B-eld quantities. [1]

0 Ex /c Ey /c Ez /c
Ex /c 0 Bz By
F =
Ey /c

Bz 0 Bx
Ez /c By Bx 0
and the result of raising its indices is

0 Ex /c Ey /c Ez /c
Ex /c 0 Bz By
= .
def
F = F Ey /c Bz 0 Bx
Ez /c By Bx 0
where E is the electric eld, B the magnetic eld, and c the speed of light.
16.1.3 Four-current
Main article: Four-current
The four-current is the contravariant four-vector which combines electric charge density and electric current density
j:
J = (c, j) .
220 CHAPTER 16. COVARIANT FORMULATION OF CLASSICAL ELECTROMAGNETISM
16.1.4 Four-potential
Main article: Four-potential
The electromagnetic four-potential is a covariant four-vector containing the electric potential (also called the scalar
potential) and magnetic vector potential (or vector potential) A, as follows:
A = (/c, A) .
The dierential of the electromagnetic potential is
F = A A .
16.1.5 Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor

Main article: Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor
The electromagnetic stressenergy tensor can be interpreted as the ux density of the momentum 4-vector, and is
a contravariant symmetric tensor that is the contribution of the electromagnetic elds to the overall stressenergy
tensor:

0 E 2 /2 + B 2 /20 Sx /c Sy /c Sz /c
Sx /c xx xy xz
T =

,
Sy /c yx yy yz
Sz /c zx zy zz
where 0 is the electric permittivity of vacuum, 0 is the magnetic permeability of vacuum, the Poynting vector is
1
S= EB
0
and the Maxwell stress tensor is given by
( )
1 1 1 2
ij = 0 Ei Ej + Bi Bj 2
0 E + B ij .
0 2 20
The electromagnetic eld tensor F constructs the electromagnetic stressenergy tensor T by the equation:
( )
1 1
T = F F + F F
0 4
where is the Minkowski metric tensor. Notice that we use the fact that
0 0 c2 = 1 ,
which is predicted by Maxwells equations.
16.2 Maxwells equations in vacuo

Main article: Maxwells equations
16.3. LORENTZ FORCE 221
In vacuo (or for the microscopic equations, not including macroscopic material descriptions), Maxwells equations
can be written as two tensor equations.
The two inhomogeneous Maxwells equations, Gausss Law and Ampres law (with Maxwells correction) combine
into (with + metric):[2]
while the homogeneous equations Faradays law of induction and Gausss law for magnetism combine to form:
where F is the electromagnetic tensor, J is the 4-current, is the Levi-Civita symbol, and the indices behave
according to the Einstein summation convention.
The rst tensor equation corresponds to four scalar equations, one for each value of . The second tensor equation
actually corresponds to 43 = 64 dierent scalar equations, but only four of these are independent. Using the antisym-
metry of the electromagnetic eld one can either reduce to an identity (0 = 0) or render redundant all the equations
except for those with , , = either 1,2,3 or 2,3,0 or 3,0,1 or 0,1,2.
Using the antisymmetric tensor notation and comma notation for the partial derivative (see Ricci calculus), the second
equation can also be written more compactly as:
F[,] = 0.
In the absence of sources, Maxwells equations reduce to:
def def 1 2 F
F = F = 2 F = 0 ,
c2 t2
which is an electromagnetic wave equation in the eld strength tensor.
16.2.1 Maxwells equations in the Lorenz gauge
Main article: Lorenz gauge condition
The Lorenz gauge condition is a Lorentz-invariant gauge condition. (This can be contrasted with other gauge condi-
tions such as the Coulomb gauge, which if it holds in one inertial frame it will generally not hold in any other.) It is
expressed in terms of the four-potential as follows:
A = A = 0 .
In the Lorenz gauge, the microscopic Maxwells equations can be written as:
A = 0 J .
16.3 Lorentz force

Main article: Lorentz force
q (v B)
qE
E B
+q
v
Lorentz force f on a charged particle (of charge q) in motion (instantaneous velocity v). The E eld and B eld vary in space and
time.
16.3.1 Charged particle

Electromagnetic (EM) elds aect the motion of electrically charged matter: due to the Lorentz force. In this way,
EM elds can be detected (with applications in particle physics, and natural occurrences such as in aurorae). In
relativistic form, the Lorentz force uses the eld strength tensor as follows.[3]
Expressed in terms of coordinate time t, it is:
dp dx
= q F
dt dt
where p is the four-momentum, q is the charge, and x is the position.
In the co-moving reference frame, this yields the 4-force
dp
= q F u
d
16.3. LORENTZ FORCE 223
where u is the four-velocity, and is the particles proper time, which is related to coordinate time by dt = d.
16.3.2 Charge continuum
f
d F = fd V
B
E
E B
+
v
= v
dq = dV
Lorentz force per spatial volume f on a continuous charge distribution (charge density ) in motion.
See also: continuum mechanics
The density of force due to electromagnetism, whose spatial part is the Lorentz force, is given by
f = F J .
and is related to the electromagnetic stressenergy tensor by
T
f = T , .
x
16.4 Conservation laws
16.4.1 Electric charge

The continuity equation:
def
J , = J = 0 .
expresses charge conservation.
16.4.2 Electromagnetic energymomentum

Using the Maxwell equations, one can see that the electromagnetic stressenergy tensor (dened above) satises the
following dierential equation, relating it to the electromagnetic tensor and the current four-vector
T , + F J = 0
or
T , + F J = 0,
which expresses the conservation of linear momentum and energy by electromagnetic interactions.
16.5 Covariant objects in matter
16.5.1 Free and bound 4-currents

In order to solve the equations of electromagnetism given here, it is necessary to add information about how to
calculate the electric current, J Frequently, it is convenient to separate the current into two parts, the free current
and the bound current, which are modeled by dierent equations;
J = J free + J bound ,
where
( )
D
J free = (cfree , Jfree ) = c D, +H ,
t
( )
P
J bound = (cbound , Jbound ) = c P, +M .
t
16.6. MAXWELLS EQUATIONS IN MATTER 225
Maxwells macroscopic equations have been used, in addition the denitions of the electric displacement D and the
magnetic intensity H:
D = 0 E + P
1
H= B M.
0
where M is the magnetization and P the electric polarization.
16.5.2 Magnetization-polarization tensor

The bound current is derived from the P and M elds which form an antisymmetric contravariant magnetization-
polarization tensor [1]

0 Px c Py c Pz c
Px c 0 Mz My
M =
Py c Mz
,
0 Mx
Pz c My Mx 0
which determines the bound current
J bound = M .
16.5.3 Electric displacement tensor

If this is combined with F we get the antisymmetric contravariant electromagnetic displacement tensor which com-
bines the D and H elds as follows:

0 Dx c Dy c Dz c
Dx c 0 Hz Hy
D =
Dy c
.
Hz 0 Hx
Dz c Hy Hx 0
The three eld tensors are related by:
1
D = F M
0
which is equivalent to the denitions of the D and H elds given above.
16.6 Maxwells equations in matter

The result is that Ampres law,
D
H = Jfree +
t
and Gausss law,
D = free
combine into one equation:
The bound current and free current as dened above are automatically and separately conserved
J bound = 0
J free = 0 .
16.6.1 Constitutive equations

Main article: Constitutive equation
Vacuum
In vacuum, the constitutive relations between the eld tensor and displacement tensor are:
0 D = F .
Antisymmetry reduces these 16 equations to just six independent equations. Because it is usual to dene F by
F = F ,
the constitutive equations may, in vacuum, be combined with the GaussAmpre law to get:
F = 0 J .
The electromagnetic stressenergy tensor in terms of the displacement is:
1
T = F D F D ,
4
where is the Kronecker delta. When the upper index is lowered with , it becomes symmetric and is part of the
source of the gravitational eld.
Linear, nondispersive matter
Thus we have reduced the problem of modeling the current, J to two (hopefully) easier problems modeling the
free current, J and modeling the magnetization and polarization, M . For example, in the simplest materials
at low frequencies, one has
Jfree = E
P = 0 e E
M = m H
where one is in the instantaneously comoving inertial frame of the material, is its electrical conductivity, is its
electric susceptibility, and is its magnetic susceptibility.
The constitutive relations between the D and F tensors, proposed by Minkowski for a linear materials (that is, E is
proportional to D and B proportional to H), are:[4]
16.7. LAGRANGIAN FOR CLASSICAL ELECTRODYNAMICS 227
D u = c2 F u
1
D u = F u

where u is the 4-velocity of material, and are respectively the proper permittivity and permeability of the material
(i.e. in rest frame of material), and denotes the Hodge dual.
16.7 Lagrangian for classical electrodynamics
16.7.1 Vacuum
The Lagrangian density for classical electrodynamics is
1
L = Lfield + Lint = F F A J .
40
In the interaction term, the four-current should be understood as an abbreviation of many terms expressing the electric
currents of other charged elds in terms of their variables; the four-current is not itself a fundamental eld.
The EulerLagrange equation for the electromagnetic Lagrangian density L(A , A ) can be stated as follows:
[ ]
L L
= 0.
( A ) A
Noting
F = A A
the expression inside the square bracket is
L 1 (F F )
=
( A ) 40 ( A )
1 ( )
= F ( ) + F ( )
40
F
= .
0
The second term is
L
= J .
A
Therefore, the electromagnetic elds equations of motion are
F
= 0 J .
x
which is one of the Maxwell equations above.
16.7.2 Matter
Separating the free currents from the bound currents, another way to write the Lagrangian density is as follows:
1 1
L = F F A Jfree

+ F M .
40 2
Using EulerLagrange equation, the equations of motion for D can be derived.
The equivalent expression in non-relativistic vector notation is
( )
1 1 2
L = 0 E
2
B free + A Jfree + E P + B M .
2 0
16.8 See also

Covariant classical eld theory
Electromagnetic tensor
LinardWiechert potential for a charge in arbitrary motion
Nonhomogeneous electromagnetic wave equation
Proca action
Relativistic electromagnetism
Stueckelberg action
16.9 Notes and references

[1] Vanderlinde, Jack (2004), classical electromagnetic theory, Springer, pp. 313328, ISBN 9781402026997
[2] Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson, 3rd Edition, Chapter 11 Special Theory of Relativity
[3] The assumption is made that no forces other than those originating in E and B are present, that is, no gravitational, weak
or strong forces.
[4] D.J. Griths (2007). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Dorling Kindersley. p. 563. ISBN 81-7758-293-3.

Einstein, A. (1961). Relativity: The Special and General Theory. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-02961-8.
Misner, Charles; Thorne, Kip S.; Wheeler, John Archibald (1973). Gravitation. San Francisco: W. H. Free-
man. ISBN 0-7167-0344-0.
Landau, L. D.; Lifshitz, E. M. (1975). Classical Theory of Fields (Fourth Revised English Edition). Oxford:
Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-018176-7.
R. P. Feynman; F. B. Moringo; W. G. Wagner (1995). Feynman Lectures on Gravitation. Addison-Wesley.
ISBN 0-201-62734-5.
Chapter 17
Vacuum permittivity
This article is about the electric constant. For the analogous magnetic constant, see vacuum permeability. For the
ordinal number 0 , see epsilon numbers (mathematics).
The physical constant 0 , commonly called the vacuum permittivity, permittivity of free space or electric con-
stant, is an ideal, (baseline) physical constant, which is the value of the absolute dielectric permittivity of classical
vacuum. It has an exactly dened value
0 = 8.854187817...1012 Fm1 (farads per metre).[1]
It is the capability of the vacuum to permit electric eld lines. This constant relates the units for electric charge to
mechanical quantities such as length and force.[2] For example, the force between two separated electric charges (in
the vacuum of classical electromagnetism) is given by Coulombs law:
1 q1 q2
FC =
40 r2
First fraction value is 9 109 Nm2 C2 where q1 and q2 are the charges, and r is the distance between them. Likewise,
0 appears in Maxwells equations, which describe the properties of electric and magnetic elds and electromagnetic
radiation, and relate them to their sources.
17.1 Value
The value of 0 is currently dened by the formula[3]
1
0 =
0 c2
where c is the dened value for the speed of light in classical vacuum in SI units,[4] and 0 is the parameter that
international Standards Organizations call the "magnetic constant" (commonly called vacuum permeability). Since
0 has the dened value 4 107 H/m,[5] and c has the dened value 299792458 ms1 ,[6] it follows that 0 has a
dened value given approximately by
0 8.854187817620... 1012 Fm1 (or A2 s4 kg1 m3 in SI base units, or C2 N1 m2 or CV1 m1

using other SI coherent units).[7][8]
The historical origins of the electric constant 0 , and its value, are explained in more detail below.
229
230 CHAPTER 17. VACUUM PERMITTIVITY
17.1.1 Redenition of the SI units

Main article: New SI denitions
Under the proposals to redene the ampere as a xed number of elementary charges per second,[9] the electric constant
would no longer have an exact xed value. The value of the electron charge would become a dened number, not
measured, making 0 a measured quantity. Consequently, 0 also would not be exact. As before, it would be dened
by the equation 0 = 1/(0 c2 ), but now with a measurement error related to the error in 0 , the magnetic constant.
This measurement error can be related to that in the ne-structure constant :
1 e2
0 = 2
= ,
0 c 2hc
with e the exact elementary charge, h the exact Planck constant, and c the exact speed of light in vacuum. Here use
is made of the relation for the ne-structure constant:
0 ce2
= .
2h
The relative uncertainty in the value of 0 therefore would be the same as that for the ne-structure constant, currently
6.81010 .[7]
17.2 Terminology
Historically, the parameter 0 has been known by many dierent names. The terms vacuum permittivity or
its variants, such as permittivity in/of vacuum,[10][11] permittivity of empty space,[12] or permittivity of free
space"[13] are widespread. Standards Organizations worldwide now use electric constant as a uniform term for this
quantity,[7] and ocial standards documents have adopted the term (although they continue to list the older terms as
synonyms).[14][15]
Another historical synonym was dielectric constant of vacuum, as dielectric constant was sometimes used in the
past for the absolute permittivity.[16][17] However, in modern usage dielectric constant typically refers exclusively to
a relative permittivity /0 and even this usage is considered obsolete by some standards bodies in favor of relative
static permittivity.[15][18] Hence, the term dielectric constant of vacuum for the electric constant 0 is considered
obsolete by most modern authors, although occasional examples of continuing usage can be found.
As for notation, the constant can be denoted by either 0 or 0 , using either of the common glyphs for the letter
epsilon.
17.3 Historical origin of the parameter 0

As indicated above, the parameter 0 is a measurement-system constant. Its presence in the equations now used
to dene electromagnetic quantities is the result of the so-called rationalization process described below. But the
method of allocating a value to it is a consequence of the result that Maxwells equations predict that, in free space,
electromagnetic waves move with the speed of light. Understanding why 0 has the value it does requires a brief
understanding of the history.
17.3.1 Rationalization of units

The experiments of Coulomb and others showed that the force F between two equal point-like amounts of elec-
tricity, situated a distance r apart in free space, should be given by a formula that has the form
Q2
F = ke ,
r2
17.3. HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF THE PARAMETER 0 231
where Q is a quantity that represents the amount of electricity present at each of the two points, and k is Coulombs
constant. If one is starting with no constraints, then the value of k may be chosen arbitrarily.[19] For each dierent
choice of k there is a dierent interpretation of Q: to avoid confusion, each dierent interpretation has to be
allocated a distinctive name and symbol.
In one of the systems of equations and units agreed in the late 19th century, called the centimetregramsecond
electrostatic system of units (the cgs esu system), the constant k was taken equal to 1, and a quantity now called
"gaussian electric charge" q was dened by the resulting equation
qs 2
F = .
r2
The unit of gaussian charge, the statcoulomb, is such that two units, a distance of 1 centimetre apart, repel each other
with a force equal to the cgs unit of force, the dyne. Thus the unit of gaussian charge can also be written 1 dyne1/2 cm.
Gaussian electric charge is not the same mathematical quantity as modern (MKS and subsequently the SI) electric
charge and is not measured in coulombs.
The idea subsequently developed that it would be better, in situations of spherical geometry, to include a factor 4 in
equations like Coulombs law, and write it in the form:
qs
2
F = ke .
4r2
This idea is called rationalization. The quantities q and k are not the same as those in the older convention.
Putting k = 1 generates a unit of electricity of dierent size, but it still has the same dimensions as the cgs esu
system.
The next step was to treat the quantity representing amount of electricity as a fundamental quantity in its own right,
denoted by the symbol q, and to write Coulombs Law in its modern form:
1 q2
F = .
40 r2
The system of equations thus generated is known as the rationalized metrekilogramsecond (rmks) equation system,
or metrekilogramsecondampere (mksa)" equation system. This is the system used to dene the SI units.[20] The
new quantity q is given the name rmks electric charge, or (nowadays) just electric charge. Clearly, the quantity
q used in the old cgs esu system is related to the new quantity q by
q
qs = .
40
17.3.2 Determination of a value for 0
One now adds the requirement that one wants force to be measured in newtons, distance in metres, and charge to be
measured in the engineers practical unit, the coulomb, which is dened as the charge accumulated when a current
of 1 ampere ows for one second. This shows that the parameter 0 should be allocated the unit C2 N1 m2 (or
equivalent units in practice farads per metre).
In order to establish the numerical value of 0 , one makes use of the fact that if one uses the rationalized forms
of Coulombs law and Ampres force law (and other ideas) to develop Maxwells equations, then the relationship
stated above is found to exist between 0 , 0 and c0 . In principle, one has a choice of deciding whether to make the
coulomb or the ampere the fundamental unit of electricity and magnetism. The decision was taken internationally to
use the ampere. This means that the value of 0 is determined by the values of c0 and 0 , as stated above. For a brief
explanation of how the value of 0 is decided, see the article about 0 .
232 CHAPTER 17. VACUUM PERMITTIVITY
17.4 Permittivity of real media

By convention, the electric constant 0 appears in the relationship that denes the electric displacement eld D in
terms of the electric eld E and classical electrical polarization density P of the medium. In general, this relationship
has the form:
D = 0 E + P.
For a linear dielectric, P is assumed to be proportional to E, but a delayed response is permitted and a spatially
non-local response, so one has:[21]
t

D(r, t) = dt d3 r (r, t; r , t )E(r , t ).

In the event that nonlocality and delay of response are not important, the result is:
D = E = r 0 E
where is the permittivity and the relative static permittivity. In the vacuum of classical electromagnetism, the
polarization P = 0, so = 1 and = 0 .
17.5 See also

Casimir eect
Relative permittivity
Coulombs law
ISO 31-5
Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld
Sinusoidal plane-wave solutions of the electromagnetic wave equation
Wave impedance
17.6 Notes
[1] CODATA Value: electric constant. The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. US National Institute of
Standards and Technology. June 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-25. 2014 CODATA recommended values
[2] Electropedia: International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEC 60050)". Geneva: International Electrotechnical Commis-
sion. Retrieved 2015-03-26. |contribution= ignored (help).
[3] The exact numerical value is found at: Electric constant, 0 ". NIST reference on constants, units, and uncertainty: Funda-
mental physical constants. NIST. Retrieved 2012-01-22. This formula determining the exact value of 0 is found in Table
1, p. 637 of PJ Mohr; BN Taylor; DB Newell (AprilJune 2008). Table 1: Some exact quantities relevant to the 2006
adjustment in CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants: 2006 (PDF). Rev Mod Phys. 80
(2): 633729. Bibcode:2008RvMP...80..633M. arXiv:0801.0028 . doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.80.633.
[4] Quote from NIST: The symbol c is the conventional symbol for the speed of light in vacuum. " See NIST Special Publication
330, p. 18
[5] See the last sentence of the NIST denition of ampere.

17.6. NOTES 233
[6] See the last sentence of the NIST denition of meter.
[7] Mohr, Peter J.; Taylor, Barry N.; Newell, David B. (2008). CODATA Recommended Values of the Fundamental Physical
Constants: 2006. Reviews of Modern Physics. 80 (2): 633730. Bibcode:2008RvMP...80..633M. arXiv:0801.0028 .
doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.80.633. Direct link to value..
[8] A summary of the denitions of c, 0 and 0 is provided in the 2006 CODATA Report: CODATA report, pp. 67
[9] On the possible future revision of the International System of Units, the SI (PDF). Svres, France: International Bureau
for Weights and Measures. 21 Oct 2011. |contribution= ignored (help) It is not expected to be adopted until some pre-
requisite conditions are met, and in any case not before 2014. See Possible changes to the international system of units.
IUPAC Wire. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. 34 (1). JanuaryFebruary 2012.
[10] SM Sze & Ng KK (2007). Appendix E. Physics of semiconductor devices (Third ed.). New York: Wiley-Interscience.
p. 788. ISBN 0-471-14323-5.
[11] RS Muller, Kamins TI & Chan M (2003). Device electronics for integrated circuits (Third ed.). New York: Wiley. Inside
front cover. ISBN 0-471-59398-2.
[12] FW Sears, Zemansky MW & Young HD (1985). College physics. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. p. 40. ISBN 0-201-
07836-8.
[13] B. E. A. Saleh and M. C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics (Wiley, 1991)
[14] International Bureau of Weights and Measures (2006). The International System of Units (SI)" (PDF). p. 12.
[15] Braslavsky, S.E. (2007). Glossary of terms used in photochemistry (IUPAC recommendations 2006)" (PDF). Pure and
Applied Chemistry. 79 (3): 293465; see p. 348. doi:10.1351/pac200779030293.
[16] Naturkonstanten. Freie Universitt Berlin.
[17] King, Ronold W. P. (1963). Fundamental Electromagnetic Theory. New York: Dover. p. 139.
[18] IEEE Standards Board (1997). IEEE Standard Denitions of Terms for Radio Wave Propagation (PDF). p. 6.
[19] For an introduction to the subject of choices for independent units, see John David Jackson (1999). Appendix on units
and dimensions. Classical electrodynamics (Third ed.). New York: Wiley. pp. 775 et seq.. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
[20] International Bureau of Weights and Measures. The International System of Units (SI) and the corresponding system of
quantities.
[21] Jen Slyom (2008). Equation 16.1.50. Fundamentals of the physics of solids: Electronic properties. Springer. p. 17.
ISBN 3-540-85315-4.
Chapter 18
Mathematical descriptions of the

electromagnetic eld
For the formulation in general relativity, see Maxwells equations in curved spacetime. For the manifestly covariant
formulation in special relativity, see Classical electromagnetism and special relativity and Covariant formulation of
classical electromagnetism.
There are various mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld that are used in the study of electromagnetism,
one of the four fundamental forces of nature. In this article three approaches are discussed, generally the equations
are in terms of electric and magnetic elds, potentials, and charges with currents.
18.1 Vector eld approach

Main article: Classical electromagnetism
The most common description of the electromagnetic eld uses two three-dimensional vector elds called the electric
eld and the magnetic eld. These vector elds each have a value dened at every point of space and time and are
thus often regarded as functions of the space and time coordinates. As such, they are often written as E(x, y, z, t)
(electric eld) and B(x, y, z, t) (magnetic eld).
If only the electric eld (E) is non-zero, and is constant in time, the eld is said to be an electrostatic eld. Similarly, if
only the magnetic eld (B) is non-zero and is constant in time, the eld is said to be a magnetostatic eld. However, if
either the electric or magnetic eld has a time-dependence, then both elds must be considered together as a coupled
electromagnetic eld using Maxwells equations.
18.1.1 Maxwells equations in the vector eld approach

Main article: Maxwells equations
The behaviour of electric and magnetic elds, whether in cases of electrostatics, magnetostatics, or electrodynamics
(electromagnetic elds), is governed by Maxwells equations:
where is the charge density, which can (and often does) depend on time and position, 0 is the electric constant, 0
is the magnetic constant, and J is the current per unit area, also a function of time and position. The equations take
this form with the International System of Quantities.
When dealing with only nondispersive isotropic linear materials, Maxwells equations are often modied to ignore
bound charges by replacing the permeability and permittivity of free space with the permeability and permittivity of
234
18.2. POTENTIAL FIELD APPROACH 235
the linear material in question. For some materials that have more complex responses to electromagnetic elds, these
properties can be represented by tensors, with time-dependence related to the materials ability to respond to rapid
eld changes (dispersion (optics), GreenKubo relations), and possibly also eld dependencies representing nonlinear
and/or nonlocal material responses to large amplitude elds (nonlinear optics).
18.2 Potential eld approach

Many times in the use and calculation of electric and magnetic elds, the approach used rst computes an associated
potential: the electric potential, , for the electric eld, and the magnetic potential, A, for the magnetic eld. The
electric potential is a scalar eld, while the magnetic potential is a vector eld. This is why sometimes the electric
potential is called the scalar potential and the magnetic potential is called the vector potential. These potentials can
be used to nd their associated elds as follows:
A
E =
t
B=A
18.2.1 Maxwells equations in potential formulation

These relations can be substituted into Maxwells equations to express the latter in terms of the potentials. Faradays
law and Gausss law for magnetism reduce to identities (e.g., in the case of Gausss Law for magnetism, 0 = 0). The
other two of Maxwells equations turn out less simply.
These equations taken together are as powerful and complete as Maxwells equations. Moreover, the problem has
been reduced somewhat, as the electric and magnetic elds together had six components to solve for.[1] In the potential
formulation, there are only four components: the electric potential and the three components of the vector potential.
However, the equations are messier than Maxwells equations using the electric and magnetic elds.
18.2.2 Gauge freedom

These equations can be simplied by taking advantage of the fact that only the electric and magnetic elds are phys-
ically meaningful quantities that can be measured; the potentials are not. There is a freedom to constrain the form
of the potentials provided that this does not aect the resultant electric and magnetic elds, called gauge freedom.
Specically for these equations, for any choice of a twice-dierentiable scalar function of position and time , if (,
A) is a solution for a given system, then so is another potential (, A) given by:

=
t
A = A + .
This freedom can be used to simplify the potential formulation. Either of two such scalar functions is typically chosen:
the Coulomb gauge and the Lorenz gauge.
Coulomb gauge
The Coulomb gauge is chosen in such a way that A = 0 , which corresponds to the case of magnetostatics. In
terms of , this means that it must satisfy the equation
2 = A
236 CHAPTER 18. MATHEMATICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD
This choice of function results in the following formulation of Maxwells equations:

2 =
0
( )
2 A
A 0 0 2 = 0 J + 0 0
2
t t
Several features about Maxwells equations in the Coulomb gauge are as follows. Firstly, solving for the electric
potential is very easy, as the equation is a version of Poissons equation. Secondly, solving for the magnetic vector
potential is particularly dicult. This is the big disadvantage of this gauge. The third thing to note, and something
which is not immediately obvious, is that the electric potential changes instantly everywhere in response to a change
in conditions in one locality.
For instance, if a charge is moved in New York at 1 pm local time, then a hypothetical observer in Australia who could
measure the electric potential directly would measure a change in the potential at 1 pm New York time. This seemingly
goes violates causality in special relativity, i.e. the impossibility of information, signals, or anything travelling faster
than the speed of light. The resolution to this apparent problem lies in the fact that, as previously stated, no observers
can measure the potentials; they measure the electric and magnetic elds. So, the combination of and A/t used
in determining the electric eld restores the speed limit imposed by special relativity for the electric eld, making all
observable quantities consistent with relativity.
Lorenz gauge
A gauge that is often used is the Lorenz gauge. In this, the scalar function is chosen such that

A = 0 0 ,
t
meaning that must satisfy the equation
2
2 0 0 = A 0 0 .
t2 t
The Lorenz gauge results in the following form of Maxwells equations:
2
2 0 0 2
= 2 =
t 0
2 A
2 A 0 0 = 2 A = 0 J
t2
The operator 2 is called the d'Alembertian (some authors denote this by only the square ). These equations are
inhomogeneous versions of the wave equation, with the terms on the right side of the equation serving as the source
functions for the wave. As with any wave equation, these equations lead to two types of solution: advanced potentials
(which are related to the conguration of the sources at future points in time), and retarded potentials (which are
related to the past congurations of the sources); the former are usually disregarded where the eld is to analyzed
from a causality perspective.
As pointed out above, the Lorenz gauge is no more valid than any other gauge since the potentials cannot be measured.
Despite this, there are certain quantum mechanical phenomena in which potentials appear to aect particles in regions
where the observable eld vanishes throughout the region, for example as in the AharonovBohm eect. However,
these phenomena do not provide a means to directly measure the potentials nor to detect a dierence between dierent
but mutually gauge equivalent potentials. The Lorenz gauge has the further advantage of the equations being Lorentz
invariant.
18.3. GEOMETRIC ALGEBRA FORMULATIONS 237
18.2.3 Extension to quantum electrodynamics

Canonical quantization of the electromagnetic elds proceeds by elevating the scalar and vector potentials; (x), A(x),
from elds to eld operators. Substituting 1/c2 = 0 0 into the previous Lorenz gauge equations gives:
1 2A
2 A = 0 J
c2 t2
1 2
2 =
c2 t2 0
Here, J and are the current and charge density of the matter eld. If the matter eld is taken so as to describe the
interaction of electromagnetic elds with the Dirac electron given by the four-component Dirac spinor eld , the
current and charge densities have form:[2]
J = e = e ,
where are the rst three Dirac matrices. Using this, we can re-write Maxwells equations as:
which is the form used in quantum electrodynamics.
18.3 Geometric algebra formulations

Analogous to the tensor formulation, two objects, one for the eld and one for the current, are introduced. In geometric
algebra (GA) these are multivectors. The eld multivector, known as the RiemannSilberstein vector, is
F = E + IcB = E k k + IcB k k
and the current multivector is
c J = c J k k
where, in the algebra of physical space (APS) C3,0 (R) with the vector basis {k } . The unit pseudoscalar is
I = 1 2 3 (assuming an orthonormal basis). Orthonormal basis vectors share the algebra of the Pauli matrices,
but are usually not equated with them. After dening the derivative
= k k
Maxwells equations are reduced to the single equation[3]
In three dimensions, the derivative has a special structure allowing the introduction of a cross product:
F = F + F = F + I F
from which it is easily seen that Gausss law is the scalar part, the AmpreMaxwell law is the vector part, Faradays
law is the pseudovector part, and Gausss law for magnetism is the pseudoscalar part of the equation. After expanding
and rearranging, this can be written as
( ) ( ) ( )
E B
E c B 0 0 0 J + I E + + Ic ( B) = 0
0 t t
We can identify APS as a subalgebra of the spacetime algebra (STA) C1,3 (R) , dening k = k 0 and I =
0 1 2 3 . The s have the same algebraic properties of the gamma matrices but their matrix representation is not
needed. The derivative is now
= .
The RiemannSilberstein becomes a bivector

F = E + IcB = E 1 1 0 + E 2 2 0 + E 3 3 0 c(B 1 2 3 + B 2 3 1 + B 3 1 2 ),
and the charge and current density become a vector
J = J = c0 + J k k = 0 (c J k k ).
Owing to the identity
1
0 = 0 0 0 + 0 k k = 0 + k k = + ,
c t
Maxwells equations reduce to the single equation
18.4 Dierential forms approach

See also: Dierential form and Exterior algebra
18.4.1 Field 2-form

In free space, where = 0 and = 0 are constant everywhere, Maxwells equations simplify considerably once the
language of dierential geometry and dierential forms is used. In what follows, cgs-Gaussian units, not SI units are
used. (To convert to SI, see here.) The electric and magnetic elds are now jointly described by a 2-form F in a
4-dimensional spacetime manifold. The Faraday tensor F (electromagnetic tensor) can be written as a 2-form in
Minkowski space with metric signature (- + + +) as
1
F F dx dx
2
=Bx dy dz + By dz dx + Bz dx dy + Ex dx dt + Ey dy dt + Ez dz dt
which, as the curvature form, is the exterior derivative of the electromagnetic four-potential,
F = dA = ( A )dx dx
The source free equations can be written by the action of the exterior derivative on this 2-form. But for the equations
with source terms (Gausss law and the Ampre-Maxwell equation), the Hodge dual of this 2-form is needed. The
Hodge 'star' dual takes a p-form to a (n p)-form, where n is the number of dimensions. Here, it takes the 2-form
(F) and gives another 2-form (in four dimensions, n p = 4 2 = 2). For the basis cotangent vectors, the Hodge dual
is given as (see here)
18.4. DIFFERENTIAL FORMS APPROACH 239
dx dy = dz dt, dx dt = dy dz,
and so on. Using these relations, the dual of the Faraday 2-form is the Maxwell tensor,
F = Bx dx dt By dy dt Bz dz dt + Ex dy dz + Ey dz dx + Ez dx dy
18.4.2 Current 3-form, dual current 1-form

Here, the 3-form J is called the electric current form or current 3-form:
J = dx dy dz jx dt dy dz jy dt dz dx jz dt dx dy
with the corresponding dual 1-form:
J = dt + jx dx + jy dy + jz dz
Maxwells equations then reduce to the Bianchi identity and the source equation, respectively:
where d denotes the exterior derivative a natural coordinate- and metric-independent dierential operator acting on
forms, and the (dual) Hodge star operator is a linear transformation from the space of 2-forms to the space of (4
2)-forms dened by the metric in Minkowski space (in four dimensions even by any metric conformal to this metric).
The elds are in natural units where 1/40 = 1.
Since d2 = 0, the 3-form J satises the continuity equation:
dJ = 0.
The current 3-form can be integrated over a 3-dimensional space-time region. The physical interpretation of this
integral is the charge in that region if it is spacelike, or the amount of charge that ows through a surface in a certain
amount of time if that region is a spacelike surface cross a timelike interval. As the exterior derivative is dened on any
manifold, the dierential form version of the Bianchi identity makes sense for any 4-dimensional manifold, whereas
the source equation is dened if the manifold is oriented and has a Lorentz metric. In particular the dierential form
version of the Maxwell equations are a convenient and intuitive formulation of the Maxwell equations in general
relativity.
Linear macroscopic inuence of matter
In a linear, macroscopic theory, the inuence of matter on the electromagnetic eld is described through more general
linear transformation in the space of 2-forms. We call
C : 2 F 7 G (42)
the constitutive transformation. The role of this transformation is comparable to the Hodge duality transformation.
The Maxwell equations in the presence of matter then become:
dF = 0
dG = J
where the current 3-form J still satises the continuity equation dJ = 0.

When the elds are expressed as linear combinations (of exterior products) of basis forms p ,
1
F= Fpq p q .
2
the constitutive relation takes the form
mn
Gpq = Cpq Fmn
where the eld coecient functions are antisymmetric in the indices and the constitutive coecients are antisymmetric
in the corresponding pairs. In particular, the Hodge duality transformation leading to the vacuum equations discussed
above are obtained by taking
1 ma nb
mn
Cpq = g g abpq g
2
which up to scaling is the only invariant tensor of this type that can be dened with the metric.
In this formulation, electromagnetism generalises immediately to any 4-dimensional oriented manifold or with small
adaptations any manifold.
18.4.3 Current 1-form, dual current 3-form

In the literature, the current is usually dened as a 1-form (i.e. the hodge dual of the 3-form J above):
J = dt + jx dx + jy dy + jz dz
with the corresponding dual 3-form:
J = dx dy dz jx dt dy dz jy dt dz dx jz dt dx dy
In terms of these forms, the Maxwell equations are:[4]
The conservation of current (continuity equation) simply follows from the property of the exterior derivative that d2
= 0.
dJ = d2 F = 0,
which is the conservation of current.
18.5 Curved spacetime
18.5.1 Traditional formulation

Matter and energy generate curvature of spacetime. This is the subject of general relativity. Curvature of spacetime
aects electrodynamics. An electromagnetic eld having energy and momentum also generates curvature in space-
time. Maxwells equations in curved spacetime can be obtained by replacing the derivatives in the equations in at
18.5. CURVED SPACETIME 241
spacetime with covariant derivatives. (Whether this is the appropriate generalization requires separate investigation.)
The sourced and source-free equations become (cgs-Gaussian units):
4 def def
j = F + F + F = F = F ;
c
and
0 = F + F + F = F + F + F .
Here,
is a Christoel symbol that characterizes the curvature of spacetime and is the covariant derivative.
18.5.2 Formulation in terms of dierential forms
The formulation of the Maxwell equations in terms of dierential forms can be used without change in general
relativity. The equivalence of the more traditional general relativistic formulation using the covariant derivative with
the dierential form formulation can be seen as follows. Choose local coordinates x which gives a basis of 1-forms
dx in every point of the open set where the coordinates are dened. Using this basis and cgs-Gaussian units we
dene
The antisymmetric eld tensor F, corresponding to the eld 2-form F
1
F= F dx dx .
2
The current-vector innitesimal 3-form J

( )
4 1
J= j g dx dx dx .
c 6
The epsilon tensor contracted with the dierential 3-form produces 6 times the number of terms required.
Here g is as usual the determinant of the matrix representing the metric tensor, g. A small computation that uses
the symmetry of the Christoel symbols (i.e., the torsion-freeness of the Levi-Civita connection) and the covariant
constantness of the Hodge star operator then shows that in this coordinate neighborhood we have:
the Bianchi identity
dF = 2( F + F + F )dx dx dx = 0,
the source equation
1
dF = F ; g dx dx dx = J,
6
the continuity equation
4
dJ = j g dx dx dx dx = 0.
c ;
18.6 Classical electrodynamics as the curvature of a line bundle

An elegant and intuitive way to formulate Maxwells equations is to use complex line bundles or principal bundles
with bre U(1). The connection on the line bundle has a curvature F = 2 which is a two-form that automatically
satises dF = 0 and can be interpreted as a eld-strength. If the line bundle is trivial with at reference connection d
we can write = d + A and F = dA with A the 1-form composed of the electric potential and the magnetic vector
potential.
In quantum mechanics, the connection itself is used to dene the dynamics of the system. This formulation allows
a natural description of the AharonovBohm eect. In this experiment, a static magnetic eld runs through a long
magnetic wire (e.g., an iron wire magnetized longitudinally). Outside of this wire the magnetic induction is zero, in
contrast to the vector potential, which essentially depends on the magnetic ux through the cross-section of the wire
and does not vanish outside. Since there is no electric eld either, the Maxwell tensor F = 0 throughout the space-time
region outside the tube, during the experiment. This means by denition that the connection is at there.
However, as mentioned, the connection depends on the magnetic eld through the tube since the holonomy along
a non-contractible curve encircling the tube is the magnetic ux through the tube in the proper units. This can
be detected quantum-mechanically with a double-slit electron diraction experiment on an electron wave traveling
around the tube. The holonomy corresponds to an extra phase shift, which leads to a shift in the diraction pattern.[5][6]
18.7 Discussion
Following are the reasons for using each of such formulations.
18.7.1 Potential formulation
In advanced classical mechanics it is often useful, and in quantum mechanics frequently essential, to express Maxwells
equations in a potential formulation involving the electric potential (also called scalar potential) , and the magnetic
potential (also called vector potential) A. For example, the analysis of radio antennas makes full use of Maxwells
vector and scalar potentials to separate the variables, a common technique used in formulating the solutions of dif-
ferential equations. The potentials can be introduced by using the Poincar lemma on the homogeneous equations
to solve them in a universal way (this assumes that we consider a topologically simple, e.g. contractible space). The
potentials are dened as in the table above. Alternatively, these equations dene E and B in terms of the electric and
magnetic potentials which then satisfy the homogeneous equations for E and B as identities. Substitution gives the
non-homogeneous Maxwell equations in potential form.
Many dierent choices of A and are consistent with given observable electric and magnetic elds E and B, so the
potentials seem to contain more, (classically) unobservable information. The non uniqueness of the potentials is well
understood, however. For every scalar function of position and time (x, t), the potentials can be changed by a gauge
transformation as

= , A = A +
t
without changing the electric and magnetic eld. Two pairs of gauge transformed potentials (, A) and (, A)
are called gauge equivalent, and the freedom to select any pair of potentials in its gauge equivalence class is called
gauge freedom. Again by the Poincar lemma (and under its assumptions), gauge freedom is the only source of
indeterminacy, so the eld formulation is equivalent to the potential formulation if we consider the potential equations
as equations for gauge equivalence classes.
The potential equations can be simplied using a procedure called gauge xing. Since the potentials are only dened
up to gauge equivalence, we are free to impose additional equations on the potentials, as long as for every pair of
potentials there is a gauge equivalent pair that satises the additional equations (i.e. if the gauge xing equations dene
a slice to the gauge action). The gauge-xed potentials still have a gauge freedom under all gauge transformations that
leave the gauge xing equations invariant. Inspection of the potential equations suggests two natural choices. In the
Coulomb gauge, we impose A = 0 which is mostly used in the case of magneto statics when we can neglect the
c2 2 A/t 2 term. In the Lorenz gauge (named after the Dane Ludvig Lorenz), we impose
18.8. REFERENCES AND NOTES 243
1
A+ = 0.
c2 t
The Lorenz gauge condition has the advantage of being Lorentz invariant and leading to Lorentz-invariant equations
for the potentials.
18.7.2 Manifestly covariant (tensor) approach

Maxwells equations are exactly consistent with special relativityi.e., if they are valid in one inertial reference frame,
then they are automatically valid in every other inertial reference frame. In fact, Maxwells equations were crucial
in the historical development of special relativity. However, in the usual formulation of Maxwells equations, their
consistency with special relativity is not obvious; it can only be proven by a laborious calculation.
For example, consider a conductor moving in the eld of a magnet.[7] In the frame of the magnet, that conductor
experiences a magnetic force. But in the frame of a conductor moving relative to the magnet, the conductor experi-
ences a force due to an electric eld. The motion is exactly consistent in these two dierent reference frames, but it
mathematically arises in quite dierent ways.
For this reason and others, it is often useful to rewrite Maxwells equations in a way that is manifestly covarianti.e.
obviously consistent with special relativity, even with just a glance at the equationsusing covariant and contravariant
four-vectors and tensors. This can be done using the EM tensor F, or the 4-potential A, with the 4-current J see
covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism.
18.7.3 Dierential forms approach

Gausss law for magnetism and the FaradayMaxwell law can be grouped together since the equations are homoge-
neous, and be seen as geometric identities expressing the eld F (a 2-form), which can be derived from the 4-potential
A. Gausss law for electricity and the AmpereMaxwell law could be seen as the dynamical equations of motion of
the elds, obtained via the Lagrangian principle of least action, from the interaction term AJ (introduced through
gauge covariant derivatives), coupling the eld to matter. For the eld formulation of Maxwells equations in terms
of a principle of extremal action, see electromagnetic tensor.
Often, the time derivative in the FaradayMaxwell equation motivates calling this equation dynamical, which is
somewhat misleading in the sense of the preceding analysis. This is rather an artifact of breaking relativistic covariance
by choosing a preferred time direction. To have physical degrees of freedom propagated by these eld equations, one
must include a kinetic term F F for A, and take into account the non-physical degrees of freedom that can be
removed by gauge transformation A A d. See also gauge xing and FaddeevPopov ghosts.
18.7.4 Geometric calculus approach

This formulation is uses the algebra that spacetime generates through the introduction of a distributive, associative
(but not commutative) product called the geometric product. Elements and operations of the algebra can generally be
associated with geometric meaning. The members of the algebra may be decomposed by grade (as in the formalism
of dierential forms) and the (geometric) product of a vector with a k-vector decomposes into a (k 1)-vector and a (k
+ 1)-vector. The (k 1)-vector component can be identied with the inner product and the (k + 1)-vector component
with the outer product. It is of algebraic convenience that the geometric product is invertible, while the inner and
outer products are not. The derivatives that appear in Maxwells equations are vectors and electromagnetic elds are
represented by the Faraday bivector F. This formulation is as general as that of dierential forms for manifolds with
a metric tensor, as then these are naturally identied with r-forms and there are corresponding operations. Maxwells
equations reduce to one equation in this formalism. This equation can be separated into parts as is done above for
comparative reasons.
18.8 References and notes

[1] Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griths
[2] Quantum Electrodynamics, Mathworld
[3] Oersted Medal Lecture David Hestenes Reforming the Mathematical Language of Physics (Am. J. Phys. 71 (2), February
2003, pp. 104121) Online:http://geocalc.clas.asu.edu/html/Oersted-ReformingTheLanguage.html p26
[4] Misner, Charles W.; Thorne, Kip; Wheeler, John Archibald (1973). Gravitation. W. H. Freeman. p. 81. ISBN 0-7167-
0344-0.
[5] M. Murray (5 September 2008). Line Bundles. Honours 1996 (PDF). University of Adelaide. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
[6] R. Bott (1985). On some recent interactions between mathematics and physics. Canadian Mathematical Bulletin. 28 (2):
129164. doi:10.4153/CMB-1985-016-3.
[7] Albert Einstein (1905) On the electrodynamics of moving bodies
Warnick, Karl; Russer, Peter (2014). Dierential Forms and Electromagnetic Field Theory (PDF). Progress
In Electromagnetics Research. 148: 83112.
Russer, Peter (2006). Electromagnetics, Microwave Circuit and Antenna Design for Communications Engineer-
ing (2nd ed.). Artech House. ISBN 1-58053-907-6. (with worked problems in Warnick, Russer 2006 ISBN
1-59693-096-9)
Hehl, Friedrich; Obukhov, Yuri (2003). Foundations of Classical Electrodynamics. Birkhuser. ISBN 0-8176-
4222-6.
18.9 See also

Ricci calculus
Maxwells equations
Speed of light
Electric constant
Magnetic constant
Free space
Near and far eld

Electromagnetic eld
Electromagnetic radiation
Chapter 19
Hall eect
For the Colombian band, see The Hall Eect (band).
The Hall eect is the production of a voltage dierence (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor, transverse
to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic eld perpendicular to the current. It was discovered
by Edwin Hall in 1879.[1] For clarity, the original eect is sometimes called the ordinary Hall Eect to distinguish
it from other Hall Eects which have dierent physical mechanisms.
The Hall coecient is dened as the ratio of the induced electric eld to the product of the current density and the
applied magnetic eld. It is a characteristic of the material from which the conductor is made, since its value depends
on the type, number, and properties of the charge carriers that constitute the current.
19.1 Discovery
The Hall eect was discovered in 1879 by Edwin Hall while he was working on his doctoral degree at Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] His measurements of the tiny eect produced in the apparatus he used were an
experimental tour de force, accomplished 18 years before the electron was discovered and published under the name
On a New Action of the Magnet on Electric Currents.[3][4]
19.2 Theory
The Hall eect is due to the nature of the current in a conductor. Current consists of the movement of many small
charge carriers, typically electrons, holes, ions (see Electromigration) or all three. When a magnetic eld is present,
these charges experience a force, called the Lorentz force.[5] When such a magnetic eld is absent, the charges
follow approximately straight, 'line of sight' paths between collisions with impurities, phonons, etc. However, when
a magnetic eld with a perpendicular component is applied, their paths between collisions are curved, thus moving
charges accumulate on one face of the material. This leaves equal and opposite charges exposed on the other face,
where there is a scarcity of mobile charges. The result is an asymmetric distribution of charge density across the
Hall element, arising from a force that is perpendicular to both the 'line of sight' path and the applied magnetic eld.
The separation of charge establishes an electric eld that opposes the migration of further charge, so a steady electric
potential is established for as long as the charge is owing.
In classical electromagnetism electrons move in the opposite direction of the current I (by convention current
describes a theoretical hole ow). In some semiconductors it appears holes are actually owing because the
direction of the voltage is opposite to the derivation below.
For a simple metal where there is only one type of charge carrier (electrons), the Hall voltage VH can be derived by
using the Lorentz force and seeing that, in the steady-state condition, charges are not moving in the y-axis direction -
the magnetic force on each electron in the y-axis direction is cancelled by a y-axis electrical force due to the buildup
of charges. The vx term is the drift velocity of the current which is assumed at this point to be holes by convention.
The vx Bz term is negative in the y-axis direction by the right hand rule.
245
246 CHAPTER 19. HALL EFFECT
Hall Eect measurement setup for electrons. Initially, the electrons follow the curved arrow, due to the magnetic force. At some
distance from the current-introducing contacts, electrons pile up on the left side and deplete from the right side, which creates an
electric eld y in the direction of the assigned VH. VH is negative for some semi-conductors where holes appear to ow. In
steady-state, y will be strong enough to exactly cancel out the magnetic force, thus the electrons follow the straight arrow (dashed).
F = q [E + (v B)]
0 = Ey vx Bz where Ey is assigned in direction of y-axis, (and not with the arrow of the induced
electric eld y as in the image (pointing in the y direction), which tells you where the eld caused by
the electrons is pointing).
VH
In wires, electrons instead of holes are owing, so vx vx and q q . Also Ey = w . Substituting these
changes gives
VH = vx Bz w
The conventional hole current is in the negative direction of the electron current and the negative of the electrical
charge which gives Ix = ntw(vx )(e) where n is charge carrier density, tw is the cross-sectional area, and e is
the charge of each electron. Solving for w and plugging into the above gives the Hall voltage:
Ix B z
VH =
nte
If the charge build up had been positive (as it appears in some semiconductors), then the VH assigned in the image
would have been negative (positive charge would have built up on the left side).
The Hall coecient is dened as
Ey
RH =
jx Bz
where j is the current density of the carrier electrons, and Ey is the induced electric eld. In SI units, this becomes
19.2. THEORY 247
Ey VH t 1
RH = = = .
jx B IB ne
(The units of RH are usually expressed as m3 /C, or cm/G, or other variants.) As a result, the Hall eect is very
useful as a means to measure either the carrier density or the magnetic eld.
One very important feature of the Hall eect is that it dierentiates between positive charges moving in one direction
and negative charges moving in the opposite. The Hall eect oered the rst real proof that electric currents in metals
are carried by moving electrons, not by protons. The Hall eect also showed that in some substances (especially p-
type semiconductors), it is more appropriate to think of the current as positive "holes" moving rather than negative
electrons. A common source of confusion with the Hall Eect is that holes moving to the left are really electrons
moving to the right, so one expects the same sign of the Hall coecient for both electrons and holes. This confusion,
however, can only be resolved by modern quantum mechanical theory of transport in solids.[6]
The sample inhomogeneity might result in spurious sign of the Hall eect, even in ideal van der Pauw conguration
of electrodes. For example, positive Hall eect was observed in evidently n-type semiconductors.[7] Another source
of artifact, in uniform materials, occurs when the samples aspect ratio is not long enough: the full Hall voltage only
develops far away from the current-introducing contacts, since at the contacts the transverse voltage is shorted out to
zero.
19.2.1 Hall eect in semiconductors

When a current-carrying semiconductor is kept in a magnetic eld, the charge carriers of the semiconductor experi-
ence a force in a direction perpendicular to both the magnetic eld and the current. At equilibrium, a voltage appears
at the semiconductor edges.
The simple formula for the Hall coecient given above becomes more complex in semiconductors where the carriers
are generally both electrons and holes which may be present in dierent concentrations and have dierent mobilities.
For moderate magnetic elds the Hall coecient is[8]
p2h n2e
RH =
e(ph + ne )2
or equivalently
(p nb2 )
RH =
e(p + nb)2
with
e
b=
h
Here n is the electron concentration, p the hole concentration, e the electron mobility, h the hole mobility and e
the elementary charge. For large applied elds the simpler expression analogous to that for a single carrier type holds.
19.2.2 Relationship with star formation

Although it is well known that magnetic elds play an important role in star formation, research models[9][10][11]
indicate that Hall diusion critically inuences the dynamics of gravitational collapse that forms protostars.
19.2.3 Quantum Hall eect

Main article: Quantum Hall eect
For a two-dimensional electron system which can be produced in a MOSFET, in the presence of large magnetic eld
strength and low temperature, one can observe the quantum Hall eect, in which the Hall conductance undergoes
quantum Hall transitions to take on the quantized values.
19.2.4 Spin Hall eect

Main article: Spin Hall eect
The spin Hall eect consists in the spin accumulation on the lateral boundaries of a current-carrying sample. No
magnetic eld is needed. It was predicted by M. I. Dyakonov and V. I. Perel in 1971 and observed experimentally
more than 30 years later, both in semiconductors and in metals, at cryogenic as well as at room temperatures.
19.2.5 Quantum spin Hall eect

Main article: Quantum spin Hall eect
For mercury telluride two dimensional quantum wells with strong spin-orbit coupling, in zero magnetic eld, at low
temperature, the Quantum spin Hall eect has been recently observed.
19.2.6 Anomalous Hall eect

In ferromagnetic materials (and paramagnetic materials in a magnetic eld), the Hall resistivity includes an additional
contribution, known as the anomalous Hall eect (or the extraordinary Hall eect), which depends directly on
the magnetization of the material, and is often much larger than the ordinary Hall eect. (Note that this eect is not
due to the contribution of the magnetization to the total magnetic eld.) For example, in nickel, the anomalous Hall
coecient is about 100 times larger than the ordinary Hall coecient near the Curie temperature, but the two are
similar at very low temperatures.[12] Although a well-recognized phenomenon, there is still debate about its origins
in the various materials. The anomalous Hall eect can be either an extrinsic (disorder-related) eect due to spin-
dependent scattering of the charge carriers, or an intrinsic eect which can be described in terms of the Berry phase
eect in the crystal momentum space (k-space).[13]
19.2.7 Hall eect in ionized gases

The Hall eect in an ionized gas (plasma) is signicantly dierent from the Hall eect in solids (where the Hall
parameter is always very inferior to unity). In a plasma, the Hall parameter can take any value. The Hall parameter,
, in a plasma is the ratio between the electron gyrofrequency, e, and the electron-heavy particle collision frequency,
:
e eB
= =
me
where
e is the elementary charge (approx. 1.6 1019 C)

B is the magnetic eld (in teslas)
me is the electron mass (approx. 9.1 1031 kg).
The Hall parameter value increases with the magnetic eld strength.
Physically, the trajectories of electrons are curved by the Lorentz force. Nevertheless, when the Hall parameter is low,
their motion between two encounters with heavy particles (neutral or ion) is almost linear. But if the Hall parameter
is high, the electron movements are highly curved. The current density vector, J, is no longer colinear with the electric
eld vector, E. The two vectors J and E make the Hall angle, , which also gives the Hall parameter:
= tan().
19.3 Applications
Hall probes are often used as magnetometers, i.e. to measure magnetic elds, or inspect materials (such as tubing or
pipelines) using the principles of magnetic ux leakage.
Hall eect devices produce a very low signal level and thus require amplication. While suitable for laboratory
instruments, the vacuum tube ampliers available in the rst half of the 20th century were too expensive, power
consuming, and unreliable for everyday applications. It was only with the development of the low cost integrated
circuit that the Hall eect sensor became suitable for mass application. Many devices now sold as Hall eect sensors
in fact contain both the sensor as described above plus a high gain integrated circuit (IC) amplier in a single package.
Recent advances have further added into one package an analog-to-digital converter and IC (Inter-integrated circuit
communication protocol) IC for direct connection to a microcontroller's I/O port.
19.3.1 Advantages over other methods

Hall eect devices (when appropriately packaged) are immune to dust, dirt, mud, and water. These characteristics
make Hall eect devices better for position sensing than alternative means such as optical and electromechanical
sensing.
When electrons ow through a conductor, a magnetic eld is produced. Thus, it is possible to create a non-contacting
current sensor. The device has three terminals. A sensor voltage is applied across two terminals and the third provides
a voltage proportional to the current being sensed. This has several advantages; no additional resistance (a shunt,
required for the most common current sensing method) need be inserted in the primary circuit. Also, the voltage
present on the line to be sensed is not transmitted to the sensor, which enhances the safety of measuring equipment.
19.3.2 Disadvantages compared with other methods

Magnetic ux from the surroundings (such as other wires) may diminish or enhance the eld the Hall probe intends to
detect, rendering the results inaccurate. Also, as Hall voltage is often on the order of millivolts, the output from this
type of sensor cannot be used to directly drive actuators but instead must be amplied by a transistor-based circuit.
Ways to measure component positions within an electromagnetic system, such as a brushless direct current motor,
include (I.) the Hall Eect, (II.) light detection with a light-dark position encoder such as a Gray code disk and (III.)
induced voltage by moving the amount of metal core inserted into a transformer. When Hall is compared to photo-
sensitive methods, it is harder to get absolute position with Hall. Hall detection is also sensitive to stray magnetic
elds.
19.3.3 Contemporary applications

Hall eect sensors are readily available from a number of dierent manufacturers, and may be used in various sensors
such as rotating speed sensors (bicycle wheels, gear-teeth, automotive speedometers, electronic ignition systems),
uid ow sensors, current sensors, and pressure sensors. Common applications are often found where a robust and
contactless switch or potentiometer is required. These include: electric airsoft guns, triggers of electropneumatic
paintball guns, go-cart speed controls, smart phones, and some global positioning systems.
Ferrite toroid Hall eect current transducer
Hall sensors can detect stray magnetic elds easily, including that of Earth, so they work well as electronic com-
passes: but this also means that such stray elds can hinder accurate measurements of small magnetic elds. To solve
this problem, Hall sensors are often integrated with magnetic shielding of some kind. For example, a Hall sensor
integrated into a ferrite ring (as shown) can reduce the detection of stray elds by a factor of 100 or better (as the
external magnetic elds cancel across the ring, giving no residual magnetic ux). This conguration also provides
Hall eect current sensor with internal integrated circuit amplier. 8 mm opening. Zero current output voltage is midway between
the supply voltages that maintain a 4 to 8 Volt dierential. Non-zero current response is proportional to the voltage supplied and is
linear to 60 amperes for this particular (25 A) device.
an improvement in signal-to-noise ratio and drift eects of over 20 times that of a bare Hall device. The range of
a given feedthrough sensor may be extended upward and downward by appropriate wiring. To extend the range to
lower currents, multiple turns of the current-carrying wire may be made through the opening, each turn adding to the
sensor output the same quantity; when the sensor is installed onto a printed circuit board, the turns can be carried out
by a staple on the board. To extend the range to higher currents, a current divider may be used. The divider splits the
current across two wires of diering widths and the thinner wire, carrying a smaller proportion of the total current,
passes through the sensor.
Split ring clamp-on sensor
A variation on the ring sensor uses a split sensor which is clamped onto the line enabling the device to be used in
temporary test equipment. If used in a permanent installation, a split sensor allows the electric current to be tested
without dismantling the existing circuit.
Diagram of Hall eect current transducer integrated into ferrite ring.
Analog multiplication
The output is proportional to both the applied magnetic eld and the applied sensor voltage. If the magnetic eld
is applied by a solenoid, the sensor output is proportional to the product of the current through the solenoid and
the sensor voltage. As most applications requiring computation are now performed by small digital computers, the
remaining useful application is in power sensing, which combines current sensing with voltage sensing in a single Hall
eect device.
Multiple 'turns and corresponding transfer function.
Power measurement
By sensing the current provided to a load and using the devices applied voltage as a sensor voltage it is possible to
determine the power dissipated by a device.
19.4. THE CORBINO EFFECT 253
Position and motion sensing
Hall eect devices used in motion sensing and motion limit switches can oer enhanced reliability in extreme en-
vironments. As there are no moving parts involved within the sensor or magnet, typical life expectancy is improved
compared to traditional electromechanical switches. Additionally, the sensor and magnet may be encapsulated in an
appropriate protective material. This application is used in brushless DC motors.
Automotive ignition and fuel injection
Commonly used in distributors for ignition timing (and in some types of crank and camshaft position sensors for
injection pulse timing, speed sensing, etc.) the Hall eect sensor is used as a direct replacement for the mechanical
breaker points used in earlier automotive applications. Its use as an ignition timing device in various distributor types
is as follows. A stationary permanent magnet and semiconductor Hall eect chip are mounted next to each other
separated by an air gap, forming the Hall eect sensor. A metal rotor consisting of windows and tabs is mounted
to a shaft and arranged so that during shaft rotation, the windows and tabs pass through the air gap between the
permanent magnet and semiconductor Hall chip. This eectively shields and exposes the Hall chip to the permanent
magnets eld respective to whether a tab or window is passing though the Hall sensor. For ignition timing purposes,
the metal rotor will have a number of equal-sized tabs and windows matching the number of engine cylinders. This
produces a uniform square wave output since the on/o (shielding and exposure) time is equal. This signal is used by
the engine computer or ECU to control ignition timing. Many automotive Hall eect sensors have a built-in internal
NPN transistor with an open collector and grounded emitter, meaning that rather than a voltage being produced at
the Hall sensor signal output wire, the transistor is turned on providing a circuit to ground through the signal output
wire.
Wheel rotation sensing
The sensing of wheel rotation is especially useful in anti-lock braking systems. The principles of such systems have
been extended and rened to oer more than anti-skid functions, now providing extended vehicle handling enhance-
ments.
Electric motor control
Some types of brushless DC electric motors use Hall eect sensors to detect the position of the rotor and feed that
information to the motor controller. This allows for more precise motor control
Industrial applications
Applications for Hall Eect sensing have also expanded to industrial applications, which now use Hall Eect joysticks
to control hydraulic valves, replacing the traditional mechanical levers with contactless sensing. Such applications
include mining trucks, backhoe loaders, cranes, diggers, scissor lifts, etc.
Spacecraft propulsion
A Hall-eect thruster (HET) is a relatively low power device that is used to propel some spacecraft, after it gets into
orbit or farther out into space. In the HET, atoms are ionized and accelerated by an electric eld. A radial magnetic
eld established by magnets on the thruster is used to trap electrons which then orbit and create an electric eld due
to the Hall eect. A large potential is established between the end of the thruster where neutral propellant is fed, and
the part where electrons are produced; so, electrons trapped in the magnetic eld cannot drop to the lower potential.
They are thus extremely energetic, which means that they can ionize neutral atoms. Neutral propellant is pumped into
the chamber and is ionized by the trapped electrons. Positive ions and electrons are then ejected from the thruster as
a quasineutral plasma, creating thrust.
Corbino disc dashed curves represent logarithmic spiral paths of deected electrons
19.4 The Corbino eect
The Corbino eect is a phenomenon involving the Hall eect, but a disc-shaped metal sample is used in place of a
rectangular one. Because of its shape the Corbino disc allows the observation of Hall eectbased magnetoresistance
without the associated Hall voltage.
A radial current through a circular disc, subjected to a magnetic eld perpendicular to the plane of the disc, produces
a circular current through the disc.[14]
The absence of the free transverse boundaries renders the interpretation of the Corbino eect simpler than that of
the Hall eect.
19.5. SEE ALSO 255
19.5 See also

Capacitor
Coulomb potential between two current loops embedded in a magnetic eld
Eddy current
Eric Fawcett
List of plasma (physics) articles
Nernst eect
Quantum Hall eect
SenftlebenBeenakker eect
Spin Hall eect
Thermal Hall eect
Transducer
Fractional quantum Hall eect
Quantum anomalous Hall eect
19.6 References
[1] Edwin Hall (1879). On a New Action of the Magnet on Electric Currents. American Journal of Mathematics. 2 (3):
28792. JSTOR 2369245. doi:10.2307/2369245. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
[2] Bridgeman, P. W. (1939). Biographical Memoir of Edwin Herbert Hall (PDF). National Academy of Sciences.
[3] Hall Eect History. Retrieved 2015-07-26.
[4] Ramsden, Edward (2006). Hall-Eect Sensors. Elsevier Inc. pp. xi. ISBN 978-0-7506-7934-3.
[5] The Hall Eect. NIST. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
[6] N.W. Ashcroft and N.D. Mermin Solid State Physics ISBN 978-0-03-083993-1
[7] T. Ohgaki et al. Positive Hall coecients obtained from contact misplacement on evident n-type ZnO lms and crystals
J. Mat. Res. 23(9) (2008) 2293
[8] Kasap, Safa. Hall Eect in Semiconductors. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-01.
[9] Mark Wardle (2004). Star Formation and the Hall Eect. Astrophysics and Space Science. 292 (1): 317323. Bibcode:2004Ap&SS.292..317W
arXiv:astro-ph/0307086 . doi:10.1023/B:ASTR.0000045033.80068.1f. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
[10] Braiding, Catherine R & Wardle, Mark (2012) The Hall eect in star formation, Macquarie University, Australia http:
//arxiv.org/abs/1109.1370
[11] Braiding, Catherine R & Wardle, Mark (2012) The Hall eect in accretion ows, Macquarie University, Australia http:
//arxiv.org/abs/1208.5887
[12] Robert Karplus and J. M. Luttinger (1954). Hall Eect in Ferromagnetics. Phys. Rev. 95 (5): 11541160. Bibcode:1954PhRv...95.1154K.
doi:10.1103/PhysRev.95.1154.
[13] N. A. Sinitsyn (2008). Semiclassical Theories of the Anomalous Hall Eect. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. 20
(2): 023201. Bibcode:2008JPCM...20b3201S. arXiv:0712.0183 . doi:10.1088/0953-8984/20/02/023201.
[14] Adams, E. P. (1915). The Hall and Corbino eects. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. American
Philosophical Society. 54 (216): 4751. ISBN 978-1-4223-7256-2. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
19.7 Sources
Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Volume 1, Plasma Physics, Second Edition, 1984,
Francis F. Chen

Classical Hall eect in scanning gate experiments: A. Baumgartner et al., Phys. Rev. B 74, 165426 (2006),
doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.74.165426
Annraoi M. de Paor. Correction to the classical two-species Hall Coecient using twoport network theory.
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 43/4.
19.9 External links

Patents
U.S. Patent 1,778,796, P. H. Craig, System and apparatus employing the Hall eect
U.S. Patent 3,596,114, J. T. Maupin, E. A. Vorthmann, Hall eect contactless switch with prebiased Schmitt
trigger
General
Understanding and Applying the Hall Eect

Hall Eect Thrusters Alta Space
Hall eect calculators

Interactive Java tutorial on the Hall Eect National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Science World (wolfram.com) article.

"The Hall Eect". nist.gov.
Table with Hall coecients of dierent elements at room temperature.

Simulation of the Hall eect as a Youtube-Video
Hall eect in electrolytes

Bowley, Roger (2010). Hall Eect. Sixty Symbols. Brady Haran for the University of Nottingham.
Chapter 20
Gravitoelectromagnetism
This article is about the gravitational analog of electromagnetism as a whole. For the specic gravitational analog of
magnetism, see frame-dragging.
Diagram regarding the conrmation of gravitomagnetism by Gravity Probe B
Gravitoelectromagnetism, abbreviated GEM, refers to a set of formal analogies between the equations for electromagnetism
and relativistic gravitation; specically: between Maxwells eld equations and an approximation, valid under certain
conditions, to the Einstein eld equations for general relativity. Gravitomagnetism is a widely used term referring
specically to the kinetic eects of gravity, in analogy to the magnetic eects of moving electric charge. The most
common version of GEM is valid only far from isolated sources, and for slowly moving test particles.
The analogy and equations diering only by some small factors were rst published in 1893, before general relativity,
by Oliver Heaviside as a separate theory expanding Newtons law.[1]
257
258 CHAPTER 20. GRAVITOELECTROMAGNETISM
20.1 Background
This approximate reformulation of gravitation as described by general relativity in the weak eld limit makes an
apparent eld appear in a frame of reference dierent from that of a freely moving inertial body. This apparent eld
may be described by two components that act respectively like the electric and magnetic elds of electromagnetism,
and by analogy these are called the gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic elds, since these arise in the same way around
a mass that a moving electric charge is the source of electric and magnetic elds. The main consequence of the
gravitomagnetic eld, or velocity-dependent acceleration, is that a moving object near a rotating massive object will
experience acceleration not predicted by a purely Newtonian (gravitoelectric) gravity eld. More subtle predictions,
such as induced rotation of a falling object and precession of a spinning object are among the last basic predictions
of general relativity to be directly tested.
Indirect validations of gravitomagnetic eects have been derived from analyses of relativistic jets. Roger Penrose had
proposed a frame dragging mechanism for extracting energy and momentum from rotating black holes.[2] Reva Kay
Williams, University of Florida, developed a rigorous proof that validated Penroses mechanism.[3] Her model showed
how the LenseThirring eect could account for the observed high energies and luminosities of quasars and active
galactic nuclei; the collimated jets about their polar axis; and the asymmetrical jets (relative to the orbital plane).[4]
All of those observed properties could be explained in terms of gravitomagnetic eects.[5] Williams application of
Penroses mechanism can be applied to black holes of any size.[6] Relativistic jets can serve as the largest and brightest
form of validations for gravitomagnetism.
A group at Stanford University is currently analyzing data from the rst direct test of GEM, the Gravity Probe B
satellite experiment, to see whether they are consistent with gravitomagnetism. The Apache Point Observatory Lunar
Laser-ranging Operation also plans to observe gravitomagnetism eects.
20.2 Equations
According to general relativity, the gravitational eld produced by a rotating object (or any rotating massenergy)
can, in a particular limiting case, be described by equations that have the same form as in classical electromagnetism.
Starting from the basic equation of general relativity, the Einstein eld equation, and assuming a weak gravitational
eld or reasonably at spacetime, the gravitational analogs to Maxwells equations for electromagnetism, called the
GEM equations, can be derived. GEM equations compared to Maxwells equations in SI units are:[8][9]
where:
E is the static gravitational eld (conventional gravity, also called gravitoelectric in analogous usage) in ms2 ;
B is the gravitomagnetic eld in s1 ;
B is the magnetic eld;
is mass density in kgm3 ;
is charge density:
J is mass current density or mass ux (J = v, where v is the velocity of the mass ow generating the
gravitomagnetic eld) in kgm2 s1 ;
J is electric current density;
G is the gravitational constant in m3 kg1 s2 ;
0 is the vacuum permittivity;
c is the speed of propagation of gravity (which is equal to the speed of light according to general relativity) in
ms1 .
20.3. HIGHER-ORDER EFFECTS 259
20.2.1 Lorentz force

For a test particle whose mass m is small, in a stationary system, the net (Lorentz) force acting on it due to a GEM
eld is described by the following GEM analog to the Lorentz force equation:
where:
v is the velocity of the test particle;

m is the mass of the test particle;
q is the electric charge of the test particle.
20.2.2 Poynting vector

The GEM Poynting vector compared to the electromagnetic Poynting vector is given by[10]
20.2.3 Scaling of elds

The literature does not adopt a consistent scaling for the gravitoelectric and gravitomagnetic elds, making comparison
tricky. For example, to obtain agreement with Mashhoons writings, all instances of B in the GEM equations must
be multiplied by c and E by 1. These factors variously modify the analogues of the equations for the Lorentz
force. No scaling choice allows all the GEM and EM equations to be perfectly analogous. The discrepancy in the
factors arises because the source of the gravitational eld is the second order stressenergy tensor, as opposed to the
source of the electromagnetic eld being the rst order four-current tensor. This dierence becomes clearer when
one compares non-invariance of relativistic mass to electric charge invariance. This can be traced back to the spin-2
character of the gravitational eld, in contrast to the electromagnetism being a spin-1 eld.[11] (See relativistic wave
equations for more on spin-1 and spin-2 elds).
20.2.4 In Planck units

From comparison of GEM equations and Maxwells equations it is obvious that 1/(4G) is the gravitational analog of
vacuum permittivity 0 . Adopting Planck units normalizes G, c and 1/(40 ) to 1, thereby eliminating these constants
from both sets of equations. The two sets of equations then become identical but for the minus sign preceding 4
in the GEM equations and a factor of four in Amperes law. These minus signs stem from an essential dierence
between gravity and electromagnetism: electrostatic charges of the same sign repel each other, whereas masses attract
each other. Hence the GEM equations are nearly Maxwells equations, but with mass (or mass density) substituting
for charge (or charge density), and 1/(4G) replacing the vacuum permittivity 0 . The factor 4 appears in both
the GEM and Maxwell equations, because Planck units normalize G and 1/(40 ) to 1, and not 4G and 0 .
20.3 Higher-order eects

Some higher-order gravitomagnetic eects can reproduce eects reminiscent of the interactions of more conventional
polarized charges. For instance, if two wheels are spun on a common axis, the mutual gravitational attraction between
the two wheels will be greater if they spin in opposite directions than in the same direction. This can be expressed as
an attractive or repulsive gravitomagnetic component.
Gravitomagnetic arguments also predict that a exible or uid toroidal mass undergoing minor axis rotational accel-
eration (accelerating smoke ring rotation) will tend to pull matter through the throat (a case of rotational frame
dragging, acting through the throat). In theory, this conguration might be used for accelerating objects (through the
throat) without such objects experiencing any g-forces.[12]
Consider a toroidal mass with two degrees of rotation (both major axis and minor-axis spin, both turning inside out
and revolving). This represents a special case in which gravitomagnetic eects generate a chiral corkscrew-like
gravitational eld around the object. The reaction forces to dragging at the inner and outer equators would normally
be expected to be equal and opposite in magnitude and direction respectively in the simpler case involving only minor-
axis spin. When both rotations are applied simultaneously, these two sets of reaction forces can be said to occur at
dierent depths in a radial Coriolis eld that extends across the rotating torus, making it more dicult to establish
that cancellation is complete.
Modelling this complex behaviour as a curved spacetime problem has yet to be done and is believed to be very dicult.
20.4 Gravitomagnetic elds of astronomical objects

The formula for the gravitomagnetic eld B near a rotating body can be derived from the GEM equations. It is
exactly half of the LenseThirring precession rate, and is given by:
G L 3(L r/r)r/r
Bg = ,
2c2 r3
where L is the angular momentum of the body. At the equatorial plane, r and L are perpendicular, so their dot
product vanishes, and this formula reduces to:
G L
Bg = ,
2c2 r3
The magnitude of angular momentum of a homogeneous ball-shaped body is:
2mr2 2
L = Iball =
5 T
where:
2mr 2
Iball = 5 is the moment of inertia of a ball-shaped body (see: list of moments of inertia);
is the angular velocity;
m is the mass;
r is the radius;
T is the rotational period.
20.4.1 Earth
Therefore, the magnitude of Earth's gravitomagnetic eld at its equator is:
G m 2 2rg
BEarth g, = = 2 ,
5c2 r T 5c T
where g = G rm2 is Earths gravity. The eld direction coincides with the angular moment direction, i.e. north.
From this calculation it follows that Earths equatorial gravitomagnetic eld is about 1.0121014 Hz,[13] or 3.1107
in units of standard gravity (9.81 m/s2 ) divided by the speed of light. Such a eld is extremely weak and requires
extremely sensitive measurements to be detected. One experiment to measure such eld was the Gravity Probe B
mission.
20.4.2 Pulsar
If the preceding formula is used with the pulsar PSR J1748-2446ad (which rotates 716 times per second), assuming
a radius of 16 km, and two solar masses, then
20.5. LACK OF INVARIANCE 261
2Gm
Bg =
5rc2 T
equals about 166 Hz. This would be easy to notice. However, the pulsar is spinning at a quarter of the speed of light
at the equator, and its radius is only three times more than its Schwarzschild radius. When such fast motion and such
strong gravitational elds exist in a system, the simplied approach of separating gravitomagnetic and gravitoelectric
forces can be applied only as a very rough approximation.
20.5 Lack of invariance

While Maxwells equations are invariant under Lorentz transformations, the GEM equations were not. The fact that
and j do not form a four-vector (instead they are merely a part of the stressenergy tensor) is the basis of this
problem.
Although GEM may hold approximately in two dierent reference frames connected by a Lorentz boost, there is no
way to calculate the GEM variables of one such frame from the GEM variables of the other, unlike the situation with
the variables of electromagnetism. Indeed, their predictions (about what motion is free fall) will probably conict
with each other.
Note that the GEM equations are invariant under translations and spatial rotations, just not under boosts and more
general curvilinear transformations. Maxwells equations can be formulated in a way that makes them invariant under
all of these coordinate transformations.
20.6 See also

Articial gravity
Anti-gravity
Linearized gravity
Geodetic eect
Gravitational radiation
Gravity Probe B
Frame-dragging
Stationary spacetime
KaluzaKlein theory
Speed of gravity Electrodynamical analogies
20.7 References
[1] O. Heaviside (1893). A gravitational and electromagnetic analogy. The Electrician. 31: 8182.
[2] R. Penrose (1969). Gravitational collapse: The role of general relativity. Rivista de Nuovo Cimento. Numero Speciale 1:
252276. Bibcode:1969NCimR...1..252P.
[3] R.K. Williams (1995). Extracting x rays, rays, and relativistic e e+ pairs from supermassive Kerr black holes using
the Penrose mechanism. Physical Review. 51 (10): 53875427. Bibcode:1995PhRvD..51.5387W. PMID 10018300.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.51.5387.
[4] R.K. Williams (2004). Collimated escaping vortical polar e e+ jets intrinsically produced by rotating black holes and Pen-
rose processes. The Astrophysical Journal. 611 (2): 952963. Bibcode:2004ApJ...611..952W. arXiv:astro-ph/0404135
. doi:10.1086/422304.
[5] R.K. Williams (2005). Gravitomagnetic eld and Penrose scattering processes. Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences. 1045. pp. 232245.
[6] R.K. Williams (2001). Collimated energymomentum extraction from rotating black holes in quasars and microquasars
using the Penrose mechanism. AIP Conference Proceedings. 586. pp. 448453. arXiv:astro-ph/0111161 .
[7] Gravitation and Inertia, I. Ciufolini and J.A. Wheeler, Princeton Physics Series, 1995, ISBN 0-691-03323-4
[8] B. Mashhoon; F. Gronwald; H.I.M. Lichtenegger (1999). Gravitomagnetism and the Clock Eect. Lect.Notes Phys. 562:
83108. Bibcode:2001LNP...562...83M. arXiv:gr-qc/9912027 .
[9] S.J. Clark; R.W. Tucker (2000). Gauge symmetry and gravito-electromagnetism. Classical and Quantum Gravity. 17
(19): 41254157. Bibcode:2000CQGra..17.4125C. arXiv:gr-qc/0003115 . doi:10.1088/0264-9381/17/19/311.
[10] B. Mashhoon (2008). Gravitoelectromagnetism: A Brief Review. Bibcode:2003gr.qc....11030M. arXiv:gr-qc/0311030

.
[11] B. Mashhoon (2000). Gravitoelectromagnetism. Bibcode:2001rfg..conf..121M. arXiv:gr-qc/0011014 . doi:10.1142/9789812810021_0009
[12] R.L. Forward (1963). Guidelines to Antigravity. American Journal of Physics. 31 (3): 166170. Bibcode:1963AmJPh..31..166F.
doi:10.1119/1.1969340.
[13] http://www.google.com/search?q=2*pi*radius+of+Earth*earth+gravity%2F(5*c\char"005E\relax{}2*day)
20.8.1 Books
M. P. Hobson; G. P. Efstathiou; A. N. Lasenby (2006). General Relativity: An Introduction for Physicists.
Cambridge University Press. pp. 490491. ISBN 9780521829519.
L. H. Ryder (2009). Introduction to General Relativity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 200207. ISBN
9780521845632.
J. B. Hartle (2002). Gravity: An Introduction to Einsteins General Relativity. Addison-Wesley. pp. 296, 303.
ISBN 9780805386622.
S. Carroll (2003). Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity. Addison-Wesley. p. 281.
ISBN 9780805387322.
J.A. Wheeler (1990). Gravitys next prize: Gravitomagnetism. A journey into gravity and spacetime. Scien-
tic American Library. pp. 232233. ISBN 0-7167-5016-3.
L. Iorio (ed.) (2007). Measuring Gravitomagnetism: A Challenging Enterprise. Nova. ISBN 1-60021-002-3.
O.D. Jemenko (1992). Causality, electromagnetic induction, and gravitation : a dierent approach to the theory
of electromagnetic and gravitational elds. Electret Scientic. ISBN 0-917406-09-5.
O.D. Jemenko (2006). Gravitation and Cogravitation. Electret Scientic. ISBN 0-917406-15-X.
20.8.2 Papers
S.J. Clark; R.W. Tucker (2000). Gauge symmetry and gravito-electromagnetism. Classical and Quantum
Gravity. 17 (19): 41254157. Bibcode:2000CQGra..17.4125C. arXiv:gr-qc/0003115 . doi:10.1088/0264-
9381/17/19/311.
R.L. Forward (1963). Guidelines to Antigravity. American Journal of Physics. 31 (3): 166170. Bibcode:1963AmJPh..31..166
doi:10.1119/1.1969340.
R.T. Jantzen; P. Carini; D. Bini (1992). The Many Faces of Gravitoelectromagnetism. Annals of Physics.
215: 150. Bibcode:1992AnPhy.215....1J. arXiv:gr-qc/0106043 . doi:10.1016/0003-4916(92)90297-Y.
B. Mashhoon (2000). Gravitoelectromagnetism. arXiv:gr-qc/0011014 [gr-qc].
B. Mashhoon (2003). Gravitoelectromagnetism: a Brief Review. arXiv:gr-qc/0311030 [gr-qc]. in L. Iorio

(ed.) (2007). Measuring Gravitomagnetism: A Challenging Enterprise. Nova. pp. 2939. ISBN 1-60021-002-
3.
M. Tajmar; C.J. de Matos (2001). Gravitomagnetic Barnett Eect. Indian Journal of Physics B. 75: 459
461. Bibcode:2000gr.qc....12091D. arXiv:gr-qc/0012091 .
L. Filipe Costa; Carlos A. R. Herdeiro (2007). A gravito-electromagnetic analogy based on tidal tensors.
Physical Review D. 78 (2). Bibcode:2008PhRvD..78b4021C. arXiv:gr-qc/0612140 . doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.78.024021.
Antoine Acke (2013). Gravito-electromagnetism explained by the theory of informatons. Hadronic Journal.
36 (4).
A. Bakopoulos; P. Kanti (2016). Novel Ansatzes and Scalar Quantities in Gravito-Electromagnetism. arXiv:1610.09819
[gr-qc].
20.9 External links

Gravity Probe B: Testing Einsteins Universe
Gyroscopic Superconducting Gravitomagnetic Eects news on tentative result of European Space Agency (esa)
research
In Search of Gravitomagnetism, NASA, 20 April 2004.

Gravitomagnetic London Moment New test of General Relativity?
Measurement of Gravitomagnetic and Acceleration Fields Around Rotating Superconductors M. Tajmar, et

al., 17 October 2006.
Test of the LenseThirring eect with the MGS Mars probe, New Scientist, January 2007.
Chapter 21
Ampres force law
This article is about Ampres force law. For the law relating the integrated magnetic eld around a closed loop to
the electric current through the loop, see Ampres circuital law.
In magnetostatics, the force of attraction or repulsion between two current-carrying wires (see rst gure below)
is often called Ampres force law. The physical origin of this force is that each wire generates a magnetic eld,
following the BiotSavart law, and the other wire experiences a magnetic force as a consequence, following the
Lorentz force law.
21.1 Equation
21.1.1 Special case: Two straight parallel wires
The best-known and simplest example of Ampres force law, which underlies the denition of the ampere, the SI
unit of current, states that the force per unit length between two straight parallel conductors is
Fm I1 I2
= 2kA
L r
where kA is the magnetic force constant from the BiotSavart law, Fm/L is the total force on either wire per unit
length of the shorter (the longer is approximated as innitely long relative to the shorter), r is the distance between
the two wires, and I 1 , I 2 are the direct currents carried by the wires.
This is a good approximation if one wire is suciently longer than the other that it can be approximated as innitely
long, and if the distance between the wires is small compared to their lengths (so that the one innite-wire approxi-
mation holds), but large compared to their diameters (so that they may also be approximated as innitely thin lines).
The value of kA depends upon the system of units chosen, and the value of kA decides how large the unit of current
will be. In the SI system,[1] [2]
def 0
kA =
4
with 0 the magnetic constant, dened in SI units as[3][4]
0 = 4 107 N / A2 .
def
Thus, in vacuum,
264
21.1. EQUATION 265
B1 I2
F12
I1
Two current-carrying wires attract each other magnetically: The bottom wire has current I1 , which creates magnetic eld B1 . The
top wire carries a current I2 through the magnetic eld B1 , so (by the Lorentz force) the wire experiences a force F12 . (Not shown
is the simultaneous process where the top wire makes a magnetic eld which results in a force on the bottom wire.)
the force per meter of length between two parallel conductors spaced apart by 1 m and each carrying a
current of 1 A is exactly
2 107 N / m.
21.1.2 General case

The general formulation of the magnetic force for arbitrary geometries is based on iterated line integrals and combines
the BiotSavart law and Lorentz force in one equation as shown below.[5][6][7]
266 CHAPTER 21. AMPRES FORCE LAW

0 I1 d1 (I2 d2 r21 )
F12 =
4 L1 L2 |r|2
where
F12 is the total force felt by wire 1 due to wire 2 (usually measured in newtons),
I 1 and I 2 are the currents running through wires 1 and 2, respectively (usually measured in amperes),
The double line integration sums the force upon each element of wire 1 due to the magnetic eld of each
element of wire 2,
d1 and d2 are innitesimal vectors associated with wire 1 and wire 2 respectively (usually measured in metres);
see line integral for a detailed denition,
The vector r21 is the unit vector pointing from the dierential element on wire 2 towards the dierential element
on wire 1, and |r| is the distance separating these elements,
The multiplication is a vector cross product,
The sign of I is relative to the orientation dn (for example, if d1 points in the direction of conventional
current, then I 1 >0).
To determine the force between wires in a material medium, the magnetic constant is replaced by the actual permeability
of the medium.
By expanding the vector triple product and applying Stokes theorem, the law can be rewritten in the following equiv-
alent way:[8]

0 (I1 d1 I2 d2 ) r21
F12 = .
4 L1 L2 |r|2
In this form, it is immediately obvious that the force on wire 1 due to wire 2 is equal and opposite the force on wire
2 due to wire 1, in accordance with Newtons 3rd law.
21.2 Historical background

The form of Amperes force law commonly given was derived by Maxwell and is one of several expressions consistent
with the original experiments of Ampre and Gauss. The x-component of the force between two linear currents I
and I, as depicted in the adjacent diagram, was given by Ampre in 1825 and Gauss in 1833 as follows:[9]

cos(xds) cos(rds ) cos(rx) cos(dsds )
dFx = kII ds ds .
r2
Following Ampre, a number of scientists, including Wilhelm Weber, Rudolf Clausius, James Clerk Maxwell,
Bernhard Riemann, Hermann Grassmann,[10] and Walther Ritz, developed this expression to nd a fundamental
expression of the force. Through dierentiation, it can be shown that:
cos(xds) cos(rds ) (cos 3 cos cos )

= cos(rx)
r2 r2
and also the identity:
cos(rx) cos(dsds ) cos(rx) cos

=
r2 r2
21.2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 267
Diagram of original Ampere experiment
With these expressions, Ampres force law can be expressed as:

2 cos 3 cos cos
dFx = kII ds ds cos(rx)
r2
Using the identities:
r r
= cos , = cos
s s
and
2r cos + cos cos

=
ss r
Ampres results can be expressed in the form:
( )
kII dsds r r 2r
d2 F =
2r
r2 s s ss
As Maxwell noted, terms can be added to this expression, which are derivatives of a function Q(r) and, when inte-
grated, cancel each other out. Thus, Maxwell gave the most general form consistent with the experimental facts for
the force on ds arising from the action of ds:[11]
[(( ) ) ]
1
r r 2r 2Q Q Q
2
d Fx = kII dsds 2 2r +r cos(rx) + cos(xds) cos(xds )
r s s ss ss s s
Q is a function of r, according to Maxwell, which cannot be determined, without assumptions of some kind, from
experiments in which the active current forms a closed circuit. Taking the function Q(r) to be of the form:
(1 + k)
Q=
2r
We obtain the general expression for the force exerted on ds by ds:
kII
d2 F = [(3 k)r1 (dsds ) 3(1 k)r1 (r^1 ds)(r^1 ds ) (1 + k)ds(r^1 ds ) (1 + k)d s(r^1 ds)]
2r2
Integrating around s eliminates k and the original expression given by Ampre and Gauss is obtained. Thus, as far
as the original Ampre experiments are concerned, the value of k has no signicance. Ampre took k=1; Gauss
took k=+1, as did Grassmann and Clausius, although Clausius omitted the S component. In the non-ethereal electron
theories, Weber took k=1 and Riemann took k=+1. Ritz left k undetermined in his theory. If we take k = 1, we
obtain the Ampre expression:
kII
d2 F = [2r(dsds ) 3r(rds)(rds )]
r3
If we take k=+1, we obtain
kII
d2 F = [r(dsds ) ds(rds ) ds (rds)]
r3
Using the vector identity for the triple cross product, we may express this result as
kII
d2 F = [(ds ds r) + ds (rds)]
r3
When integrated around ds the second term is zero, and thus we nd the form of Ampres force law given by
Maxwell:

ds (ds r)
F = kII
|r|3
21.3 Derivation of parallel straight wire case from general formula

Start from the general formula:

0 I1 d1 (I2 d2 r21 )
F12 =
4 L1 L2 |r|2
Assume wire 2 is along the x-axis, and wire 1 is at y=D, z=0, parallel to the x-axis. Let x1 , x2 be the x-coordinate
of the dierential element of wire 1 and wire 2, respectively. In other words, the dierential element of wire 1 is at
(x1 , D, 0) and the dierential element of wire 2 is at (x2 , 0, 0) . By properties of line integrals, d1 = (dx1 , 0, 0)
and d2 = (dx2 , 0, 0) . Also,
1
r21 = (x1 x2 , D, 0)
(x1 x2 )2 + D2
and
21.4. NOTABLE DERIVATIONS OF AMPRES FORCE LAW 269

|r| = (x1 x2 )2 + D2
Therefore, the integral is

0 I1 I2 (dx1 , 0, 0) [(dx2 , 0, 0) (x1 x2 , D, 0)]
F12 =
4 L1 L2 |(x1 x2 )2 + D2 |3/2
Evaluating the cross-product:

0 I1 I2 (0, D, 0)
F12 = dx1 dx2
4 L1 L2 |(x1 x2 )2 + D2 |3/2
Next, we integrate x2 from to + :

0 I1 I2 2
F12 = (0, 1, 0) dx1
4 D L1
If wire 1 is also innite, the integral diverges, because the total attractive force between two innite parallel wires is
innity. In fact, what we really want to know is the attractive force per unit length of wire 1. Therefore, assume wire
1 has a large but nite length L1 . Then the force vector felt by wire 1 is:
0 I1 I2 2
F12 = (0, 1, 0)L1
4 D
As expected, the force that the wire feels is proportional to its length. The force per unit length is:
F12 0 I1 I2
= (0, 1, 0)
L1 2D
The direction of the force is along the y-axis, representing wire 1 getting pulled towards wire 2 if the currents are
parallel, as expected. The magnitude of the force per unit length agrees with the expression for FLm shown above.
21.4 Notable derivations of Ampres force law

Chronologically ordered:
Ampres original 1823 derivation:

Assis, Andr Koch Torres; Chaib, J. P. M. C; Ampre, Andr-Marie (2015). Ampres electrodynamics:
analysis of the meaning and evolution of Ampres force between current elements, together with a complete
translation of his masterpiece: Theory of electrodynamic phenomena, uniquely deduced from experience
(PDF). Montreal: Apeiron. ISBN 978-1-987980-03-5.
Maxwell's 1873 derivation:
Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism vol. 2, part 4, ch. 2 (502-527)
Pierre Duhem's 1892 derivation:
Leons sur l'lectricit et le magntisme vol. 3, appendix to book 14, pp. 309-332 (in French)
Alfred O'Rahilly's 1938 derivation:
Electromagnetic Theory: A Critical Examination of Fundamentals vol. 1, pp. 102104 (cf. the following
pages, too)
21.5 See also

Ampere
Magnetic constant
Lorentz force
Ampres circuital law
Free space

[1] Raymond A Serway & Jewett JW (2006). Serways principles of physics: a calculus based text (Fourth ed.). Belmont,
California: Thompson Brooks/Cole. p. 746. ISBN 0-534-49143-X.
[2] Paul M. S. Monk (2004). Physical chemistry: understanding our chemical world. New York: Chichester: Wiley. p. 16.
ISBN 0-471-49181-0.
[3] BIPM denition
[4] Magnetic constant. 2006 CODATA recommended values. NIST. Archived from the original on 20 August 2007. Retrieved
8 August 2007.
[5] The integrand of this expression appears in the ocial documentation regarding denition of the ampere BIPM SI Units
brochure, 8th Edition, p. 105
[6] Tai L. Chow (2006). Introduction to electromagnetic theory: a modern perspective. Boston: Jones and Bartlett. p. 153.
ISBN 0-7637-3827-1.
[7] Ampres Force Law Scroll to section Integral Equation for formula.
[8] Christodoulides, C. (1988). Comparison of the Ampre and BiotSavart magnetostatic force laws in their line-current-
element forms (PDF). American Journal of Physics. 56 (4): 357362. doi:10.1119/1.15613.
[9] O'Rahilly, Alfred (1965). Electromagnetic Theory. Dover. p. 104. (cf. Duhem, P. (1886). Sur la loi d'Ampre. J. Phys.
Theor. Appl. 5 (1): 2629. doi:10.1051/jphystap:01886005002601. Retrieved 2015-01-07., which appears in Duhem,
Pierre Maurice Marie (1891). Leons sur l'lectricit et le magntisme. 3. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.)
[10] Petsche, Hans-Joachim (2009). Hermann Gramann : biography. Basel Boston: Birkhuser. p. 39. ISBN 9783764388591.
[11] Maxwell, James Clerk (1904). Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Oxford. p. 173.
21.7 External links

Ampres force law Includes animated graphic of the force vectors.
Chapter 22
Hendrik Lorentz
Not to be confused with Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz or Ludvig Lorenz. See also Lorentz and Lorenz.
Warning: Page using Template:Infobox scientist with unknown parameter work_places (this message is shown
only in preview).
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (18 July 1853 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize
in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman eect. He also derived
the transformation equations which formed the basis of the special relativity theory of Albert Einstein.
According to the biography published by the Nobel Foundation, It may well be said that Lorentz was regarded by all
theoretical physicists as the worlds leading spirit, who completed what was left unnished by his predecessors and
prepared the ground for the fruitful reception of the new ideas based on the quantum theory.[2] For this he received
many honours and distinctions during his life, includingfrom 1925 to his death in 1928the role of Chairman of
the exclusive International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
22.1 Biography
22.1.1 Early life
Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland (The Netherlands), the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822
1893), a well-o nurseryman, and Geertruida van Ginkel (18261861). In 1862, after his mothers death, his father
married Luberta Hupkes. Despite being raised as a Protestant, he was a freethinker in religious matters.[B 1] From
1866 to 1869 he attended the Hogere Burger School in Arnhem, a new type of public high school recently es-
tablished by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke. His results in school were exemplary; not only did he excel in the physical
sciences and mathematics, but also in English, French, and German. In 1870 he passed the exams in classical lan-
guages which were then required for admission to University.[B 2]
Lorentz studied physics and mathematics at the Leiden University, where he was strongly inuenced by the teaching
of astronomy professor Frederik Kaiser; it was his inuence that led him to become a physicist. After earning a
bachelors degree, he returned to Arnhem in 1871 to teach night school classes in mathematics, but he continued his
studies in Leiden in addition to his teaching position. In 1875 Lorentz earned a doctoral degree under Pieter Rijke on
a thesis entitled "Over de theorie der terugkaatsing en breking van het licht" (On the theory of reection and refraction
of light), in which he rened the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell.[B 2][3]
22.1.2 Career
Professor in Leiden
On 17 November 1877, only 24 years of age, Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was appointed to the newly established chair
in theoretical physics at the University of Leiden. The position had initially been oered to Johan van der Waals,
but he opted for a position at the Universiteit van Amsterdam at the last moment.[B 2] On 25 January 1878 Lorentz
271
272 CHAPTER 22. HENDRIK LORENTZ
Portrait by Jan Veth
delivered his inaugural lecture on "De moleculaire theorin in de natuurkunde" (The molecular theories in physics).
In 1881 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[4]
During the rst twenty years in Leiden, Lorentz was primarily interested in the theory of electromagnetism to explain
the relationship of electricity, magnetism, and light. After that, he extended his research to a much wider area while
still focusing on theoretical physics. Lorentz made signicant contributions to elds ranging from hydrodynamics to
general relativity. His most important contributions were in the area of electromagnetism, the electron theory, and
relativity.[B 2]
Lorentz theorized that atoms might consist of charged particles and suggested that the oscillations of these charged
particles were the source of light. When a colleague and former student of Lorentzs, Pieter Zeeman, discovered the
Zeeman eect in 1896, Lorentz supplied its theoretical interpretation. The experimental and theoretical work was
22.1. BIOGRAPHY 273
honored with the Nobel prize in physics in 1902. Lorentz' name is now associated with the Lorentz-Lorenz formula,
the Lorentz force, the Lorentzian distribution, and the Lorentz transformation.
Electrodynamics and relativity
Main articles: Lorentz ether theory and History of special relativity
In 1892 and 1895 Lorentz worked on describing electromagnetic phenomena (the propagation of light) in reference
frames that move relative to the luminiferous aether.[5][6] He discovered that the transition from one to another refer-
ence frame could be simplied by using a new time variable which he called local time. The local time depended on
the universal time and the location under consideration. By that, he could explain the aberration of light and the result
of the Fizeau experiment. Lorentzs publications made use of the term local time without giving a detailed interpreta-
tion of its physical relevance. In 1900 and 1904, Henri Poincar called local time Lorentzs most ingenious idea and
illustrated it by showing that clocks in moving frames are synchronized by exchanging light signals that are assumed
to travel at the same speed against and with the motion of the frame[7][8] (see Einstein synchronisation and Relativity
of simultaneity). In 1892, with the attempt to explain the Michelson-Morley experiment, Lorentz also proposed that
moving bodies contract in the direction of motion (see length contraction; George FitzGerald had already arrived at
this conclusion in 1889).[9]
In 1899 and again in 1904, Lorentz added time dilation to his transformations and published what Poincar in 1905
named Lorentz transformations.[10][11] It was apparently unknown to Lorentz that Joseph Larmor had used identical
transformations to describe orbiting electrons in 1897. Larmors and Lorentzs equations look somewhat dissimilar,
but they are algebraically equivalent to those presented by Poincar and Einstein in 1905.[B 3] Lorentzs 1904 paper
includes the covariant formulation of electrodynamics, in which electrodynamic phenomena in dierent reference
frames are described by identical equations with well dened transformation properties. The paper clearly recognizes
the signicance of this formulation, namely that the outcomes of electrodynamic experiments do not depend on the
relative motion of the reference frame. The 1904 paper includes a detailed discussion of the increase of the inertial
mass of rapidly moving objects in a useless attempt to make momentum look exactly like Newtonian momentum; it
was also an attempt to explain the length contraction as the accumulation of stu onto mass making it slow and
contract.
Lorentz and special relativity
In 1905, Einstein would use many of the concepts, mathematical tools and results Lorentz discussed to write his
paper entitled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies",[12] known today as the theory of special relativity. Be-
cause Lorentz laid the fundamentals for the work by Einstein, this theory was originally called the Lorentz-Einstein
theory.[B 4]
In 1906, Lorentzs electron theory received a full-edged treatment in his lectures at Columbia University, published
under the title The Theory of Electrons.
The increase of mass was the rst prediction of Lorentz and Einstein to be tested, but some experiments by Kaufmann
appeared to show a slightly dierent mass increase; this led Lorentz to the famous remark that he was au bout de
mon latin (at the end of my [knowledge of] Latin = at his wits end)[13] The conrmation of his prediction had to
wait until 1908 and later (see KaufmannBuchererNeumann experiments).
Lorentz published a series of papers dealing with what he called Einsteins principle of relativity. For instance,
in 1909,[14] 1910,[15][16] 1914.[17] In his 1906 lectures published with additions in 1909 in the book The theory of
electrons (updated in 1915), he spoke armatively of Einsteins theory:[14]
It will be clear by what has been said that the impressions received by the two observers A0 and
A would be alike in all respects. It would be impossible to decide which of them moves or stands still
with respect to the ether, and there would be no reason for preferring the times and lengths measured
by the one to those determined by the other, nor for saying that either of them is in possession of the
true times or the true lengths. This is a point which Einstein has laid particular stress on, in a
theory in which he starts from what he calls the principle of relativity, [...] I cannot speak here of the
many highly interesting applications which Einstein has made of this principle. His results concerning
electromagnetic and optical phenomena ... agree in the main with those which we have obtained in the
preceding pages, the chief dierence being that Einstein simply postulates what we have deduced, with
Albert Einstein and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, photographed by Ehrenfest in front of his home in Leiden in 1921.
some diculty and not altogether satisfactorily, from the fundamental equations of the electromagnetic
eld. By doing so, he may certainly take credit for making us see in the negative result of experiments
like those of Michelson, Rayleigh and Brace, not a fortuitous compensation of opposing eects, but the
manifestation of a general and fundamental principle. [...] It would be unjust not to add that, besides
the fascinating boldness of its starting point, Einsteins theory has another marked advantage over mine.
Whereas I have not been able to obtain for the equations referred to moving axes exactly the same form
as for those which apply to a stationary system, Einstein has accomplished this by means of a system of
22.1. BIOGRAPHY 275
new variables slightly dierent from those which I have introduced.
Though Lorentz still maintained that there is an (undetectable) aether in which resting clocks indicate the true time":
1909: Yet, I think, something may also be claimed in favour of the form in which I have presented
the theory. I cannot but regard the ether, which can be the seat of an electromagnetic eld with its energy
and its vibrations, as endowed with a certain degree of substantiality, however dierent it may be from
all ordinary matter.[14]
1910: Provided that there is an aether, then under all systems x, y, z, t, one is preferred by the fact,
that the coordinate axes as well as the clocks are resting in the aether. If one connects with this the
idea (which I would abandon only reluctantly) that space and time are completely dierent things, and
that there is a true time (simultaneity thus would be independent of the location, in agreement with
the circumstance that we can have the idea of innitely great velocities), then it can be easily seen that
this true time should be indicated by clocks at rest in the aether. However, if the relativity principle had
general validity in nature, one wouldn't be in the position to determine, whether the reference system
just used is the preferred one. Then one comes to the same results, as if one (following Einstein and
Minkowski) deny the existence of the aether and of true time, and to see all reference systems as equally
valid. Which of these two ways of thinking one is following, can surely be left to the individual.[15]
Lorentz also gave credit to Poincar's contributions to relativity.[18]
Indeed, for some of the physical quantities which enter the formulas, I did not indicate the transfor-
mation which suits best. That was done by Poincar and then by Mr. Einstein and Minkowski [...] I did
not succeed in obtaining the exact invariance of the equations [...] Poincar, on the contrary, obtained a
perfect invariance of the equations of electrodynamics, and he formulated the postulate of relativity,
terms which he was the rst to employ. [...] Let us add that by correcting the imperfections of my work
he never reproached me for them.
Lorentz and general relativity
Lorentz was one of few scientists who supported Einsteins search for general relativity from the beginning he
wrote several research papers and discussed with Einstein personally and by letter.[B 5] For instance, he attempted
to combine Einsteins formalism with Hamiltons principle (1915),[19] and to reformulate it in a coordinate-free way
(1916).[20][B 6] Lorentz wrote in 1919:[21]
The total eclipse of the sun of May 29, resulted in a striking conrmation of the new theory of the
universal attractive power of gravitation developed by Albert Einstein, and thus reinforced the conviction
that the dening of this theory is one of the most important steps ever taken in the domain of natural
science.
Lorentz and quantum mechanics
Lorentz gave a series of lectures in the Fall of 1926 at Cornell University on the new quantum mechanics, in which
he presented Erwin Schrdinger's wave mechanics. A typescript of the lecture notes is available.[22]
Assessments
Einstein wrote of Lorentz:
1928: The enormous signicance of his work consisted therein, that it forms the basis for the theory
of atoms and for the general and special theories of relativity. The special theory was a more detailed
expose of those concepts which are found in Lorentzs research of 1895.[B 7]
1953: For me personally he meant more than all the others I have met on my lifes journey.[B 8]
Poincar (1902) said of Lorentzs theory of electrodynamics:[23]

The most satisfactory theory is that of Lorentz; it is unquestionably the theory that best explains
the known facts, the one that throws into relief the greatest number of known relations ... it is due to
Lorentz that the results of Fizeau on the optics of moving bodies, the laws of normal and abnormal
dispersion and of absorption are connected with each other ... Look at the ease with which the new
Zeeman phenomenon found its place, and even aided the classication of Faradays magnetic rotation,
which had deed all Maxwells eorts.
Paul Langevin (1911) said of Lorentz:[B 9]
It will be Lorentzs main claim to fame that he demonstrated that the fundamental equations of
electromagnetism also allow of a group of transformations that enables them to resume the same form
when a transition is made from one reference system to another. This group diers fundamentally from
the above group as regards transformations of space and time.''
Lorentz and Emil Wiechert had an interesting correspondence on the topics of electromagnetism and the theory of
relativity, and Lorentz explained his ideas in letters to Wiechert. The correspondence between Lorentz and Wiechert
has been published by Wilfried Schrder.[B 10]
Lorentz was chairman of the rst Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911. Shortly after the
conference, Poincar wrote an essay on quantum physics which gives an indication of Lorentzs status at the time:[24]
... at every moment [the twenty physicists from dierent countries] could be heard talking of the
[quantum mechanics] which they contrasted with the old mechanics. Now what was the old mechanics?
Was it that of Newton, the one which still reigned uncontested at the close of the nineteenth century?
No, it was the mechanics of Lorentz, the one dealing with the principle of relativity; the one which,
hardly ve years ago, seemed to be the height of boldness.
Change of priorities
In 1910 Lorentz decided to reorganize his life. His teaching and management duties at Leiden University were taking
up too much of his time leaving him little time for research. In 1912, he resigned from his chair of theoretical physics
to become curator of the Physics Cabinet at Teylers Museum in Haarlem. He remained connected to Leiden
University as an external professor, and his Monday morning lectures on new developments in theoretical physics
soon became legendary.[B 2]
Lorentz initially asked Einstein to succeed him as professor of theoretical physics at Leiden. However, Einstein could
not accept because he had just accepted a position at ETH Zurich. Einstein had no regrets in this matter, since the
prospect of having to ll Lorentzs shoes made him shiver. Instead Lorentz appointed Paul Ehrenfest as his successor
in the chair of theoretical physics at the Leiden University, who would found the Institute for Theoretical Physics
which would become known as the Lorentz Institute.[B 2]
Civil work
After World War I, Lorentz was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the Wetenschappelijke Commissie
van Advies en Onderzoek in het Belang van Volkswelvaart en Weerbaarheid, a committee which was to harness
the scientic potential united in the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for solving civil
problems such as food shortage which had resulted from the war. Lorentz was appointed chair of the committee.
However, despite the best eorts of many of the participants the committee would harvest little success. The only
exception being that it ultimately resulted in the founding of TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientic
Research.[B 2]
Lorentz was also asked by the Dutch government to chair a committee to calculate some of the eects of the proposed
Afsluitdijk (Enclosure Dam) ood control dam on water levels in the Waddenzee. Hydraulic engineering was mainly
an empirical science at that time, but the disturbance of the tidal ow caused by the Afsluitdijk was so unprecedented
that the empirical rules could not be trusted. Originally Lorentz was only supposed to have a coordinating role in
the committee, but it quickly became apparent that Lorentz was the only physicist to have any fundamental traction
on the problem. In the period 1918 till 1926, Lorentz invested a large portion of his time in the problem. Lorentz
proposed to start from the basic hydrodynamic equations of motion and solve the problem numerically. This was
22.2. LEGACY 277
feasible for a "human computer", because of the quasi-one-dimensional nature of the water ow in the Waddenzee.
The Afsluitdijk was completed in 1932 and the predictions of Lorentz and his committee turned out to be remarkably
accurate.[B 11][B 2] One of the two sets of locks in the Afsluitdijk was named after him.
22.1.3 Death
In January 1928, Lorentz became seriously ill, and died shortly after on February 4.[B 2] The respect in which he was
held in the Netherlands is apparent from Owen Willans Richardson's description of his funeral:
The funeral took place at Haarlem at noon on Friday, February 10. At the stroke of twelve the State
telegraph and telephone services of Holland were suspended for three minutes as a revered tribute to
the greatest man the Netherlands has produced in our time. It was attended by many colleagues and
distinguished physicists from foreign countries. The President, Sir Ernest Rutherford, represented the Royal
Society and made an appreciative oration by the graveside.[B 12]
Unique 1928 lm footage of the funeral procession with a lead carriage followed by ten mourners, followed by a car-
riage with the con, followed in turn by at least four more carriages, passing by a crowd at the Grote Markt, Haarlem
from the Zijlstraat to the Smedestraat, and then back again through the Grote Houtstraat towards the Barteljorisstraat,
on the way to the Algemene Begraafplaats at the Kleverlaan (northern Haarlem cemetery) has been digitized on
YouTube.[B 13] Einstein gave a eulogy at a memorial service at Leiden University.[B 2]
22.2 Legacy
Lorentz is considered one of the prime representatives of the Second Dutch Golden Age, a period of several decades
surrounding 1900 in which in the natural sciences in the Netherlands ourished.[B 2]
Richardson describes Lorentz as:
[A] man of remarkable intellectual powers ... . Although steeped in his own investigation of the moment,
he always seemed to have in his immediate grasp its ramications into every corner of the universe. ...
The singular clearness of his writings provides a striking reection of his wonderful powers in this respect.
.... He possessed and successfully employed the mental vivacity which is necessary to follow the interplay
of discussion, the insight which is required to extract those statements which illuminate the real diculties,
and the wisdom to lead the discussion among fruitful channels, and he did this so skillfully that the process
was hardly perceptible.[B 12]
M. J. Klein (1967) wrote of Lorentzs reputation in the 1920s:
For many years physicists had always been eager to hear what Lorentz will say about it when a new
theory was advanced, and, even at seventy-two, he did not disappoint them.[B 14]
In addition to the Nobel prize, Lorentz received a great many honours for his outstanding work. He was elected a
Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1905.[1] The Society awarded him their Rumford Medal in
1908 and their Copley Medal in 1918.
22.3 See also

List of things named after Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
Geertruida de Haas-Lorentz
Lorentz factor
Lorentz force
Lorentz Medal
Lorentz (crater)
22.4 References
22.4.1 Primary sources

Many papers by Lorentz (mostly in English) are available for online viewing in the Proceedings of the Royal Nether-
lands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam.
Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1900), Considerations on Gravitation, Proc. Acad. Science Amsterdam, 2: 559
574
Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (19271931), Lectures on Theoretical Physics (vol. I-III), New York, [NY.]: Macmil-
lan & Co., (Vol. I online)
22.4.2 Secondary sources

[1] Russell McCormmach. Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon. Complete Dictionary of Scientic Biography. Retrieved 25 April
2012. Although he grew up in Protestant circles, he was a freethinker in religious matters; he regularly attended the local
French church to improve his French.
[2] Kox, Anne J. (2011). Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (in Dutch)". Nederlands Tijdschirft voor Natuurkunde. 77 (12): 441.
[3] Macrossan, Michael N. (1986), A note on relativity before Einstein, Brit. J. Phil. Sci., 37 (2): 232234, doi:10.1093/bjps/37.2.232
[4] Miller, Arthur I. (1981). Albert Einsteins special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905
1911). Reading: AddisonWesley. ISBN 0-201-04679-2.
[5] Kox, A.J. (1993). Einstein, Lorentz, Leiden and general relativity. Class. Quantum Grav. 10: 187. Bibcode:1993CQGra..10S.187K.
doi:10.1088/0264-9381/10/S/020.
[6] Janssen, M. (1992). H. A. Lorentzs Attempt to Give a Coordinate-free Formulation of the General. Theory of Relativity..
Studies in the History of General Relativity. Boston: Birkhuser. pp. 344363. ISBN 0817634797.
[7] Pais, Abraham (1982), Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, New York: Oxford University Press,
ISBN 0-19-520438-7
[8] Justin Wintle (8 February 2002). Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture: 18001914. Routledge. pp. 375. ISBN 978-0-
415-26584-3. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
[9] Langevin, P. (1911), The evolution of space and time, Scientia, X: 3154 (translated by J. B. Sykes, 1973).
[10] (Arch. ex. hist. Sci, 1984).
[11] Carlo Beenakker. Ilorentz.org. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
[12] Richardson, O. W. (1929), Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, J. London Math. Soc., 4 (1): 183192, doi:10.1112/jlms/s1-
4.3.183. The biography which refers to this article (but gives no pagination details other than those of the article itself) is
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Hendrik Lorentz, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St
Andrews.
[13] Funeral procession on YouTube Hendrik Lorentz
[14] Przibram, Karl (ed.); Klein, Martin J. (trans.) (1967), Letters of wave mechanics: Schrdinger, Planck, Einstein, Lorentz.
Edited by Karl Przibram for the Austrian Academy of Sciences, New York, [NY.]: Philosophical Library
de Haas-Lorentz, Geertruida L.; Fagginger Auer, Joh. C. (trans.) (1957), H.A. Lorentz: impressions of his life
and work, Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co.
Langevin, Paul (1911), L'volution de l'espace et du temps, Scientia, X: 3154 :n.p.
Poincar, Henri (1900), La thorie de Lorentz et le principe de raction, Archives Nerlandaises des Sciences
exactes et naturelles, V: 253278 See English translation.
Poincar, Henri (1902), La science et l'hypothse, Paris, [France]: Ernest Flammarion : n.p.. The quotation
is from the English translation (Poincar, Henri (1952), Science and hypothesis, New York, [NY.]: Dover
Publications, p. 175)
Poincar, Henri (1913), Dernires penses, Paris, [France]: Ernest Flammarion :n.p.. The quotation in the
article is from the English translation: (Poincar, Henri; Bolduc, John W. (trans.) (1963), Mathematics and
science: last essays, New York, [NY.]: Dover Publications :n.p.)
Sri Kantha, S. Einstein and Lorentz. Nature, July 13, 1995; 376: 111. (Letter)
22.5 External links

Publications of H.A. Lorentz
Karl Grandin, ed. (1902). Hendrik A. Lorentz Biography. Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved
2008-07-29.
Works by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Hendrik Lorentz at Internet Archive
Works by Hendrik Lorentz at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Beenakker, Carlo, Lorentz and the Zuiderzee project, Leiden, [The Netherlands]: Instituut Lorentz, University
of Leiden
van Helden, Albert (1999), Hendrik Antoon Lorentz 18531928, in van Berkel, Klaas; van Helden, Albert;
Palm, Lodewijk (eds.), A History of Science in The Netherlands: Survey, Themes and Reference, Leiden, [The
Netherlands]: Brill, pp. 514518, ISBN 90-04-10006-7
List of Ph.D. students of Hendrik Lorentz.
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Hendrik Lorentz, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, re-
trieved 2008-05-01
Movie of Lorentzs funeral
[1] Fellows of the Royal Society. London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2015-03-16.
[2] Hendrik A. Lorentz - Biographical, Nobelprize.org (retrieved: 4 November 2015)
[3] Hendrik Lorentz (1875). Over de theorie der terugkaatsing en breking van het licht (PDF).
[4] Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853 - 1928)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
[5] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1892), "La Thorie electromagntique de Maxwell et son application aux corps mouvants on
the Internet Archive", Archives nerlandaises des sciences exactes et naturelles, 25: 363552 External link in |title= (help)
[6] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1895), Versuch einer Theorie der electrischen und optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Krpern,
Leiden: E.J. Brill
English Wikisource translation: Attempt of a Theory of Electrical and Optical Phenomena in Moving Bodies
[7] Poincar, Henri (1900), "La thorie de Lorentz et le principe de raction", Archives nerlandaises des sciences exactes et
naturelles, 5: 252278. See also the English translation.
[8] Poincar, Henri (1904), "The Principles of Mathematical Physics", Congress of arts and science, universal exposition, St.
Louis, 1904, 1, Boston and New York: Houghton, Miin and Company, pp. 604622
[9] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1892b), "The Relative Motion of the Earth and the Aether", Zittingsverlag Akad. V. Wet., 1:
7479
[10] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1899), "Simplied Theory of Electrical and Optical Phenomena in Moving Systems", Proceed-
ings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1: 427442
[11] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1904), "Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any velocity smaller than that of
light", Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 6: 809831
[12] Einstein, Albert (1905), Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Krper (PDF), Annalen der Physik, 322 (10): 891921, Bibcode:1905AnP...322..891E
doi:10.1002/andp.19053221004. See also: English translation.
[13] Lorentz Poincar". Archived from the original on February 21, 2005. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
[14] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1909/16), The theory of electrons and its applications to the phenomena of light and radiant heat;
a course of lectures delivered in Columbia university, New York, in March and April 1906, New York, [NY.]: Columbia
University Press Check date values in: |date= (help)
[15] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1910/1913). "Das Relativittsprinzip und seine Anwendung auf einige besondere physikalische
Erscheinungen". In Blumenthal, Otto; Sommerfeld, Arnold. Das Relativittsprinzip. Eine Sammlung von Abhandlungen.
pp. 7489. Check date values in: |date= (help)
English Wikisource translation: The Principle of Relativity and its Application to some Special Physical Phenomena
[16] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1910 (published 1931)), Lectures on theoretical physics, Vol. 3, London: MacMillan Check date
values in: |date= (help)
[17] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1914). Das Relativittsprinzip. Drei Vorlesungen gehalten in Teylers Stiftung zu Haarlem (1913).
Leipzig and Berlin: B.G. Teubner.
[18] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1914/21), "Deux Mmoires de Henri Poincar sur la Physique Mathmatique", Acta Mathemat-
ica, 38 (1): 293308, doi:10.1007/BF02392073 Check date values in: |date= (help)
English Wikisource translation: Two Papers of Henri Poincar on Mathematical Physics
[19] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1915), "On Hamiltons principle in Einsteins theory of gravitation", Proceedings of the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 19: 751765
[20] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1916), "On Einsteins Theory of gravitation IIV", Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy
of Arts and Sciences, 19/20: 13411361, 234
[21] Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1920), The Einstein Theory of Relativity, New York: Bentanos
[22] Lorentz, H. A. (1926). The New Quantum Theory (PDF). Ithaca, New York: Typescript of Lecture Notes. Retrieved
August 12, 2016.
[23] Poincar, Henri (1902), Science and Hypothesis, London and Newcastle-on-Cyne (1905): The Walter Scott publishing Co.
[24] Poincar, Henri (1913), Last Essays on the Internet Archive, New York External link in |title= (help)
Chapter 23
Conductor moving in a magnetic eld.
The moving magnet and conductor problem is a famous thought experiment, originating in the 19th century,
concerning the intersection of classical electromagnetism and special relativity. In it, the current in a conductor
moving with constant velocity, v, with respect to a magnet is calculated in the frame of reference of the magnet and
in the frame of reference of the conductor. The observable quantity in the experiment, the current, is the same in
either case, in accordance with the basic principle of relativity, which states: Only relative motion is observable;
there is no absolute standard of rest.[1] However, according to Maxwells equations, the charges in the conductor
experience a magnetic force in the frame of the magnet and an electric force in the frame of the conductor. The
same phenomenon would seem to have two dierent descriptions depending on the frame of reference of the observer.
This problem, along with the Fizeau experiment, the aberration of light, and more indirectly the negative aether
drift tests such as the MichelsonMorley experiment, formed the basis of Einsteins development of the theory of
relativity.[2]
23.1 Introduction
Einsteins 1905 paper that introduced the world to relativity opens with a description of the magnet/conductor
281
282 CHAPTER 23. MOVING MAGNET AND CONDUCTOR PROBLEM
problem.
It is known that Maxwells electrodynamics as usually understood at the present time when ap-
plied to moving bodies, leads to asymmetries which do not appear to be inherent in the phenomena.
Take, for example, the reciprocal electrodynamic action of a magnet and a conductor. The observable
phenomenon here depends only on the relative motion of the conductor and the magnet, whereas the
customary view draws a sharp distinction between the two cases in which either the one or the other of
these bodies is in motion. For if the magnet is in motion and the conductor at rest, there arises in the
neighborhood of the magnet an electric eld with a certain denite energy, producing a current at the
places where parts of the conductor are situated. But if the magnet is stationary and the conductor in
motion, no electric eld arises in the neighborhood of the magnet. In the conductor, however, we nd an
electromotive force, to which in itself there is no corresponding energy, but which gives rise assuming
equality of relative motion in the two cases discussed to electric currents of the same path and intensity
as those produced by the electric forces in the former case.
A. Einstein, On the electrodynamics of moving bodies (1905)
An overriding requirement on the descriptions in dierent frameworks is that they be consistent. Consistency is an
issue because Newtonian mechanics predicts one transformation (so-called Galilean invariance) for the forces that
drive the charges and cause the current, while electrodynamics as expressed by Maxwells equations predicts that
the elds that give rise to these forces transform dierently (according to Lorentz invariance). Observations of the
aberration of light, culminating in the MichelsonMorley experiment, established the validity of Lorentz invariance,
and the development of special relativity resolved the resulting disagreement with Newtonian mechanics. Special
relativity revised the transformation of forces in moving reference frames to be consistent with Lorentz invariance.
The details of these transformations are discussed below.
In addition to consistency, it would be nice to consolidate the descriptions so they appear to be frame-independent. A
clue to a framework-independent description is the observation that magnetic elds in one reference frame become
electric elds in another frame. Likewise, the solenoidal portion of electric elds (the portion that is not originated
by electric charges) becomes a magnetic eld in another frame: that is, the solenoidal electric elds and magnetic
elds are aspects of the same thing.[3] That means the paradox of dierent descriptions may be only semantic. A
description that uses scalar and vector potentials and A instead of B and E avoids the semantical trap. A Lorentz-
invariant four vector A = ( / c, A ) replaces E and B[4] and provides a frame-independent description (albeit less
visceral than the E Bdescription).[5] An alternative unication of descriptions is to think of the physical entity as
the electromagnetic eld tensor, as described later on. This tensor contains both E and B elds as components, and
has the same form in all frames of reference.
23.2 Background
Electromagnetic elds are not directly observable. The existence of classical electromagnetic elds can be inferred
from the motion of charged particles, whose trajectories are observable. Electromagnetic elds do explain the ob-
served motions of classical charged particles.
A strong requirement in physics is that all observers of the motion of a particle agree on the trajectory of the particle.
For instance, if one observer notes that a particle collides with the center of a bullseye, then all observers must
reach the same conclusion. This requirement places constraints on the nature of electromagnetic elds and on their
transformation from one reference frame to another. It also places constraints on the manner in which elds aect
the acceleration and, hence, the trajectories of charged particles.
Perhaps the simplest example, and one that Einstein referenced in his 1905 paper introducing special relativity, is
the problem of a conductor moving in the eld of a magnet. In the frame of the magnet, a conductor experiences a
magnetic force. In the frame of a conductor moving relative to the magnet, the conductor experiences a force due to
an electric eld. The magnetic eld in the magnet frame and the electric eld in the conductor frame must generate
consistent results in the conductor. At the time of Einstein in 1905, the eld equations as represented by Maxwells
equations were properly consistent. Newtons law of motion, however, had to be modied to provide consistent
particle trajectories.[6]
23.3. TRANSFORMATION OF FIELDS, ASSUMING GALILEAN TRANSFORMATIONS 283
23.3 Transformation of elds, assuming Galilean transformations

Assuming that the magnet frame and the conductor frame are related by a Galilean transformation, it is straightforward
to compute the elds and forces in both frames. This will demonstrate that the induced current is indeed the same in
both frames. As a byproduct, this argument will also yield a general formula for the electric and magnetic elds in
one frame in terms of the elds in another frame.[7]
In reality, the frames are not related by a Galilean transformation, but by a Lorentz transformation. Nevertheless, it
will be a Galilean transformation to a very good approximation, at velocities much less than the speed of light.
Unprimed quantities correspond to the rest frame of the magnet, while primed quantities correspond to the rest frame
of the conductor. Let v be the velocity of the conductor, as seen from the magnet frame.
23.3.1 Magnet frame

In the rest frame of the magnet, the magnetic eld is some xed eld B(r), determined by the structure and shape of
the magnet. The electric eld is zero.
In general, the force exerted upon a particle of charge q in the conductor by the electric eld and magnetic eld is
given by (SI units):
F = q(E + v B),
where q is the charge on the particle, v is the particle velocity and F is the Lorentz force. Here, however, the electric
eld is zero, so the force on the particle is
F = qv B.
23.3.2 Conductor frame

In the conductor frame, the magnetic eld B' will be related to the magnetic eld B in the magnet frame according
to:[8]
B (x , t) = B(x + vt, t).

In this frame, there is an electric eld, generated by the Maxwell-Faraday equation:
B
E = .
t
Using the above expression for B',
E = (v )B = (B v) v( B) = (B v)
(using the chain rule and Gausss law for magnetism). This has the solution:
E = B v = v B.
A charge q in the conductor will be at rest in the conductor frame. Therefore, the magnetic force term of the Lorentz
force has no eect, and the force on the charge is given by
F = qE = qv B.
This demonstrates that the force is the same in both frames (as would be expected), and therefore any observable
consequences of this force, such as the induced current, would also be the same in both frames. This is despite the
fact that the force is seen to be an electric force in the conductor frame, but a magnetic force in the magnets frame.
23.3.3 Galilean transformation formula for elds

A similar sort of argument can be made if the magnets frame also contains electric elds. (The Ampere-Maxwell
equation also comes into play, explaining how, in the conductors frame, this moving electric eld will contribute to
the magnetic eld.) The end result is that, in general,
E = E + v B
1
B = B v E,
c2
with c the speed of light in free space.
By plugging these transformation rules into the full Maxwells equations, it can be seen that if Maxwells equations are
true in one frame, then they are almost true in the other, but contain incorrect terms pro by the Lorentz transformation,
and the eld transformation equations also must be changed, according to the expressions given below.
23.4 Transformation of elds as predicted by Maxwells equations

See also: Classical electromagnetism and special relativity
In a frame moving at velocity v, the E-eld in the moving frame when there is no E-eld in the stationary magnet
frame Maxwells equations transform as:[9]
E = v B
where
1
=
2
1 (v/c)
is called the Lorentz factor and c is the speed of light in free space. This result is a consequence of requiring that
observers in all inertial frames arrive at the same form for Maxwells equations. In particular, all observers must see
the same speed of light c. That requirement leads to the Lorentz transformation for space and time. Assuming a
Lorentz transformation, invariance of Maxwells equations then leads to the above transformation of the elds for this
example.
Consequently, the force on the charge is
F = qE = qv B.
This expression diers from the expression obtained from the nonrelativistic Newtons law of motion by a factor of
. Special relativity modies space and time in a manner such that the forces and elds transform consistently.
23.5 Modication of dynamics for consistency with Maxwells equations

The Lorentz force has the same form in both frames, though the elds dier, namely:
F = q [E + v B] .
See Figure 1. To simplify, let the magnetic eld point in the z-direction and vary with location x, and let the conductor
translate in the positive x-direction with velocity v. Consequently, in the magnet frame where the conductor is moving,
23.5. MODIFICATION OF DYNAMICS FOR CONSISTENCY WITH MAXWELLS EQUATIONS 285
Figure 1: Conducting bar seen from two inertial frames; in one frame the bar moves with velocity v; in the primed frame the bar is
stationary because the primed frame moves at the same velocity as the bar. The B-eld varies with position in the x-direction
the Lorentz force points in the negative y-direction, perpendicular to both the velocity, and the B-eld. The force on
a charge, here due only to the B-eld, is
Fy = qvB,
while in the conductor frame where the magnet is moving, the force is also in the negative y-direction, and now due
only to the E-eld with a value:
Fy = qE = qvB.
The two forces dier by the Lorentz factor . This dierence is expected in a relativistic theory, however, due to the
change in space-time between frames, as discussed next.
Relativity takes the Lorentz transformation of space-time suggested by invariance of Maxwells equations and imposes
it upon dynamics as well (a revision of Newtons laws of motion). In this example, the Lorentz transformation aects
the x-direction only (the relative motion of the two frames is along the x-direction). The relations connecting time
and space are ( primes denote the moving conductor frame ) :[10]
x = (x vt), x = (x + vt ),
vx vx
t = (t ), t = (t
+ ).
c2 c2
These transformations lead to a change in the y-component of a force:
Fy = Fy .
That is, within Lorentz invariance, force is not the same in all frames of reference, unlike Galilean invariance. But,
from the earlier analysis based upon the Lorentz force law:
Fy = qvB, Fy = qvB,
which agrees completely. So the force on the charge is not the same in both frames, but it transforms as expected
according to relativity.
23.6 Newtons law of motion in modern notation

Main article: Formulation of Maxwells equations in special relativity
The modern approach to obtaining the relativistic version of Newtons law of motion can be obtained by writing
Maxwells equations in covariant form and identifying a covariant form that is a generalization of Newtons law of
motion.
Newtons law of motion can be written in modern covariant notation in terms of the eld strength tensor as (cgs units):
du
mc = F qu ,
d
where m is the particle mass, q is the charge, and
dx
u = u =
d
is the 4-velocity of the particle. Here, is c times the proper time of the particle and is the Minkowski metric
tensor.
The eld strength tensor is written in terms of elds as:

0 Ex Ey Ez
Ex 0 cBz cBy
F =
Ey
.
cBz 0 cBx
Ez cBy cBx 0
Alternatively, using the four vector:
A = (/c, Ax , Ay , Az ) ,
related to the electric and magnetic elds by:
E = t A, B = A,
the eld tensor becomes:[11]
A A
F = ,
x x
where:
x = (ct, x, y, z) .
The elds are transformed to a frame moving with constant relative velocity by:
F = F ,
where is a Lorentz transformation.
In the magnet/conductor problem this gives
v
E = B,
c
which agrees with the traditional transformation when one takes into account the dierence between SI and cgs units.
Thus, the relativistic modication to Newtons law of motion using the traditional Lorentz force yields predictions for
the motion of particles that are consistent in all frames of reference with Maxwells equations.
23.7. SEE ALSO 287
23.7 See also
Principle of relativity
Galilean invariance
Lorentz transformation
Special theory of relativity
Faradays law
Lenzs law
Inertial frame
Annus Mirabilis Papers
Electric motor
Eddy current
Faraday paradox
Darwin Lagrangian

[1] The Laws of Physics are the same in all inertial frames.
[2] Norton, John D., John D. (2004), Einsteins Investigations of Galilean Covariant Electrodynamics prior to 1905, Archive
for History of Exact Sciences, 59: 45105, Bibcode:2004AHES...59...45N, doi:10.1007/s00407-004-0085-6
[3] There are two constituents of electric eld: a solenoidal eld (or incompressible eld) and a conservative eld (or irrotational
eld). The rst is transformable to a magnetic eld by changing the frame of reference, the second originates in electric
charge, and transforms always into an electric eld, albeit of dierent magnitude.
[4] The symbol c represents the speed of light in free space.
[5] However, and A are not completely disentangled, so the two types of E-eld are not separated completely. See Jackson
From Lorenz to Coulomb and other explicit gauge transformations The author stresses that Lorenz is not a typo.
[6] Roger Penrose (Martin Gardner: foreword) (1999). The Emperors New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the
Laws of Physics. Oxford University Press. p. 248. ISBN 0-19-286198-0.
[7] See Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, Section 5.15.
[8] This expression can be thought of as an assumption based on our experience with magnets, that their elds are independent
of their velocity. At relativistic velocities, or in the presence of an electric eld in the magnet frame, this equation would
not be correct.
[9] Tai L. Chow (2006). Electromagnetic theory. Sudbury MA: Jones and Bartlett. Chapter 10.21; p. 402403 . ISBN
0-7637-3827-1.
[10] Tai L. Chow (2006). Electromagnetic theory. Sudbury MA: Jones and Bartlett. Chapter 10.5; p. 368 . ISBN 0-7637-
3827-1.
[11] DJ Griths (1999). Introduction to electrodynamics. Saddle River NJ: Pearson/Addison-Wesley. p. 541. ISBN 0-13-
805326-X.

Einstein, A. (1961). Relativity: The Special and General Theory. New York: Crown. ISBN 0-517-02961-8.
Feynman, Richard P.; Leighton, Robert B.; Sands, Matthew (2006). The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Vol 2.
pp. 136 Chapter 13. ISBN 0-8053-9045-6. (The relativity of magnetic and electric elds)
Misner, Charles; Thorne, Kip S. & Wheeler, John Archibald (1973). Gravitation. San Francisco: W. H.
Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0344-0.
Landau, L. D. & Lifshitz, E. M. (1975). Classical Theory of Fields (Fourth Revised English Edition). Oxford:
Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-018176-7.
C Mller (1976). The Theory of Relativity (Second ed.). Oxford UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-
560539-X.

Magnets and conductors in special relativity
Chapter 24
In the physics of electromagnetism, the AbrahamLorentz force (also LorentzAbraham force) is the recoil force
on an accelerating charged particle caused by the particle emitting electromagnetic radiation. It is also called the
radiation reaction force or the self force.
The formula predates the theory of special relativity and is not valid at velocities of the order of the speed of light.
Its relativistic generalization is called the AbrahamLorentzDirac force. Both of these are in the domain of
classical physics, not quantum physics, and therefore may not be valid at distances of roughly the Compton wavelength
or below.[1] There is, however, an analogue of the formula that is both fully quantum and relativistic, called the
AbrahamLorentzDiracLangevin equation.[2]
The force is proportional to the square of the objects charge, times the jerk (rate of change of acceleration) that it
is experiencing. The force points in the direction of the jerk. For example, in a cyclotron, where the jerk points
opposite to the velocity, the radiation reaction is directed opposite to the velocity of the particle, providing a braking
action.
It was thought that the solution of the AbrahamLorentz force problem predicts that signals from the future aect
the present, thus challenging intuition of cause and eect. For example, there are pathological solutions using the
AbrahamLorentzDirac equation in which a particle accelerates in advance of the application of a force, so-called
pre-acceleration solutions. One resolution of this problem was discussed by Yaghjian[3] and is further discussed by
Rohrlich[1] and Medina.[4]
24.1 Denition and description

Mathematically, the AbrahamLorentz force is given in SI units by
0 q 2 q2
Frad = _a = _
a
6c 60 c3
or in cgs units by
2 q2
Frad = _a.
3 c3
Here F is the force, _
a is the jerk (the derivative of acceleration, or the third derivative of displacement), 0 is the
magnetic constant, 0 is the electric constant, c is the speed of light in free space, and q is the electric charge of the
particle.
Note that this formula is for non-relativistic velocities; Dirac simply renormalized the mass of the particle in the
equation of motion, to nd the relativistic version (below).
Physically, an accelerating charge emits radiation (according to the Larmor formula), which carries momentum away
from the charge. Since momentum is conserved, the charge is pushed in the direction opposite the direction of the
emitted radiation. In fact the formula above for radiation force can be derived from the Larmor formula, as shown
below.
289
290 CHAPTER 24. ABRAHAMLORENTZ FORCE
24.2 Background
In classical electrodynamics, problems are typically divided into two classes:
1. Problems in which the charge and current sources of elds are specied and the elds are calculated, and
2. The reverse situation, problems in which the elds are specied and the motion of particles are calculated.
In some elds of physics, such as plasma physics and the calculation of transport coecients (conductivity, diusivity,
etc.), the elds generated by the sources and the motion of the sources are solved self-consistently. In such cases,
however, the motion of a selected source is calculated in response to elds generated by all other sources. Rarely is
the motion of a particle (source) due to the elds generated by that same particle calculated. The reason for this is
twofold:
1. Neglect of the "self-elds" usually leads to answers that are accurate enough for many applications, and
2. Inclusion of self-elds leads to problems in physics such as renormalization, some of which is still unsolved,
that relate to the very nature of matter and energy.
These conceptual problems created by self-elds are highlighted in a standard graduate text. [Jackson]
The diculties presented by this problem touch one of the most fundamental aspects of physics,
the nature of the elementary particle. Although partial solutions, workable within limited areas, can
be given, the basic problem remains unsolved. One might hope that the transition from classical to
quantum-mechanical treatments would remove the diculties. While there is still hope that this may
eventually occur, the present quantum-mechanical discussions are beset with even more elaborate trou-
bles than the classical ones. It is one of the triumphs of comparatively recent years (~ 19481950) that
the concepts of Lorentz covariance and gauge invariance were exploited suciently cleverly to circum-
vent these diculties in quantum electrodynamics and so allow the calculation of very small radiative
eects to extremely high precision, in full agreement with experiment. From a fundamental point of
view, however, the diculties remain.
The AbrahamLorentz force is the result of the most fundamental calculation of the eect of self-generated elds.
It arises from the observation that accelerating charges emit radiation. The AbrahamLorentz force is the average
force that an accelerating charged particle feels in the recoil from the emission of radiation. The introduction of
quantum eects leads one to quantum electrodynamics. The self-elds in quantum electrodynamics generate a nite
number of innities in the calculations that can be removed by the process of renormalization. This has led to a
theory that is able to make the most accurate predictions that humans have made to date. See precision tests of QED.
The renormalization process fails, however, when applied to the gravitational force. The innities in that case are
innite in number, which causes the failure of renormalization. Therefore, general relativity has an unsolved self-eld
problem. String theory and loop quantum gravity are current attempts to resolve this problem, formally called the
problem of radiation reaction or the problem of self-force.
24.3 Derivation
The simplest derivation for the self-force is found for periodic motion from the Larmor formula for the power radiated
from a point charge:
0 q 2 2
P = a
6c
If we assume the motion of a charged particle is periodic, then the average work done on the particle by the Abraham
Lorentz force is the negative of the Larmor power integrated over one period from 1 to 2 :
2 2 2 2
0 q 2 2 0 q 2 dv dv
Frad vdt = P dt = a dt = dt
1 1 1 6c 1 6c dt dt
24.4. SIGNALS FROM THE FUTURE 291
The above expression can be integrated by parts. If we assume that there is periodic motion, the boundary term in
the integral by parts disappears:
2 2
2
0 q 2 dv 2 0 q 2 d2 v 0 q 2
Frad vdt = v + vdt = 0 + _a vdt
1 6c dt 1 1 6c dt2 1 6c
Clearly, we can identify
0 q 2
Frad = _a
6c
A more rigorous derivation, which does not require periodic motion, was found using an Eective Field Theory
formulation.[5][6] An alternative derivation, nding the fully relativistic expression, was found by Dirac.
24.4 Signals from the future

Below is an illustration of how a classical analysis can lead to surprising results. The classical theory can be seen to
challenge standard pictures of causality, thus signaling either a breakdown or a need for extension of the theory. In
this case the extension is to quantum mechanics and its relativistic counterpart quantum eld theory. See the quote
from Rohrlich [1] in the introduction concerning the importance of obeying the validity limits of a physical theory.
For a particle in an external force Fext , we have
mv = Frad + Fext = mt0 v + Fext .
where
0 q 2
t0 = .
6mc
This equation can be integrated once to obtain
( )
1 t t
mv = exp Fext (t ) dt .
t0 t t0
The integral extends from the present to innitely far in the future. Thus future values of the force aect the accel-
eration of the particle in the present. The future values are weighted by the factor
( )
t t
exp
t0
which falls o rapidly for times greater than t0 in the future. Therefore, signals from an interval approximately t0
into the future aect the acceleration in the present. For an electron, this time is approximately 1024 sec, which is
the time it takes for a light wave to travel across the size of an electron.
24.5 AbrahamLorentzDirac Force

To nd the relativistic generalization, Dirac renormalized the mass in the equation of motion with the Abraham
Lorentz force in 1938. This renormalized equation of motion is called the AbrahamLorentzDirac equation of
motion.[7]
292 CHAPTER 24. ABRAHAMLORENTZ FORCE
24.5.1 Denition
The expression derived by Dirac is given in signature (, +, +, +) by
[ ( )]
o q 2 d2 p p dp dp
Frad = 2 2 .
6mc d 2 m c d d
With Linard's relativistic generalization of Larmors formula in the co-moving frame,
o q 2 a2 6
P = ,
6c
one can show this to be a valid force by manipulating the time average equation for power:
t t
1 1
P dt = F v dt.
t 0 t 0
24.5.2 Paradoxes
Similar to the non-relativistic case, there are pathological solutions using the AbrahamLorentzDirac equation that
anticipate a change in the external force and according to which the particle accelerates in advance of the application
of a force, so-called preacceleration solutions. One resolution of this problem was discussed by Yaghjian,[3] and is
further discussed by Rohrlich[1] and Medina.[4]
24.6 See also

Max Abraham
Hendrik Lorentz
Lorentz force
Cyclotron radiation
Synchrotron radiation
Electromagnetic mass
Radiation resistance
Radiation damping
Magnetic radiation reaction force
24.7 References
[1] F. Rohrlich: The dynamics of a charged sphere and the electron, Am. J. Phys. 65 (11) p. 1051 (1997). The dynamics
of point charges is an excellent example of the importance of obeying the validity limits of a physical theory. When these
limits are exceeded the predictions of the theory may be incorrect or even patently absurd. In the present case, the classical
equations of motion have their validity limits where quantum mechanics becomes important: they can no longer be trusted
at distances of the order of (or below) the Compton wavelength Only when all distances involved are in the classical
domain is classical dynamics acceptable for electrons.
[2] P. R. Johnson, B. L. Hu (2002). Stochastic theory of relativistic particles moving in a quantum eld: Scalar Abraham
LorentzDiracLangevin equation, radiation reaction, and vacuum uctuations. Physical Review D. 65 (6): 065015.
Bibcode:2002PhRvD..65f5015J. arXiv:quant-ph/0101001 . doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.65.065015.
[3] Yaghjian, Arthur D. (2006). Relativistic Dynamics of a Charged Sphere: Updating the LorentzAbraham Model. Lecture
Notes in Physics. 686 (2nd ed.). New York: Springer. Chapter 8. ISBN 978-0-387-26021-1.
[4] Rodrigo Medina (2006). Radiation reaction of a classical quasi-rigid extended particle. Journal of Physics A: Mathemat-
ical and General. 39 (14): 38013816. Bibcode:2006JPhA...39.3801M. arXiv:physics/0508031 . doi:10.1088/0305-
4470/39/14/021.
[5] Radiation reaction at the level of the action by Ofek Birnholtz, Shahar Hadar, and Barak Kol
[6] Theory of post-Newtonian radiation and reaction by Ofek Birnholtz, Shahar Hadar, and Barak Kol
[7] Paul A.M. Dirac, (1938) Classical theory of radiating electrons. Proc. Roy. Soc. of London. A929:0148-0169.

See sections 11.2.2 and 11.2.3
Donald H. Menzel (1960) Fundamental Formulas of Physics, Dover Publications Inc., ISBN 0-486-60595-7,
vol. 1, page 345.
Stephen Parrott (1987) Relativistic Electrodynamics and Dierential Geometry, 4.3 Radiation reaction and
the Lorentz-Dirac equation, pages 13645, and 5.5 Peculiar solutions of the Lorentz-Dirac equation, pages
195204, Springer-Verlag ISBN 0-387-96435-5 .
24.9 External links

MathPages Does A Uniformly Accelerating Charge Radiate?
Feynman: The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics
EC. del Ro: Radiation of an accelerated charge

Chapter 25
Larmor formula
A Yagi-Uda antenna. Radio waves can be radiated from an antenna by accelerating electrons in the antenna. This is a coherent
process, so the total power radiated is proportional to the square of the number of electrons accelerating.
The Larmor formula is used to calculate the total power radiated by a non relativistic point charge as it accelerates
or decelerates. This is used in the branch of physics known as electrodynamics and is not to be confused with the
Larmor precession from classical nuclear magnetic resonance. It was rst derived by J. J. Larmor in 1897,[1] in the
context of the wave theory of light.
When any charged particle (such as an electron, a proton, or an ion) accelerates, it radiates away energy in the form
of electromagnetic waves. For velocities that are small relative to the speed of light, the total power radiated is given
by the Larmor formula:
2 q 2 a2 q 2 a2
P = 3
= (SI units)
3 40 c 60 c3
294
25.1. DERIVATION 295
2 q 2 a2
P = (cgs units)
3 c3
where a is the proper acceleration, q is the charge, and c is the speed of light. A relativistic generalization is given by
the LinardWiechert potentials.
In either unit system, the power radiated by a single electron can be expressed in terms of the classical electron radius
and electron mass as:
2 me re a2
P =
3 c
25.1 Derivation
25.1.1 Derivation 1: Mathematical approach (using CGS units)

We rst need to nd the form of the electric and magnetic elds. The elds can be written (for a fuller derivation see
LinardWiechert potential)
( ) ( )
n q n [(n ) ]
E(r, t) = q +
2 (1 n)3 R2 ret c (1 n)3 R
ret
and
B = n E,
where is the charges velocity divided by c , is the charges acceleration divided by c, n is a unit vector in the
r r0 direction, R is the magnitude of r r0 , r0 is the charges location, and = (1 2 )1/2 . The terms on the
right are evaluated at the retarded time tr = t R/c .
The right-hand side is the sum of the electric elds associated with the velocity and the acceleration of the charged
particle. The velocity eld depends only upon while the acceleration eld depends on both and and the angular
relationship between the two. Since the velocity eld is proportional to 1/R2 , it falls o very quickly with distance.
On the other hand, the acceleration eld is proportional to 1/R , which means that it falls much more slowly with
distance. Because of this, the acceleration eld is representative of the radiation eld and is responsible for carrying
most of the energy away from the charge.
We can nd the energy ux density of the radiation eld by computing its Poynting vector:
c
S= Ea Ba ,
4
where the 'a' subscripts emphasize that we are taking only the acceleration eld. Substituting in the relation between
the magnetic and electric elds while assuming that the particle instantaneously at rest at time tr and simplifying
gives[note 1]
2
q 2 n (n )
S= .
4c R
If we let the angle between the acceleration and the observation vector be equal to , and we introduce the acceleration
a = c , then the power radiated per unit solid angle is
dP q 2 sin2 () a2
= .
d 4c c2
296 CHAPTER 25. LARMOR FORMULA
The total power radiated is found by integrating this quantity over all solid angles (that is, over and ). This gives
2 q 2 a2
P = ,
3 c3
which is the Larmor result for a non-relativistic accelerated charge. It relates the power radiated by the particle to its
acceleration. It clearly shows that the faster the charge accelerates the greater the radiation will be. We would expect
this since the radiation eld is dependent upon acceleration.
25.1.2 Derivation 2: Edward M. Purcell approach

The full derivation can be found here.[2]
Here is an explanation which can help understanding the above page.
This approach is based on the nite speed of light. A charge moving with constant velocity has a radial electric eld
Er (at distance R from the charge), always emerging from the future position of the charge, and there is no tangential
component of the electric eld (Et = 0) . This future position is completely deterministic as long as the velocity
is constant. When the velocity of the charge changes, (say it bounces back during a short time) the future position
jumps, so from this moment and on, the radial electric eld Er emerges from a new position. Given the fact that the
electric eld must be continuous, a non-zero tangential component of the electric eld Et appears, which decreases
like 1/R (unlike the radial component which decreases like 1/R2 ).
Hence, at large distances from the charge, the radial component is negligible relative to the tangential component,
and in addition to that, elds which behave like 1/R2 cannot radiate, because the Poynting vector associated with
them will behave like 1/R4 .
The tangential component comes out (SI units):
ea sin()
Et = .
40 c2 R
And to obtain the Larmour formula, one has to integrate over all angles, at large distance R from the charge, the
Poynting vector associated with Et , which is:
Et2 e2 a2 sin2 ()
S= ^
r= ^
r
0 c 16 2 0 c3 R2
giving (SI units)
e2 a 2
P = .
60 c3
This is mathematically equivalent to:
0 e2 a2
P = .
6c
Since c2 = 1/0 0 , we recover the result quoted at the top of the article, namely
2 q 2 a2 q 2 a2
P = = .
3 40 c3 60 c3
25.2 Relativistic generalization

25.2. RELATIVISTIC GENERALIZATION 297
25.2.1 Covariant form

Written in terms of momentum, p, the non-relativistic Larmor formula is (in CGS units)[3]
2 q2
P = |p|2 .
3 m2 c3
The power P can be shown to be Lorentz invariant.[3] Any relativistic generalization of the Larmor formula must
therefore relate P to some other Lorentz invariant quantity. The quantity |p|2 appearing in the non-relativistic formula
suggests that the relativistically correct formula should include the Lorentz scalar found by taking the inner product
of the four-acceleration a = dp /d with itself [here p = (mc, mv) is the four-momentum]. The correct relativistic
generalization of the Larmor formula is (in CGS units)[3]
It can be shown that this inner product is given by[3]
( )2 ( )2
dp dp dp dp
= 2 ,
d d d d
and so in the limit 1, it reduces to |p|2 , thus reproducing the nonrelativistic case.
25.2.2 Non-covariant form

The above inner product can also be written in terms of and its time derivative. Then the relativistic generalization
of the Larmor formula is (in CGS units)[3]
6
This
is the Linard result, which was rst obtained in 1898. The means that when the Lorentz factor =
1/ 1 is very close to one (i.e. 1 ) the radiation emitted by the particle is likely to be negligible. How-
2
ever, as 1 the radiation grows like 6 as the particle tries to lose its energy in the form of EM waves. Also,
when the acceleration and velocity are orthogonal the power is reduced by a factor of 1 2 = 1/ 2 , i.e. the factor
6 becomes 4 . The faster the motion becomes the greater this reduction gets.
We can use Linards result to predict what sort of radiation losses to expect in dierent kinds of motion.
25.2.3 Angular distribution

The angular distribution of radiated power is given by a general formula, applicable whether or not the particle is
relativistic. In CGS units, this formula is[4]
dP q 2 |^
n [(^
n ) ]|2
= ,
d 4c (1 ^n )5
where ^n is a unit vector pointing from the particle towards the observer. In the case of linear motion (velocity parallel
to acceleration), this simplies to[5]
dP q 2 a2 sin2
= ,
d 4c3 (1 cos )5
where is the angle between the observer and the particles motion.
298 CHAPTER 25. LARMOR FORMULA
25.3 Issues and implications
25.3.1 Radiation reaction

The radiation from a charged particle carries energy and momentum. In order to satisfy energy and momentum
conservation, the charged particle must experience a recoil at the time of emission. The radiation must exert an
additional force on the charged particle. This force is known as the AbrahamLorentz force in the nonrelativistic
limit and the AbrahamLorentzDirac force in the relativistic setting.
25.3.2 Atomic physics

A classical electron orbiting a nucleus experiences acceleration and should radiate. Consequently, the electron loses
energy and the electron should eventually spiral into the nucleus. Atoms, according to classical mechanics, are con-
sequently unstable. This classical prediction is violated by the observation of stable electron orbits. The problem is
resolved with a quantum mechanical description of atomic physics, initially provided by the Bohr model. Classical
solutions to the stability of electron orbitals can be demonstrated using Non-radiation conditions[6] and in accordance
with known physical laws.
25.4 See also

Atomic theory
Cyclotron radiation
Maxwells equations in curved spacetime
Radiation reaction
Wave equation
25.5 Notes
[1] The case where (tr ) = 0 is more complicated and is treated, for example, in Grithss Introduction to Electrodynamics.
25.6 References
[1] LXII.On the Theory of the magnetic inuence on spectra; and on radiation from moving ions.,Philosophical Magazine
Series 5, Volume 44, Issue 271,505-512,doi:10.1080/14786449708621095 Formula is mentioned in the text on the last
page.
[2] Purcell Simplied
[3] Jackson, J.D., Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.), pp. 6658
[4] Jackson eq (14.38)
[5] Jackson eq (14.39)
[6] Nonradiation condition
J. Larmor, On a dynamical theory of the electric and luminiferous medium, Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society 190, (1897) pp. 205300 (Third and last in a series of papers with the same name).
Jackson, John D. (1998). Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Wiley. ISBN 0-471-30932-X. (Section 14.2)
Misner, Charles; Thorne, Kip S.; Wheeler, John Archibald (1973). Gravitation. San Francisco: W. H. Free-
man. ISBN 0-7167-0344-0.
R. P. Feynman; F. B. Moringo; W. G. Wagner (1995). Feynman Lectures on Gravitation. Addison-Wesley.
ISBN 0-201-62734-5.
Chapter 26
Cyclotron radiation
Cyclotron radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by accelerating charged particles deected by a magnetic
eld.[1] The Lorentz force on the particles acts perpendicular to both the magnetic eld lines and the particles motion
through them, creating an acceleration of charged particles that causes them to emit radiation as a result of the
acceleration they undergo as they spiral around the lines of the magnetic eld.
The name of this radiation derives from the cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator used since the 1930s to create
highly energetic particles for study. The cyclotron makes use of the circular orbits that charged particles exhibit in a
uniform magnetic eld. Furthermore, the period of the orbit is independent of the energy of the particles, allowing
the cyclotron to operate at a set frequency. Cyclotron radiation is emitted by all charged particles travelling through
magnetic elds, not just those in cyclotrons. Cyclotron radiation from plasma in the interstellar medium or around
black holes and other astronomical phenomena is an important source of information about distant magnetic elds.
The power (energy per unit time) of the emission of each electron can be calculated:
dE t B 2 v 2
dt = co
where E is energy, t is time, t is the Thomson cross section (total, not dierential), B is the magnetic eld strength,
v is the velocity perpendicular to the magnetic eld, c is the speed of light and o is the permeability of free space. In
the context of magnetic fusion energy, cyclotron radiation losses translate into a requirement for a minimum plasma
energy density in relation to the magnetic eld energy density (see Aneutronic fusion#Power density and energy
balance).
Cyclotron radiation would likely be produced in a high altitude nuclear explosion. Gamma rays produced by the ex-
plosion would ionize atoms in the upper atmosphere and those free electrons would interact with the Earths magnetic
eld to produce cyclotron radiation in the form of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). This phenomenon is of concern
to the military as the EMP may damage solid state electronic equipment.
Cyclotron radiation has a spectrum with its main spike at the same fundamental frequency as the particles orbit, and
harmonics at higher integral factors. Harmonics are the result of imperfections in the actual emission environment,
which also create a broadening of the spectral lines. The most obvious source of line broadening is non-uniformities in
the magnetic eld; as an electron passes from one area of the eld to another, its emission frequency will change with
the strength of the eld. Other sources of broadening include collisional broadening as the electron will invariably
fail to follow a perfect orbit, distortions of the emission caused by interactions with the surrounding plasma, and
relativistic eects if the charged particles are suciently energetic. When the electrons are moving at relativistic
speeds, cyclotron radiation is known as synchrotron radiation.
The recoil experienced by a particle emitting cyclotron radiation is called radiation reaction. Radiation reaction acts as
a resistance to motion in a cyclotron; and the work necessary to overcome it is the main energetic cost of accelerating
a particle in a cyclotron. Cyclotrons are prime examples of systems which experience radiation reaction.
26.1 See also

Auroral kilometric radiation (AKR)
Bremsstrahlung
300
Synchrotron radiation
Free electron laser

Larmor formula
26.2 References
[1] Monreal, Benjamin (Jan 2016). Single-electron cyclotron radiation. Physics Today. 69 (1): 70. doi:10.1063/pt.3.3060.
Chapter 27
Magnetic potential
The term magnetic potential can be used for either of two quantities in classical electromagnetism: the magnetic
vector potential, A, (often simply called the vector potential) and the magnetic scalar potential, . Both quantities can
be used in certain circumstances to calculate the magnetic eld.
The more frequently used magnetic vector potential, A, is dened such that the curl of A is the magnetic eld B.
Together with the electric potential, the magnetic vector potential can be used to specify the electric eld, E as
well. Therefore, many equations of electromagnetism can be written either in terms of the E and B, or in terms of
the magnetic vector potential and electric potential. In more advanced theories such as quantum mechanics, most
equations use the potentials and not the E and B elds.
The magnetic scalar potential is sometimes used to specify the magnetic H-eld in cases when there are no free
currents, in a manner analogous to using the electric potential to determine the electric eld in electrostatics. One
important use of is to determine the magnetic eld due to permanent magnets when their magnetization is known.
With some care the scalar potential can be extended to include free currents as well.
Historically, Lord Kelvin rst introduced the concept of magnetic vector potential in 1851. He also showed the
formula relating magnetic vector potential and magnetic eld.[1]
27.1 Magnetic vector potential

The magnetic vector potential A is a vector eld dened along with the electric potential (a scalar eld) by the
equations:[2]
A
B = A, E = ,
t
where B is the magnetic eld and E is the electric eld. In magnetostatics where there is no time-varying charge
distribution, only the rst equation is needed. (In the context of electrodynamics, the terms vector potential and
scalar potential are used for magnetic vector potential and "electric potential", respectively. In mathematics,
vector potential and scalar potential have more general meanings.)
Dening the electric and magnetic elds from potentials automatically satises two of Maxwells equations: Gausss
law for magnetism and Faradays Law. For example, if A is continuous and well-dened everywhere, then it is
guaranteed not to result in magnetic monopoles. (In the mathematical theory of magnetic monopoles, A is allowed
to be either undened or multiple-valued in some places; see magnetic monopole for details).
Starting with the above denitions:
B = ( A) = 0
( )
A B
E = = ( A) = .
t t t
302
27.1. MAGNETIC VECTOR POTENTIAL 303
Alternatively, the existence of A and is guaranteed from these two laws using the Helmholtzs theorem. For example,
since the magnetic eld is divergence-free (Gausss law for magnetism), i.e. B = 0, A always exists that satises
the above denition.
The vector potential A is used when studying the Lagrangian in classical mechanics and in quantum mechanics (see
Schrdinger equation for charged particles, Dirac equation, AharonovBohm eect).
In the SI system, the units of A are Vsm1 and are the same as that of momentum per unit charge.
Although the magnetic eld B is a pseudovector (also called axial vector), the vector potential A is a polar vector.[3]
This means that if the right-hand rule for cross products were replaced with a left-hand rule, but without changing any
other equations or denitions, then B would switch signs, but A would not change. This is an example of a general
theorem: The curl of a polar vector is a pseudovector, and vice versa.[3]
27.1.1 Gauge choices

Main article: Gauge xing
The above denition does not dene the magnetic vector potential uniquely because, by denition, we can arbitrarily
add curl-free components to the magnetic potential without changing the observed magnetic eld. Thus, there is a
degree of freedom available when choosing A. This condition is known as gauge invariance.
27.1.2 Maxwells equations in terms of vector potential

See also: Potential formulation of electromagnetic eld
Using the above denition of the potentials and applying it to the other two Maxwells equations (the ones that are not
automatically satised) results in a complicated dierential equation that can be simplied using the Lorenz gauge
where A is chosen to satisfy:
A+ 1
c2 t = 0. [2]
Using the Lorenz gauge, Maxwells equations can be written compactly in terms of the magnetic vector potential A
and the electric scalar potential :[2]
1 2
2 = /0
c2 t2
1 2A
2 A = 0 J
c2 t2
In other gauges, the equations are dierent. A dierent notation to write these same equations (using four-vectors) is
shown below.
27.1.3 Calculation of potentials from source distributions

Main article: Retarded potential
The solutions of Maxwells equations in the Lorenz gauge (see Feynman [2] and Jackson[4] ) with the boundary condi-
tion that both potentials go to zero suciently fast as they approach innity are called the retarded potentials, which
are the magnetic vector potential A(r, t) and the electric scalar potential (r, t) due to a current distribution of current
density J(r, t), charge density (r, t), and volume , within which and J are non-zero at least sometimes and
some places):

0 J(r , t ) 3
A(r, t) = d r .
4 |r r |
304 CHAPTER 27. MAGNETIC POTENTIAL

1 (r , t ) 3
(r, t) = d r
40 |r r |
where the elds at position vector r and time t are calculated from sources at distant position r at an earlier time t.
The location r is a source point in the charge or current distribution (also the integration variable, within volume ).
The earlier time t is called the retarded time, and calculated as
|r r |
t = t
c
There are a few notable things about A and calculated in this way:
(The Lorenz gauge condition): A + 1

c2 t = 0 is satised.
The position of r, the point at which values for and A are found, only enters the equation as part of the scalar
distance from r to r. The direction from r to r does not enter into the equation. The only thing that matters
about a source point is how far away it is.
The integrand uses retarded time, t. This simply reects the fact that changes in the sources propagate at the
speed of light. Hence the charge and current densities aecting the electric and magnetic potential at r and t,
from remote location r must also be at some prior time t.
The equation for A is a vector equation. In Cartesian coordinates, the equation separates into three scalar
equations:[5]

0 Jx (r , t ) 3
Ax (r, t) = d r
4 |r r |

0 Jy (r , t ) 3
Ay (r, t) = d r
4 |r r |

0 Jz (r , t ) 3
Az (r, t) = d r
4 |r r |
In this form it is easy to see that the component of A in a given direction depends only on the components
of J that are in the same direction. If the current is carried in a long straight wire, the A points in the
same direction as the wire.
In other gauges the formula for A and is dierent for example, see Coulomb gauge for another possibility.
27.1.4 Depiction of the A-eld

See Feynman[6] for the depiction of the A eld around a long thin solenoid.
Since
B = 0 J
assuming quasi-static conditions, i.e.
E
0 A = B,
t
the lines and contours of A relate to B like the lines and contours of B relate to j. Thus, a depiction of the A eld
around a loop of B ux (as would be produced in a toroidal inductor) is qualitatively the same as the B eld around
a loop of current.
27.1. MAGNETIC VECTOR POTENTIAL 305
B0 B0
Axis of symmetry
Representing the Coulomb gauge magnetic vector potential A, magnetic ux density B, and current density j elds around a toroidal
inductor of circular cross section. Thicker lines indicate eld lines of higher average intensity. Circles in the cross section of the core
represent the B-eld coming out of the picture, plus signs represent B-eld going into the picture. A = 0 has been assumed.
The gure to the right is an artists depiction of the A eld. The thicker lines indicate paths of higher average intensity
(shorter paths have higher intensity so that the path integral is the same). The lines are drawn to (aesthetically) impart
the general look of the A-eld.
The drawing tacitly assumes A = 0, true under one of the following assumptions:
the Coulomb gauge is assumed
the Lorenz gauge is assumed and there is no distribution of charge, = 0,
the Lorenz gauge is assumed and zero frequency is assumed
the Lorenz gauge is assumed and a non-zero frequency that is low enough to neglect 1
c t is assumed
27.1.5 Electromagnetic four-potential
Main article: Electromagnetic four-potential
In the context of special relativity, it is natural to join the magnetic vector potential together with the (scalar) electric
potential into the electromagnetic potential, also called four-potential.
One motivation for doing so is that the four-potential is a mathematical four-vector. Thus, using standard four-vector
transformation rules, if the electric and magnetic potentials are known in one inertial reference frame, they can be
simply calculated in any other inertial reference frame.
Another, related motivation is that the content of classical electromagnetism can be written in a concise and convenient
form using the electromagnetic four potential, especially when the Lorenz gauge is used. In particular, in abstract
index notation, the set of Maxwells equations (in the Lorenz gauge) may be written (in Gaussian units) as follows:
306 CHAPTER 27. MAGNETIC POTENTIAL
A = 0
4
A = J
c
where is the d'Alembertian and J is the four-current. The rst equation is the Lorenz gauge condition while the
second contains Maxwells equations. The four-potential also plays a very important role in quantum electrodynamics.
27.2 Magnetic scalar potential

The scalar potential is another useful quantity in describing the magnetic eld, especially for permanent magnets.
In a simply connected domain where there is no free current,
H = 0,
hence we can dene a magnetic scalar potential, , as[7]
H = .
Using the denition of H:
B = 0 (H + M) = 0,
it follows that
2 = H = M.
Here, M acts as the source for magnetic eld, much like P acts as the source for electric eld. So analogously
to bound electric charge, the quantity
m = M
is called the bound magnetic charge.

If there is free current, one may subtract the contribution of free current per BiotSavart law from total magnetic
eld and solve the remainder with the scalar potential method. To date there has not been any reproducible evidence
for the existence of magnetic monopoles.[8]
27.3 See also

Gluon eld
27.4 Notes
[1] Yang, ChenNing (2014). The conceptual origins of Maxwells equations and gauge theory. Physics Today. 67 (11):
4551. doi:10.1063/PT.3.2585.
[2] Feynman (1964, pp. 1515)
[3] Tensors and pseudo-tensors, lecture notes by Richard Fitzpatrick

[4] Jackson (1999, p. 246)
[5] Kraus (1984, p. 189)
[6] Feynman (1964, p. 11, cpt 15)
[7] Vanderlinde (2005, pp. 194~199)
[8] Griths, David (2013). Introduction to Electrodynamics. Pearson. pp. 241242. ISBN 9780321856562.
27.5 References
Dun, W.J. (1990). Electricity and Magnetism, Fourth Edition. McGraw-Hill.
Feynman, Richard P; Leighton, Robert B; Sands, Matthew (1964). The Feynman Lectures on Physics Volume
2. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-02117-X.
Jackson, John David (1998). Classical Electrodynamics, Third Edition. John Wiley & Sons.
Jackson, John David (1999), Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.), John-Wiley, ISBN 0-471-30932-X
Kraus, John D. (1984), Electromagnetics (3rd ed.), McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-035423-5
Ulaby, Fawwaz (2007). Fundamentals of Applied Electromagnetics, Fifth Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall. pp.
226228. ISBN 0-13-241326-4.
Vanderlinde, Jack (2005). Classical Electromagnetic Theory. ISBN 1-4020-2699-4.

Chapter 28
Magnetoresistance
Magnetoresistance is the tendency of a material to change the value of its electrical resistance in an externally-
applied magnetic eld. There are a variety of eects that can be called magnetoresistance: some occur in bulk
non-magnetic metals and semiconductors, such as geometrical magnetoresistance, Shubnikov de Haas oscillations,
or the common positive magnetoresistance in metals.[1] Other eects occur in magnetic metals, such as negative mag-
netoresistance in ferromagnets[2] or anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). Finally, in multicomponent or multilayer
systems (e.g. magnetic tunnel junctions), giant magnetoresistance (GMR), tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR), colossal
magnetoresistance (CMR), and extraordinary magnetoresistance (EMR) can be observed.
The rst magnetoresistive eect was discovered by William Thomson (better known as Lord Kelvin) in 1851, but
he was unable to lower the electrical resistance of anything by more than 5%. Nowadays, systems are known (e.g.
semimetals[3] or concentric ring EMR structures) where a magnetic eld can change resistance by orders of magni-
tude. As the resistance may depend on magnetic eld through various mechanisms, it is useful to separately consider
situations where it depends on magnetic eld directly (e.g. geometric magnetoresistance, multiband magnetoresis-
tance) and those where it does so indirectly through magnetisation (e.g. AMR, TMR).
28.1 Discovery
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) rst discovered ordinary magnetoresistance in 1856.[4] He experimented with pieces
of iron and discovered that the resistance increases when the current is in the same direction as the magnetic force
and decreases when the current is at 90 to the magnetic force. He then did the same experiment with nickel and
found that it was aected in the same way but the magnitude of the eect was greater. This eect is referred to as
anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR).
In 2007, Albert Fert and Peter Grnberg were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of Giant Magne-
toresistance.[5]
28.2 Geometrical magnetoresistance

An example of magnetoresistance due to direct action of magnetic eld on electric current can be studied on a Corbino
disc (see Figure). It consists of a conducting annulus with perfectly conducting rims. Without a magnetic eld, the
battery drives a radial current between the rims. When a magnetic eld parallel to the axis of the annulus is applied,
a circular component of current ows as well, due to the Lorentz force. A discussion of the disc is provided by
Giuliani.[6] Initial interest in this problem began with Boltzmann in 1886, and independently was re-examined by
Corbino in 1911.[6]
In a simple model, supposing the response to the Lorentz force is the same as for an electric eld, the carrier velocity
v is given by:
v = (E + v B) ,
308
28.2. GEOMETRICAL MAGNETORESISTANCE 309
Corbino disc. With the magnetic eld turned o, a radial current ows in the conducting annulus due to the battery connected between
the (innite) conductivity rims. When a magnetic eld along the axis is turned on, the Lorentz force drives a circular component of
current, and the resistance between the inner and outer rims goes up. This increase in resistance due to the magnetic eld is called
magnetoresistance.
where is the carrier mobility. Solving for the velocity, we nd:
( )
v= E + E B + 2 (B E)B = (E + E B) + E ,
1 + (B)2 1 + (B)2
where the eective reduction in mobility due to the B-eld (for motion perpendicular to this eld) is apparent. Electric
current (proportional to the radial component of velocity) will decrease with increasing magnetic eld and hence the
resistance of the device will increase. This magnetoresistive scenario depends sensitively on the device geometry and
current lines and it does not rely on magnetic materials.
In a semiconductor with a single carrier type, the magnetoresistance is proportional to (1 + (B)2 ), where is the
semiconductor mobility (units m2 V1 s1 or T 1 ) and B is the magnetic eld (units teslas). Indium antimonide, an
example of a high mobility semiconductor, could have an electron mobility above 4 m2 V1 s1 at 300 K. So in a 0.25
T eld, for example the magnetoresistance increase would be 100%.
310 CHAPTER 28. MAGNETORESISTANCE
28.3 Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR)
The resistance of a thin Permalloy lm is shown here as a function of the angle of an applied external eld.
Thomsons experiments[4] are an example of AMR,[7] property of a material in which a dependence of electrical
resistance on the angle between the direction of electric current and direction of magnetization is observed. The
eect arises from the simultaneous action of magnetization and spin-orbit interaction and its detailed mechanism
depends on the material. It can be for example due to a larger probability of s-d scattering of electrons in the direction
of magnetization (which is controlled by the applied magnetic eld). The net eect (in most materials) is that the
electrical resistance has maximum value when the direction of current is parallel to the applied magnetic eld. AMR
of new materials is being investigated and magnitudes up to 50% have been observed in some ferromagnetic uranium
compounds.[8]
In polycrystalline ferromagnetic materials, the AMR can only depend on the angle = between the magneti-
zation and current direction and (as long as the resistivity of the material can be described by a rank-two tensor), it
must follow[9]
() = + ( ) cos2
where is the (longitudinal) resistivity of the lm and , are the resistivities for = 0 and 90 , respectively.
Associated with longitudinal resistivity, there is also transversal resistivity dubbed (somewhat confusingly[1]) the
planar Hall eect. In monocrystals, resistivity depends also on , individually.
To compensate for the non-linear characteristics and inability to detect the polarity of a magnetic eld, the following
structure is used for sensors. It consists of stripes of aluminum or gold placed on a thin lm of permalloy (a ferro-
magnetic material exhibiting the AMR eect) inclined at an angle of 45. This structure forces the current not to
ow along the easy axes of thin lm, but at an angle of 45. The dependence of resistance now has a permanent
oset which is linear around the null point. Because of its appearance, this sensor type is called 'barber pole'.
The AMR eect is used in a wide array of sensors for measurement of Earths magnetic eld (electronic compass), for
electric current measuring (by measuring the magnetic eld created around the conductor), for trac detection and
for linear position and angle sensing. The biggest AMR sensor manufacturers are Honeywell, NXP Semiconductors,
STMicroelectronics, and Sensitec GmbH.
28.4 See also

Giant magnetoresistance
28.5. FOOTNOTES 311
Tunnel magnetoresistance
Colossal magnetoresistance
Extraordinary magnetoresistance
Magnetoresistive random-access memory
28.5 Footnotes
1. The (ordinary) Hall eect changes sign upon magnetic eld reversal and it is an orbital eect (unrelated to
spin) due to the Lorentz force. Transversal AMR (planar Hall eect[10] ) does not change sign and it is caused
by spin-orbit interaction.
28.6 References
[1] A.B. Pippard: Magnetoresistance in Metals, Cambridge University Press (1989)
[2] Coleman, R.V.; Isin, A. (1966), Magnetoresistance in Iron Single Crystals, Journal of Applied Physics, 37: 1028,
Bibcode:1966JAP....37.1028C, doi:10.1063/1.1708320
[3] Unstoppable Magnetoresistance.
[4] Thomson, W. (18 June 1857), On the Electro-Dynamic Qualities of Metals:Eects of Magnetization on the Electric
Conductivity of Nickel and of Iron (PDF), Proc. Royal Soc. London, 8: 546550, doi:10.1098/rspl.1856.0144
[5] The Nobel Prize in Physics 2007, Nobel Media AB, 9 Oct 2007, retrieved 25 Jun 2014
[6] G Giuliani, (2008). A general law for electromagnetic induction. EPS. 81 (6): 60002. Bibcode:2008EL.....8160002G.
arXiv:1502.00502 . doi:10.1209/0295-5075/81/60002.
[7] McGuire, T.; Potter, R. (1975). Anisotropic magnetoresistance in ferromagnetic 3d alloys (PDF). IEEE Transactions on
Magnetics. 11 (4): 10181038. Bibcode:1975ITM....11.1018M. doi:10.1109/TMAG.1975.1058782.
[8] Winiewski, P. Giant anisotropic magnetoresistance and magnetothermopower in cubic 3:4 uranium pnictides. Applied
Physics Letters. 90: 192106. Bibcode:2007ApPhL..90s2106W. doi:10.1063/1.2737904.
[9] De Ranieri, E.; Rushforth, A. W.; Vborn, K.; Rana, U.; Ahmed, E.; Campion, R. P.; Foxon, C. T.; Gallagher, B. L.;
Irvine, A. C.; Wunderlich, J.; Jungwirth, T. (10 June 2008), Lithographically and electrically controlled strain eects
on anisotropic magnetoresistance in (Ga,Mn)As (PDF), New J. Phys., 10 (6): 065003, Bibcode:2008NJPh...10f5003D,
arXiv:0802.3344 , doi:10.1088/1367-2630/10/6/065003
[10] Tang, H. X.; Kawakami, R. K.; Awschalom, D. D.; Roukes, M. L. (March 2003), Giant Planar Hall Eect in Epi-
taxial (Ga,Mn)As Devices (PDF), Phys. Rev. Lett., 90 (10): 107201, Bibcode:2003PhRvL..90j7201T, arXiv:cond-
mat/0210118 , doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.107201
Chapter 29
Scalar potential
This article is about a general description of a function used in mathematics and physics to describe conservative
elds. For the scalar potential of electromagnetism, see electric potential. For all other uses, see potential.
Scalar potential, simply stated, describes the situation where the dierence in the potential energies of an object
in two dierent positions depends only on the positions, not upon the path taken by the object in traveling from one
position to the other. It is a scalar eld in three-space: a directionless value (scalar) that depends only on its location.
A familiar example is potential energy due to gravity.
gravitational potential well of an increasing mass where F = P
A scalar potential is a fundamental concept in vector analysis and physics (the adjective scalar is frequently omitted
if there is no danger of confusion with vector potential). The scalar potential is an example of a scalar eld. Given a
vector eld F, the scalar potential P is dened such that:
312
29.1. INTEGRABILITY CONDITIONS 313
( )
F = P = P P
x , y , P
z ,
[1]
where P is the gradient of P and the second part of the equation is minus the gradient for a function of the Cartesian
coordinates x,y,z.[2] In some cases, mathematicians may use a positive sign in front of the gradient to dene the
potential.[3] Because of this denition of P in terms of the gradient, the direction of F at any point is the direction of
the steepest decrease of P at that point, its magnitude is the rate of that decrease per unit length.
In order for F to be described in terms of a scalar potential only, the following have to be true:
b
1. a F dl = P (b) P (a) , where the integration is over a Jordan arc passing from location a to location b
and P(b) is P evaluated at location b .
H
2. F dl = 0 , where the integral is over any simple closed path, otherwise known as a Jordan curve.
3. F = 0.
The rst of these conditions represents the fundamental theorem of the gradient and is true for any vector eld that
is a gradient of a dierentiable single valued scalar eld P. The second condition is a requirement of F so that it can
be expressed as the gradient of a scalar function. The third condition re-expresses the second condition in terms of
the curl of F using the fundamental theorem of the curl. A vector eld F that satises these conditions is said to be
irrotational (Conservative).
Scalar potentials play a prominent role in many areas of physics and engineering. The gravity potential is the scalar
potential associated with the gravity per unit mass, i.e., the acceleration due to the eld, as a function of position. The
gravity potential is the gravitational potential energy per unit mass. In electrostatics the electric potential is the scalar
potential associated with the electric eld, i.e., with the electrostatic force per unit charge. The electric potential is in
this case the electrostatic potential energy per unit charge. In uid dynamics, irrotational lamellar elds have a scalar
potential only in the special case when it is a Laplacian eld. Certain aspects of the nuclear force can be described by
a Yukawa potential. The potential play a prominent role in the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of classical
mechanics. Further, the scalar potential is the fundamental quantity in quantum mechanics.
Not every vector eld has a scalar potential. Those that do are called conservative, corresponding to the notion of
conservative force in physics. Examples of non-conservative forces include frictional forces, magnetic forces, and
in uid mechanics a solenoidal eld velocity eld. By the Helmholtz decomposition theorem however, all vector
elds can be describable in terms of a scalar potential and corresponding vector potential. In electrodynamics the
electromagnetic scalar and vector potentials are known together as the electromagnetic four-potential.
29.1 Integrability conditions

If F is a conservative vector eld (also called irrotational, curl-free, or potential), and its components have continuous
partial derivatives, the potential of F with respect to a reference point r0 is dened in terms of the line integral:
b
V (r) = F(r) dr = F(r(t)) r (t) dt,
C a
where C is a parametrized path from r0 to r,
r(t), a t b, r(a) = r0 , r(b) = r.
The fact that the line integral depends on the path C only through its terminal points r0 and r is, in essence, the
path independence property of a conservative vector eld. The fundamental theorem of calculus for line integrals
implies that if V is dened in this way, then F = V, so that V is a scalar potential of the conservative vector eld
F. Scalar potential is not determined by the vector eld alone: indeed, the gradient of a function is unaected if a
constant is added to it. If V is dened in terms of the line integral, the ambiguity of V reects the freedom in the
choice of the reference point r0 .
314 CHAPTER 29. SCALAR POTENTIAL
29.2 Altitude as gravitational potential energy

Main article: Gravitational potential
An example is the (nearly) uniform gravitational eld near the Earths surface. It has a potential energy
uniform gravitational eld near the Earths surface
U = mgh
where U is the gravitational potential energy and h is the height above the surface. This means that gravitational
potential energy on a contour map is proportional to altitude. On a contour map, the two-dimensional negative
gradient of the altitude is a two-dimensional vector eld, whose vectors are always perpendicular to the contours and
also perpendicular to the direction of gravity. But on the hilly region represented by the contour map, the three-
dimensional negative gradient of U always points straight downwards in the direction of gravity; F. However, a ball
rolling down a hill cannot move directly downwards due to the normal force of the hills surface, which cancels out
the component of gravity perpendicular to the hills surface. The component of gravity that remains to move the ball
is parallel to the surface:
FS = mg sin
29.3. PRESSURE AS BUOYANT POTENTIAL 315
Plot of a two-dimensional slice of the gravitational potential in and around a uniform spherical body. The inection points of the
cross-section are at the surface of the body.
where is the angle of inclination, and the component of FS perpendicular to gravity is
1
FP = mg sin cos = mg sin 2.
2
This force FP, parallel to the ground, is greatest when is 45 degrees.
Let h be the uniform interval of altitude between contours on the contour map, and let x be the distance between
two contours. Then
h
= tan1
x
so that
x h
FP = mg .
x2 + h2
However, on a contour map, the gradient is inversely proportional to x, which is not similar to force FP: altitude
on a contour map is not exactly a two-dimensional potential eld. The magnitudes of forces are dierent, but the
directions of the forces are the same on a contour map as well as on the hilly region of the Earths surface represented
by the contour map.
29.3 Pressure as buoyant potential

In uid mechanics, a uid in equilibrium, but in the presence of a uniform gravitational eld is permeated by a uniform
buoyant force that cancels out the gravitational force: that is how the uid maintains its equilibrium. This buoyant
force is the negative gradient of pressure:
fB = p.
316 CHAPTER 29. SCALAR POTENTIAL
Since buoyant force points upwards, in the direction opposite to gravity, then pressure in the uid increases down-
wards. Pressure in a static body of water increases proportionally to the depth below the surface of the water. The
surfaces of constant pressure are planes parallel to the surface, which can be characterized as the plane of zero pres-
sure.
If the liquid has a vertical vortex (whose axis of rotation is perpendicular to the surface), then the vortex causes a
depression in the pressure eld. The surface of the liquid inside the vortex is pulled downwards as are any surfaces of
equal pressure, which still remain parallel to the liquids surface. The eect is strongest inside the vortex and decreases
rapidly with the distance from the vortex axis.
The buoyant force due to a uid on a solid object immersed and surrounded by that uid can be obtained by integrating
the negative pressure gradient along the surface of the object:
I
FB = p dS.
S
A moving airplane wing makes the air pressure above it decrease relative to the air pressure below it. This creates
enough buoyant force to counteract gravity.
29.4 Scalar potential in Euclidean space

In 3-dimensional Euclidean space R3 , the scalar potential of an irrotational vector eld E is given by

1 div E(r )
(r) = dV (r )
4 R3 r r
where dV (r ) is an innitesimal volume element with respect to r'. Then

1 div E(r )
E = = dV (r )
4 R3 r r
This holds provided E is continuous and vanishes asymptotically to zero towards innity, decaying faster than 1/r and
if the divergence of E likewise vanishes towards innity, decaying faster than 1/r2 .
Written another way, let
1 1
(r) =
4 r
be the Newtonian potential. This is the fundamental solution of the Laplace equation, meaning that the Laplacian of
is equal to the negative of the Dirac delta function:
2 (r) + (r) = 0.
Then the scalar potential is the divergence of the convolution of E with :
= div(E ).
Indeed, convolution of an irrotational vector eld with a rotationally invariant potential is also irrotational. For an
irrotational vector eld G, it can be shown that
2 G = ( G).
29.5. SEE ALSO 317
Hence
div(E ) = 2 (E ) = E 2 = E = E
as required.
More generally, the formula
= div(E )
holds in n-dimensional Euclidean space (n > 2) with the Newtonian potential given then by
1
(r) =
n(n 2)n rn2
where n is the volume of the unit n-ball. The proof is identical. Alternatively, integration by parts (or, more
rigorously, the properties of convolution) gives

1 E(r ) (r r )
(r) = dV (r ).
nn Rn r r n
29.5 See also

Gradient theorem
Fundamental theorem of vector analysis
29.6 References
[1] Herbert Goldstein. Classical Mechanics (2 ed.). pp. 34. ISBN 978-0-201-02918-5.
[2] The second part of this equation is ONLY valid for Cartesian coordinates, other coordinate systems such as cylindrical or
spherical coordinates will have more complicated representations. derived from the fundamental theorem of the gradient.
[3] See for an example where the potential is dened without a negative. Other references such as Louis Leithold, The Calculus
with Analytic Geometry (5 ed.), p. 1199 avoid using the term potential when solving for a function from its gradient.
Chapter 30
In physics and mathematics, in the area of vector calculus, Helmholtzs theorem,[1][2] also known as the fundamen-
tal theorem of vector calculus,[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] states that any suciently smooth, rapidly decaying vector eld in
three dimensions can be resolved into the sum of an irrotational (curl-free) vector eld and a solenoidal (divergence-
free) vector eld; this is known as the Helmholtz decomposition or Helmholtz representation. It is named after
Hermann von Helmholtz.[10]
Because an irrotational vector eld has a scalar potential and a solenoidal vector eld has a vector potential, the
Helmholtz decomposition states that a vector eld (satisfying appropriate smoothness and decay conditions) can be
decomposed as the sum of the form grad + curl A , where is a scalar eld, called scalar potential, and A is a
vector eld, called a vector potential.
30.1 Statement of the theorem

Let F be a vector eld on a bounded domain V R3 , which is twice continuously dierentiable, and let S be the
surface that encloses the domain V. Then F can be decomposed into a curl-free component and a divergence-free
component:[11][12]
F = + A,
where
I
1 F(r ) 1 F(r )
(r) = dV n
^ dS
4 V |r r | 4 S |r r |
I
1 F(r ) 1 F(r )
A(r) =
dV n
^ dS
4 V |r r | 4 S |r r |
and is the nabla operator with respect to r , not r .

If V = R3 and is therefore unbounded, and F vanishes faster than 1/r as r , then the second component of both
scalar and vector potential are zero. That is,[13]

1 F(r )
(r) = dV
4 space all |r r |

1 F(r )
A(r) = dV
4 space all |r r |
318
30.2. DERIVATION 319
30.2 Derivation
Suppose we have a vector function F(r) of which we know the curl, F, and the divergence, F, in the domain
and the elds on the boundary. Writing the function using delta function in the form
1 2 1
3 (r r ) = ,
4 |r r |

F(r) = F (r ) 3 (r r )dV
V
( )
1 2 1

= F(r ) dV
V 4 |r r |

1 F(r )
= 2
dV
4 V |r r |
[ ( ) ( )]
1 F(r ) F(r )
= |
dV |
dV 2 a = ( a) ( a)
4 V |r r V |r r
[ ( ) ( )]
1 1 1
= F(r ) dV + F(r ) dV
4 V |r r | V |r r |
[ ( ) ( )]
1 1 1 1 1
= F(r ) |
dV
F(r
)
|
dV
|
=
4 V |r r V |r r |r r |r r |
Then using the vectorial identities
a = ( a) + (a)
a = ( a) (a)
we get
[ ( ) ( )]
1 F (r ) F (r ) F (r ) F (r )
F(r) = dV + dV dV dV .
4 V |r r | V |r r | V |r r | V |r r |
Take advantage of the divergence theorem, the equation can be rewritten as
[ ( I ) ( I )]
1 F (r ) F (r ) F (r ) F (r )
F(r) = dV + n
^ dS dV n
^ dS
4 V |r r | S |r r | V |r r | S |r r |
[ I ] [ I ]
1 F (r ) 1 F (r ) 1 F (r ) 1 F (r )
= dV n
^ dS + dV n
^ dS
4 V |r r | 4 S |r r | 4 V |r r | 4 S |r r |
n .
with outward surface normal ^
Dene
I
1 F (r ) 1 F (r )
(r)
dV n
^ dS
4 V |r r | 4 S |r r |
I
1 F (r ) 1 F (r )
A(r) dV n
^ dS
4 V |r r | 4 S |r r |
Hence
F = + A
4|rr
1
| is the Greens function for the Laplacian, and in a more general setting it should be replaced by the ap-
propriate Greens function - for example, in two dimensions it should be replaced by 2 1

ln |r r | . For higher
dimensional generalization, see the discussion of Hodge decomposition below.
320 CHAPTER 30. HELMHOLTZ DECOMPOSITION
30.2.1 Another derivation from the Fourier transform

Write F as a Fourier transform:

F(r) = )eir d
G(
The Fourier transform of a scalar eld is a scalar eld, and the Fourier transform of a vector eld is a vector eld of
same dimension.
Now consider the following scalar and vector elds:
)
G(

G (
) = i

2
)
G(

A (
G ) = i
2

(r) = G ( )eir d

r) =
A( G )eir d
A (
Hence
) = i
G( G ( G
) + i A ()

F(r) = i )eir d
G ( + i )eir d
A (
G
r)
= (r) + A(
30.3 Fields with prescribed divergence and curl

The term Helmholtz theorem can also refer to the following. Let C be a solenoidal vector eld and d a scalar eld
on R3 which are suciently smooth and which vanish faster than 1/r2 at innity. Then there exists a vector eld F
such that
F=d and F = C;
if additionally the vector eld F vanishes as r , then F is unique.[13]
In other words, a vector eld can be constructed with both a specied divergence and a specied curl, and if it
also vanishes at innity, it is uniquely specied by its divergence and curl. This theorem is of great importance
in electrostatics, since Maxwells equations for the electric and magnetic elds in the static case are of exactly this
type.[13] The proof is by a construction generalizing the one given above: we set
F = (G(d)) + (G(C)),
where G represents the Newtonian potential operator. (When acting on a vector eld, such as F, it is dened to
act on each component.)
30.4 Dierential forms

The Hodge decomposition is closely related to the Helmholtz decomposition, generalizing from vector elds on R3
to dierential forms on a Riemannian manifold M. Most formulations of the Hodge decomposition require M to be
30.5. WEAK FORMULATION 321
compact.[14] Since this is not true of R3 , the Hodge decomposition theorem is not strictly a generalization of the
Helmholtz theorem. However, the compactness restriction in the usual formulation of the Hodge decomposition can
be replaced by suitable decay assumptions at innity on the dierential forms involved, giving a proper generalization
of the Helmholtz theorem.
30.5 Weak formulation

The Helmholtz decomposition can also be generalized by reducing the regularity assumptions (the need for the exis-
tence of strong derivatives). Suppose is a bounded, simply-connected, Lipschitz domain. Every square-integrable
vector eld u (L2 ())3 has an orthogonal decomposition:
u = + A
where is in the Sobolev space H 1 () of square-integrable functions on whose partial derivatives dened in the
distribution sense are square integrable, and A H(curl, ), the Sobolev space of vector elds consisting of square
integrable vector elds with square integrable curl.
For a slightly smoother vector eld u H(curl, ), a similar decomposition holds:
u = + v
where H 1 (), v (H 1 ())d .
30.6 Longitudinal and transverse elds

A terminology often used in physics refers to the curl-free component of a vector eld as the longitudinal component
and the divergence-free component as the transverse component.[15] This terminology comes from the following
construction: Compute the three-dimensional Fourier transform of the vector eld F. Then decompose this eld, at
each point k, into two components, one of which points longitudinally, i.e. parallel to k, the other of which points in
the transverse direction, i.e. perpendicular to k. So far, we have
F(k) = Ft (k) + Fl (k)

k Ft (k) = 0.
k Fl (k) = 0.
Now we apply an inverse Fourier transform to each of these components. Using properties of Fourier transforms, we
derive:
F(r) = Ft (r) + Fl (r)

Ft (r) = 0
Fl (r) = 0
Since () = 0 and ( A) = 0 ,
we can get

1 F
Ft = A =
dV
4 V |r r |

1 F
Fl = =
dV
4 V |r r |
so this is indeed the Helmholtz decomposition.[16]
322 CHAPTER 30. HELMHOLTZ DECOMPOSITION
30.7 See also
Clebsch representation for a related decomposition of vector elds
Darwin Lagrangian for an application
Poloidaltoroidal decomposition for a further decomposition of the divergence-free component A .
Scalar-vector-tensor decomposition
30.8 Notes
[1] On Helmholtzs Theorem in Finite Regions. By Jean Bladel. Midwestern Universities Research Association, 1958.
[2] Hermann von Helmholtz. Clarendon Press, 1906. By Leo Koenigsberger. p357
[3] An Elementary Course in the Integral Calculus. By Daniel Alexander Murray. American Book Company, 1898. p8.
[4] J. W. Gibbs & Edwin Bidwell Wilson (1901) Vector Analysis, page 237, link from Internet Archive
[5] Electromagnetic theory, Volume 1. By Oliver Heaviside. The Electrician printing and publishing company, limited,
1893.
[6] Elements of the dierential calculus. By Wesley Stoker Barker Woolhouse. Weale, 1854.
[7] An Elementary Treatise on the Integral Calculus: Founded on the Method of Rates Or Fluxions. By William Woolsey
Johnson. John Wiley & Sons, 1881.
See also: Method of Fluxions.
[8] Vector Calculus: With Applications to Physics. By James Byrnie Shaw. D. Van Nostrand, 1922. p205.
See also: Greens Theorem.
[9] A Treatise on the Integral Calculus, Volume 2. By Joseph Edwards. Chelsea Publishing Company, 1922.
[10] See:
H. Helmholtz (1858) "ber Integrale der hydrodynamischen Gleichungen, welcher der Wirbelbewegungen entsprechen
(On integrals of the hydrodynamic equations which correspond to vortex motions), Journal fr die reine und ange-
wandte Mathematik, 55: 2555. On page 38, the components of the uids velocity (u, v, w) are expressed in terms
of the gradient of a scalar potential P and the curl of a vector potential (L, M, N).
However, Helmholtz was largely anticipated by George Stokes in his paper: G. G. Stokes (presented: 1849 ; pub-
lished: 1856) On the dynamical theory of diraction, Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 9,
part I, pages 162; see pages 910.
[11] Aris (1962), pp. 7072
[12] Helmholtz' Theorem (PDF). University of Vermont.
[13] David J. Griths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, Prentice-Hall, 1999, p. 556.
[14] Cantarella, Jason; DeTurck, Dennis; Gluck, Herman (2002). Vector Calculus and the Topology of Domains in 3-Space.
The American Mathematical Monthly. 109 (5): 409442. JSTOR 2695643. doi:10.2307/2695643.
[15] Stewart, A. M.; Longitudinal and transverse components of a vector eld, Sri Lankan Journal of Physics 12, 33-42 (2011)
[16] Online lecture notes by Robert Littlejohn

30.9 References
30.9.1 General references

George B. Arfken and Hans J. Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 4th edition, Academic Press: San
Diego (1995) pp. 9293
George B. Arfken and Hans J. Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physicists International Edition, 6th edition,
Academic Press: San Diego (2005) pp. 95101
Rutherford Aris, Vectors, tensors, and the basic equations of uid mechanics, Prentice-Hall (1962), OCLC
299650765, pp. 7072
30.9.2 References for the weak formulation

Amrouche, C.; Bernardi, C.; Dauge, M.; Girault, V. (1998). Vector potentials in three dimensional non-
smooth domains. Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences. 21: 823864. Bibcode:1998MMAS...21..823A.
doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1476(199806)21:9<823::aid-mma976>3.0.co;2-b.
R. Dautray and J.-L. Lions. Spectral Theory and Applications, volume 3 of Mathematical Analysis and Nu-
merical Methods for Science and Technology. Springer-Verlag, 1990.
V. Girault and P.A. Raviart. Finite Element Methods for NavierStokes Equations: Theory and Algorithms.
Springer Series in Computational Mathematics. Springer-Verlag, 1986.

Helmholtz theorem on MathWorld
Chapter 31
Guiding center
In physics, the motion of an electrically charged particle (such as an electron or ion in a plasma) in a magnetic eld
can be treated as the superposition of a relatively fast circular motion around a point called the guiding center and
a relatively slow drift of this point. The drift speeds may dier for various species depending on their charge states,
masses, or temperatures, possibly resulting in electric currents or chemical separation.
31.1 Gyration
If the magnetic eld is uniform and all other forces are absent, then the Lorentz force will cause a particle to undergo
a constant acceleration perpendicular to both the particle velocity and the magnetic eld. This does not aect particle
motion parallel to the magnetic eld, but results in circular motion at constant speed in the plane perpendicular to the
magnetic eld. This circular motion is known as the gyromotion. For a particle with mass m and charge q moving in
a magnetic eld with strength B , it has a frequency, called the gyrofrequency or cyclotron frequency, of
c = |q|B/m.
For a speed perpendicular to the magnetic eld of v , the radius of the orbit, called the gyroradius or Larmor
radius, is
L = v /c .
31.2 Parallel motion

Since the magnetic Lorentz force is always perpendicular to the magnetic eld, it has no inuence (to lowest order)
on the parallel motion. In a uniform eld with no additional forces, a charged particle will gyrate around the magnetic
eld according to the perpendicular component of its velocity and drift parallel to the eld according to its initial
parallel velocity, resulting in a helical orbit. If there is a force with a parallel component, the particle and its guiding
center will be correspondingly accelerated.
If the eld has a parallel gradient, a particle with a nite Larmor radius will also experience a force in the direction
away from the larger magnetic eld. This eect is known as the magnetic mirror. While it is closely related to guiding
center drifts in its physics and mathematics, it is nevertheless considered to be distinct from them.
31.3 General force drifts

Generally speaking, when there is a force on the particles perpendicular to the magnetic eld, then they drift in a
direction perpendicular to both the force and the eld. If F is the force on one particle, then the drift velocity is
324
31.3. GENERAL FORCE DRIFTS 325
1 F B
vf = 2
.
q B
These drifts, in contrast to the mirror eect and the non-uniform B drifts, do not depend on nite Larmor radius, but
are also present in cold plasmas. This may seem counterintuitive. If a particle is stationary when a force is turned on,
where does the motion perpendicular to the force come from and why doesn't the force produce a motion parallel to
itself? The answer is the interaction with the magnetic eld. The force initially results in an acceleration parallel to
itself, but the magnetic eld deects the resulting motion in the drift direction. Once the particle is moving in the drift
direction, the magnetic eld deects it back against the external force, so that the average acceleration in the direction
of the force is zero. There is, however, a one-time displacement in the direction of the force equal to (f/m) 2 ,
which should be considered a consequence of the polarization drift (see below) while the force is being turned on.
The resulting motion is a cycloid. More generally, the superposition of a gyration and a uniform perpendicular drift
is a trochoid.
All drifts may be considered special cases of the force drift, although this is not always the most useful way to think
about them. The obvious cases are electric and gravitational forces. The grad-B drift can be considered to result
from the force on a magnetic dipole in a eld gradient. The curvature, inertia, and polarisation drifts result from
treating the acceleration of the particle as ctitious forces. The diamagnetic drift can be derived from the force due
to a pressure gradient. Finally, other forces such as radiation pressure and collisions also result in drifts.
31.3.1 Gravitational eld
A simple example of a force drift is a plasma in a gravitational eld, e.g. the ionosphere. The drift velocity is
m g B
vg = 2
q B
Because of the mass dependence, the gravitational drift for the electrons can normally be ignored.
The dependence on the charge of the particle implies that the drift direction is opposite for ions as for electrons,
resulting in a current. In a uid picture, it is this current crossed with the magnetic eld that provides that force
counteracting the applied force.
31.3.2 Electric eld

B
This drift, often called the E (E-cross-B) drift, is a special case because the electric force on a particle depends on
its charge (as opposed, for example, to the gravitational force considered above). As a result, ions (of whatever mass
and charge) and electrons both move in the same direction at the same speed, so there is no net current (assuming
quasineutrality). In the context of special relativity, in the frame moving with this velocity, the electric eld vanishes.
The value of the drift velocity is given by
B
E
vE =
B2
31.3.3 Nonuniform E
If the electric eld is not uniform, the above formula is modied to read[1]
( )
1 EB
vE = 1 + 2L 2 2
4 B
326 CHAPTER 31. GUIDING CENTER
31.4 Nonuniform B
Guiding center drifts may also result not only from external forces but also from non-uniformities in the magnetic
eld. It is convenient to express these drifts in terms of the parallel and perpendicular kinetic energies
1
K = mv 2
2
1
K = mv 2
2
In that case, the explicit mass dependence is eliminated. If the ions and electrons have similar temperatures, then
they also have similar, though oppositely directed, drift velocities.
31.4.1 Grad-B drift

When a particle moves into a larger magnetic eld, the curvature of its orbit becomes tighter, transforming the
otherwise circular orbit into a cycloid. The drift velocity is
B
K B
vB =
qB B2
31.4.2 Curvature drift

In order for a charged particle to follow a curved eld line, it needs a drift velocity out of the plane of curvature to
provide the necessary centripetal force. This velocity is
c B
2K R
vR =
qB Rc2 B
where R c is the radius of curvature pointing outwards, away from the center of the circular arc which best approxi-
mates the curve at that point.
v db
vinertial = b ,
c dt
where b = B/B
is the unit vector in the direction of the magnetic eld. This drift can be decomposed into the sum
of the curvature drift and the term
[ ]
v b
b + (vE b) .
c t
In the important limit of stationary magnetic eld and weak electric eld, the inertial drift is dominated by the
curvature drift term.
31.4.3 Curved vacuum drift

In the limit of small plasma pressure, Maxwells equations provide a relationship between gradient and curvature that
allows the corresponding drifts to be combined as follows
c B
2K + K R
vR + vB = 2
qB Rc B
31.5. POLARIZATION DRIFT 327
For a species in thermal equilibrium, 2K + K can be replaced by 2kB T ( kB T /2 for K and kB T for K ).
The expression for the grad-B drift above can be rewritten for the case when B is due to the curvature. This is most
easily done by realizing that in a vacuum, Amperes Law is B = 0 . In cylindrical coordinates chosen such that
the azimuthal direction is parallel to the magnetic eld and the radial direction is parallel to the gradient of the eld,
this becomes
1
B
= (rB ) z = 0
r r
Since rB is a constant, this implies that
c
R
B = B
Rc2
and the grad-B drift velocity can be written
R
K B c
vB =
q Rc B 2
2
31.5 Polarization drift

A time-varying electric eld also results in a drift given by
m dE
vp =
qB 2 dt
Obviously this drift is dierent from the others in that it cannot continue indenitely. Normally an oscillatory electric
eld results in a polarization drift oscillating 90 degrees out of phase. Because of the mass dependence, this eect is
also called the inertia drift. Normally the polarization drift can be neglected for electrons because of their relatively
small mass.
31.6 Diamagnetic drift

The diamagnetic drift is not actually a guiding center drift. A pressure gradient does not cause any single particle
to drift. Nevertheless, the uid velocity is dened by counting the particles moving through a reference area, and a
pressure gradient results in more particles in one direction than in the other. The net velocity of the uid is given by
p B
vD = 2
qnB
31.7 Drift Currents

With the important exception of the E-cross-B drift, the drift velocities of dierent species will be dierent. The
dierential velocity of charged particles results in a current, while the mass dependence of the drift velocity can result
in chemical separation.
31.8 See also

List of plasma (physics) articles
328 CHAPTER 31. GUIDING CENTER
31.9 References
[1] Baumjohann, Wolfgang; Treumann, Rudolf (1997). Basic Space Plasma Physics. ISBN 978-1-86094-079-8.
T.G. Northrop, The guiding center approximation to charged particle motion, Annals of Physics 15, p.79-101, 1961
H.J. de Blank, Guiding center motion, Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 61 / Number 2T / February 2012 /
Pages 61-68
Cosmic Plasma (1981), Hannes Alfvn
Sulem, P.L. (2005). Introduction to Guiding center theory. Fields Institute Communications. 46: 109149. Re-
trieved 22 October 2014.
Charged particle drifts in a homogeneous magnetic eld. (A) No disturbing force (B) With an electric eld, E (C) With an inde-
pendent force, F (e.g. gravity) (D) In an inhomogeneous magnetic eld, grad H
Chapter 32
Field line
This article is about the modern use of eld lines as a way to depict electromagnetic and other vector elds. For
the role of these lines in the early history and philosophy of electromagnetism, see Line of force.
A eld line is a locus that is dened by a vector eld and a starting location within the eld. Field lines are useful
+ -
Field lines depicting the electric eld created by a positive charge (left), negative charge (center), and uncharged object (right).
for visualizing vector elds, which are otherwise hard to depict. Unike longitude and latitude lines on a globe, or
topographic lines on a topographic map, they are not physically present at any locations; they are merely visualization
tools.
32.1 Precise denition

A vector eld denes a direction at all points in space; a eld line for that vector eld may be constructed by tracing
a topographic path in the direction of the vector eld. More precisely, the tangent line to the path at each point is
required to be parallel to the vector eld at that point.
A complete description of the geometry of all the eld lines of a vector eld is sucient to completely specify the
direction of the vector eld everywhere. In order to also depict the magnitude, a selection of eld lines is drawn such
that the density of eld lines (number of eld lines per unit perpendicular area) at any location is proportional to the
magnitude of the vector eld at that point.
As a result of the divergence theorem, eld lines start at sources and end at sinks of the vector eld. (A source is
wherever the divergence of the vector eld is positive, a sink is wherever it is negative.) In physics, drawings of
eld lines are mainly useful in cases where the sources and sinks, if any, have a physical meaning, as opposed to e.g.
the case of a force eld of a radial harmonic.
For example, Gausss law states that an electric eld has sources at positive charges, sinks at negative charges, and
neither elsewhere, so electric eld lines start at positive charges and end at negative charges. They can also form
330
32.2. EXAMPLES 331
The gure at left shows the electric eld lines of two equal positive charges. The gure at right shows the electric eld lines of a
dipole.
closed loops, or extend to or from innity, or continue forever without closing in on themselves.[1] A gravitational
eld has no sources, it has sinks at masses, and it has neither elsewhere, gravitational eld lines come from innity
and end at masses. A magnetic eld has no sources or sinks (Gausss law for magnetism), so its eld lines have no
start or end: they can only form closed loops, extend to innity in both directions, or continue indenitely without
ever crossing itself.
Note that for this kind of drawing, where the eld-line density is intended to be proportional to the eld magnitude, it is
important to represent all three dimensions. For example, consider the electric eld arising from a single, isolated point
charge. The electric eld lines in this case are straight lines that emanate from the charge uniformly in all directions
in three-dimensional space. This means that their density is proportional to 1/r2 , the correct result consistent with
Coulombs law for this case. However, if the electric eld lines for this setup were just drawn on a two-dimensional
plane, their two-dimensional density would be proportional to 1/r , an incorrect result for this situation.[2]
32.2 Examples
If the vector eld describes a velocity eld, then the eld lines follow stream lines in the ow. Perhaps the most
familiar example of a vector eld described by eld lines is the magnetic eld, which is often depicted using eld
lines emanating from a magnet.
32.3 Divergence and curl

Field lines can be used to trace familiar quantities from vector calculus:
Divergence may be easily seen through eld lines, assuming the lines are drawn such that the density of eld
lines is proportional to the magnitude of the eld (see above). In this case, the divergence may be seen as the
beginning and ending of eld lines. If the vector eld is the resultant of radial inverse-square law elds with
respect to one or more sources then this corresponds to the fact that the divergence of such a eld is zero outside
the sources. In a solenoidal vector eld (i.e., a vector eld where the divergence is zero everywhere), the eld
lines neither begin nor end; they either form closed loops, or go o to innity in both directions. If a vector
eld has positive divergence in some area, there will be eld lines starting from points in that area. If a vector
eld has negative divergence in some area, there will be eld lines ending at points in that area.
The KelvinStokes theorem shows that eld lines of a vector eld with zero curl (i.e., a conservative vector
eld, e.g. a gravitational eld or an electrostatic eld) cannot be closed loops. In other words, curl is always
present when a eld line forms a closed loop. It may be present in other situations too, such as a helical shape
of eld lines.
332 CHAPTER 32. FIELD LINE
32.4 Physical signicance

While eld lines are a mere mathematical construction, in some circumstances they take on physical signicance.
In uid mechanics, the velocity eld lines (streamlines) in steady ow represent the paths of particles of the uid.
In the context of plasma physics, electrons or ions that happen to be on the same eld line interact strongly, while
particles on dierent eld lines in general do not interact. This is the same behavior that the particles of iron lings
exhibit in a magnetic eld.
The iron lings in the photo appear to be aligning themselves with discrete eld lines, but the situation is more
complex. It is easy to visualize as a two-stage-process: rst, the lings are spread evenly over the magnetic eld but
all aligned in the direction of the eld. Then, based on the scale and ferromagnetic properties of the lings they
damp the eld to either side, creating the apparent spaces between the lines that we see. Of course the two stages
described here happen concurrently until an equilibrium is achieved. Because the intrinsic magnetism of the lings
modies the eld, the lines shown by the lings are only an approximation of the eld lines of the original magnetic
eld. Magnetic elds are continuous, and do not have discrete lines.
32.5 See also

Force eld (physics)
Field lines of Julia sets
External ray eld lines of DouadyHubbard potential of Mandelbrot set or lled-in Julia sets
Line of force
Vector eld
32.6 References
[1] Lieberherr, Martin (6 July 2010). The magnetic eld lines of a helical coil are not simple loops. American Journal of
Physics. 78 (11): 11171119. doi:10.1119/1.3471233. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
[2] A. Wolf, S. J. Van Hook, E. R. Weeks, Electric eld line diagrams don't work Am. J. Phys., Vol. 64, No. 6. (1996), pp.
714724 DOI 10.1119/1.18237

Griths, David J. (1998). Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. pp. 6567 and 232. ISBN
0-13-805326-X.
32.8 External links

Interactive Java applet showing the electric eld lines of selected pairs of charges by Wolfgang Bauer
Visualization of Fields and the Divergence and Curl course notes from a course at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
Chapter 33
Coulombs law
Coulombs law, or Coulombs inverse-square law, is a law of physics that describes force interacting between static
electrically charged particles. In its scalar form, the law is:
q1 q2
F = ke
r2
where ke is Coulombs constant (ke = 8.99109 N m2 C2 ), q1 and q2 are the signed magnitudes of the charges,
and the scalar r is the distance between the charges. The force of interaction between the charges is attractive if the
charges have opposite signs (i.e., F is negative) and repulsive if like-signed (i.e., F is positive).
The law was rst published in 1784 by French physicist Charles Augustin de Coulomb and was essential to the
development of the theory of electromagnetism. It is analogous to Isaac Newton's inverse-square law of universal
gravitation. Coulombs law can be used to derive Gausss law, and vice versa. The law has been tested extensively,
and all observations have upheld the laws principle.
33.1 History
Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, could be rubbed with
cats fur to attract light objects like feathers. Thales of Miletus made a series of observations on static electricity around
600 BC, from which he believed that friction rendered amber magnetic, in contrast to minerals such as magnetite,
which needed no rubbing.[1][2] Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic eect, but later
science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. Electricity would remain little more than an intellectual
curiosity for millennia until 1600, when the English scientist William Gilbert made a careful study of electricity and
magnetism, distinguishing the lodestone eect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber.[1] He coined the
New Latin word electricus (of amber or like amber, from [elektron], the Greek word for amber) to
refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed.[3] This association gave rise to the English words
electric and electricity, which made their rst appearance in print in Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica
of 1646.[4]
Early investigators of the 18th century who suspected that the electrical force diminished with distance as the force
of gravity did (i.e., as the inverse square of the distance) included Daniel Bernoulli[5] and Alessandro Volta, both of
whom measured the force between plates of a capacitor, and Franz Aepinus who supposed the inverse-square law in
1758.[6]
Based on experiments with electrically charged spheres, Joseph Priestley of England was among the rst to propose
that electrical force followed an inverse-square law, similar to Newtons law of universal gravitation. However, he
did not generalize or elaborate on this.[7] In 1767, he conjectured that the force between charges varied as the inverse
square of the distance.[8][9]
In 1769, Scottish physicist John Robison announced that, according to his measurements, the force of repulsion
between two spheres with charges of the same sign varied as x2.06 .[10]
In the early 1770s, the dependence of the force between charged bodies upon both distance and charge had already
been discovered, but not published, by Henry Cavendish of England.[11]
333
334 CHAPTER 33. COULOMBS LAW
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
Finally, in 1785, the French physicist Charles-Augustin de Coulomb published his rst three reports of electricity
and magnetism where he stated his law. This publication was essential to the development of the theory of elec-
tromagnetism.[12] He used a torsion balance to study the repulsion and attraction forces of charged particles, and
determined that the magnitude of the electric force between two point charges is directly proportional to the product
of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
The torsion balance consists of a bar suspended from its middle by a thin ber. The ber acts as a very weak torsion
spring. In Coulombs experiment, the torsion balance was an insulating rod with a metal-coated ball attached to one
end, suspended by a silk thread. The ball was charged with a known charge of static electricity, and a second charged
ball of the same polarity was brought near it. The two charged balls repelled one another, twisting the ber through
a certain angle, which could be read from a scale on the instrument. By knowing how much force it took to twist the
ber through a given angle, Coulomb was able to calculate the force between the balls and derive his inverse-square
proportionality law.
33.2. THE LAW 335
Coulombs torsion balance
33.2 The law

Coulombs law states that:
The magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction between two point charges is directly propor-
tional to the product of the magnitudes of charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them.[12]
The force is along the straight line joining them. If the two charges have the same sign, the electro-
static force between them is repulsive; if they have dierent signs, the force between them is attractive.
A graphical representation of Coulombs law
Coulombs law can also be stated as a simple mathematical expression. The scalar and vector forms of the mathe-
matical equation are
|F| = ke |qr1 q22 | and F1 = ke |rq1 q|22 ^

r21 , respectively,
12
where ke is Coulombs constant (ke = 8.9875517873681764109 N m2 C2 ), q1 and q2 are the signed magnitudes of
the charges, the scalar r is the distance between the charges, the vector r21 = r1 r2 is the vectorial distance between
the charges, and r21 = r21 /|r21 | (a unit vector pointing from q2 to q1 ). The vector form of the equation calculates the
force F1 applied on q1 by q2 . If r12 is used instead, then the eect on q2 can be found. It can be also calculated using
Newtons third law: F2 = F1 .
33.2.1 Units
When the electromagnetic theory is expressed using the standard SI units, force is measured in newtons, charge in
coulombs, and distance in metres. Coulombs constant is given by ke = 1 0 . The constant 0 is the permittivity of
free space in C2 m2 N1 . And is the relative permittivity of the material in which the charges are immersed, and
is dimensionless.
The SI derived units for the electric eld are volts per meter, newtons per coulomb, or tesla meters per second.
Coulombs law and Coulombs constant can also be interpreted in various terms:
Atomic units. In atomic units the force is expressed in hartrees per Bohr radius, the charge in terms of the
elementary charge, and the distances in terms of the Bohr radius.
Electrostatic units or Gaussian units. In electrostatic units and Gaussian units, the unit charge (esu or statcoulomb)
is dened in such a way that the Coulomb constant k disappears because it has the value of one and becomes
dimensionless.
Cgs units are often preferred in the treatment of electromagnetism, as they greatly simplify formulas.[13]
33.2.2 Electric eld

An electric eld is a vector eld that associates to each point in space the Coulomb force experienced by a test charge.
In the simplest case, the eld is considered to be generated solely by a single source point charge. The strength and
direction of the Coulomb force F on a test charge q depends on the electric eld E that it nds itself in, such that F
= q E. If the eld is generated by a positive source point charge q, the direction of the electric eld points along lines
directed radially outwards from it, i.e. in the direction that a positive point test charge q would move if placed in the
eld. For a negative point source charge, the direction is radially inwards.
The magnitude of the electric eld E can be derived from Coulombs law. By choosing one of the point charges to
be the source, and the other to be the test charge, it follows from Coulombs law that the magnitude of the electric
eld E created by a single source point charge q at a certain distance from it r in vacuum is given by:
1 |q|
|E| =
40 r2
33.2. THE LAW 337
If two charges have the same sign, the electrostatic force between them is repulsive; if they have dierent sign, the force between them
is attractive.
33.2.3 Coulombs constant

Main article: Coulombs constant
Coulombs constant is a proportionality factor that appears in Coulombs law as well as in other electric-related for-
mulas. Denoted ke, it is also called the electric force constant or electrostatic constant, hence the subscript e.
The exact value of Coulombs constant is:
1 c2 0
ke = = 0 = c20 107 H m1
40 4
2
= 8.987 551 787 368 176 4 109 N m2 C
33.2.4 Conditions for validity

There are three conditions to be fullled for the validity of Coulombs law:
1. The charges must have a spherically symmetric distribution (e.g. be point charges, or a charged metal
sphere).
2. The charges must not overlap (e.g. be distinct point charges).
3. The charges must be stationary with respect to each other.
33.3 Scalar form
FQ-q Fq-Q
+q +Q
FQ-q Fq-Q
+q Q
Iq
_ QI
IFQ-q I = IFq-Q I= k r 2
The absolute value of the force F between two point charges q and Q relates to the distance between the point charges and to the
simple product of their charges. The diagram shows that like charges repel each other, and opposite charges attract each other.
When it is only of interest to know the magnitude of the electrostatic force (and not its direction), it may be easiest
to consider a scalar version of the law. The scalar form of Coulombs Law relates the magnitude and sign of the
electrostatic force F acting simultaneously on two point charges q1 and q2 as follows:
|q1 q2 |
|F | = ke
r2
where r is the separation distance and ke is Coulombs constant. If the product q1 q2 is positive, the force between
the two charges is repulsive; if the product is negative, the force between them is attractive.[14]
33.4 Vector form

Coulombs law states that the electrostatic force F1 experienced by a charge, q1 at position r1 , in the vicinity of
another charge, q2 at position r2 , in a vacuum is equal to:
33.4. VECTOR FORM 339
In the image, the vector F1 is the force experienced by q1 , and the vector F2 is the force experienced by q2 . When q1 q2 > 0 the
forces are repulsive (as in the image) and when q1 q2 < 0 the forces are attractive (opposite to the image). The magnitude of the
forces will always be equal.
q1 q2 (r1 r2 ) q1 q2 r21
F1 = = ,
40 |r1 r2 |3 40 |r21 |2
where r21 = r1 r2 , the unit vector r21 = r21 /|r21 |, and 0 is the electric constant.
The vector form of Coulombs law is simply the scalar denition of the law with the direction given by the unit vector,
r21 , parallel with the line from charge q2 to charge q1 .[15] If both charges have the same sign (like charges) then the
product q1 q2 is positive and the direction of the force on q1 is given by r21 ; the charges repel each other. If the
charges have opposite signs then the product q1 q2 is negative and the direction of the force on q1 is given by r21 =
r12 ; the charges attract each other.
The electrostatic force F2 experienced by q2 , according to Newtons third law, is F2 = F1 .
33.4.1 System of discrete charges

The law of superposition allows Coulombs law to be extended to include any number of point charges. The force
acting on a point charge due to a system of point charges is simply the vector addition of the individual forces acting
alone on that point charge due to each one of the charges. The resulting force vector is parallel to the electric eld
vector at that point, with that point charge removed.
The force F on a small charge q at position r, due to a system of N discrete charges in vacuum is:
q q ci
N N
r ri R
F (r) = qi = qi ,
40 i=1 |r ri | 3 40 i=1 |Ri |2
where qi and ri are the magnitude and position respectively of the ith charge, Ri is a unit vector in the direction of Ri
= r ri (a vector pointing from charges qi to q).[15]
33.4.2 Continuous charge distribution

In this case, the principle of linear superposition is also used. For a continuous charge distribution, an integral over
the region containing the charge is equivalent to an innite summation, treating each innitesimal element of space
as a point charge dq. The distribution of charge is usually linear, surface or volumetric.
For a linear charge distribution (a good approximation for charge in a wire) where (r) gives the charge per unit
length at position r, and dl is an innitesimal element of length,
dq = (r )dl .[16]
For a surface charge distribution (a good approximation for charge on a plate in a parallel plate capacitor) where (r)
gives the charge per unit area at position r, and dA is an innitesimal element of area,
dq = (r ) dA .
For a volume charge distribution (such as charge within a bulk metal) where (r) gives the charge per unit volume
at position r, and dV is an innitesimal element of volume,
dq = (r ) dV . [15]
The force on a small test charge q at position r in vacuum is given by the integral over the distribution of charge:

q r r
F = dq .
40 |r r |3
33.5 Simple experiment to verify Coulombs law
Experiment to verify Coulombs law.
It is possible to verify Coulombs law with a simple experiment. Consider two small spheres of mass m and same-sign
charge q, hanging from two ropes of negligible mass of length l. The forces acting on each sphere are three: the
weight mg, the rope tension T and the electric force F.
In the equilibrium state:
and:
Dividing (1) by (2):
Let L1 be the distance between the charged spheres; the repulsion force between them F 1 , assuming Coulombs law
is correct, is equal to
so:
If we now discharge one of the spheres, and we put it in contact with the charged sphere, each one of them acquires a
charge q/2. In the equilibrium state, the distance between the charges will be L2 < L1 and the repulsion force between
them will be:
We know that F 2 = mg tan 2 . And:
33.6. ELECTROSTATIC APPROXIMATION 341
q2
4
= mg tan 2
40 L22
Dividing (4) by (5), we get:

Measuring the angles 1 and 2 and the distance between the charges L1 and L2 is sucient to verify that the equality
is true taking into account the experimental error. In practice, angles can be dicult to measure, so if the length of
the ropes is suciently great, the angles will be small enough to make the following approximation:
Using this approximation, the relationship (6) becomes the much simpler expression:
In this way, the verication is limited to measuring the distance between the charges and check that the division
approximates the theoretical value.
33.6 Electrostatic approximation

In either formulation, Coulombs law is fully accurate only when the objects are stationary, and remains approximately
correct only for slow movement. These conditions are collectively known as the electrostatic approximation. When
movement takes place, magnetic elds that alter the force on the two objects are produced. The magnetic interaction
between moving charges may be thought of as a manifestation of the force from the electrostatic eld but with
Einsteins theory of relativity taken into consideration.
33.6.1 Atomic forces

Coulombs law holds even within atoms, correctly describing the force between the positively charged atomic nucleus
and each of the negatively charged electrons. This simple law also correctly accounts for the forces that bind atoms
together to form molecules and for the forces that bind atoms and molecules together to form solids and liquids.
Generally, as the distance between ions increases, the force of attraction, and binding energy, approach zero and
ionic bonding is less favorable. As the magnitude of opposing charges increases, energy increases and ionic bonding
is more favorable.
33.7 See also

BiotSavart law
Darwin Lagrangian
Electromagnetic force
Gausss law
Method of image charges
Molecular modelling
Newtons law of universal gravitation, which uses a similar structure, but for mass instead of charge
Static forces and virtual-particle exchange
33.8 Notes
[1] Stewart, Joseph (2001). Intermediate Electromagnetic Theory. World Scientic. p. 50. ISBN 981-02-4471-1
[2] Simpson, Brian (2003). Electrical Stimulation and the Relief of Pain. Elsevier Health Sciences. pp. 67. ISBN 0-444-
51258-6
[3] Baigrie, Brian (2006). Electricity and Magnetism: A Historical Perspective. Greenwood Press. pp. 78. ISBN 0-313-
33358-0
[4] Chalmers, Gordon (1937). The Lodestone and the Understanding of Matter in Seventeenth Century England. Philosophy
of Science. 4 (1): 7595. doi:10.1086/286445
[5] Socin, Abel (1760). Acta Helvetica Physico-Mathematico-Anatomico-Botanico-Medica (in Latin). 4. Basileae. pp. 22425.
[6] Heilbron, J.L. (1979). Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics. Los Angeles, California:
University of California Press. pp. 460462 and 464 (including footnote 44). ISBN 0486406881.
[7] Schoeld, Robert E. (1997). The Enlightenment of Joseph Priestley: A Study of his Life and Work from 1733 to 1773.
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 14456. ISBN 0-271-01662-0.
[8] Priestley, Joseph (1767). The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments. London, England. p. 732.
May we not infer from this experiment, that the attraction of electricity is subject to the same laws with
that of gravitation, and is therefore according to the squares of the distances; since it is easily demonstrated,
that were the earth in the form of a shell, a body in the inside of it would not be attracted to one side more
than another?
[9] Elliott, Robert S. (1999). Electromagnetics: History, Theory, and Applications. ISBN 978-0-7803-5384-8.
[10] Robison, John (1822). Murray, John, ed. A System of Mechanical Philosophy. 4. London, England.
On page 68, the author states that in 1769 he announced his ndings regarding the force between spheres of like charge.
On page 73, the author states the force between spheres of like charge varies as x2.06 :
The result of the whole was, that the mutual repulsion of two spheres, electried positively or negatively,
was very nearly in the inverse proportion of the squares of the distances of their centres, or rather in a proportion
somewhat greater, approaching to x2.06 .
When making experiments with charged spheres of opposite charge the results were similar, as stated on page 73:
When the experiments were repeated with balls having opposite electricities, and which therefore attracted
each other, the results were not altogether so regular and a few irregularities amounted to 1 6 of the whole; but
these anomalies were as often on one side of the medium as on the other. This series of experiments gave a
result which deviated as little as the former (or rather less) from the inverse duplicate ratio of the distances;
but the deviation was in defect as the other was in excess.
Nonetheless, on page 74 the author infers that the actual action is related exactly to the inverse duplicate of the distance:
We therefore think that it may be concluded, that the action between two spheres is exactly in the inverse
duplicate ratio of the distance of their centres, and that this dierence between the observed attractions and
repulsions is owing to some unperceived cause in the form of the experiment.
On page 75, the authour compares the electric and gravitational forces:
Therefore we may conclude, that the law of electric attraction and repulsion is similar to that of gravitation,
and that each of those forces diminishes in the same proportion that the square of the distance between the
particles increases.
[11] Maxwell, James Clerk, ed. (1967) [1879]. Experiments on Electricity: Experimental determination of the law of electric
force.. The Electrical Researches of the Honourable Henry Cavendish... (1st ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge
University Press. pp. 104113.
On pages 111 and 112 the author states:
We may therefore conclude that the electric attraction and repulsion must be inversely as some power of
the distance between that of the 2 + 1 50 th and that of the 2 1 50 th, and there is no reason to think that it
diers at all from the inverse duplicate ratio.
[12] Coulomb (1785a) Premier mmoire sur llectricit et le magntisme, Histoire de lAcadmie Royale des Sciences, pages
569-577 Coulomb studied the repulsive force between bodies having electrical charges of the same sign: Error: Expan-
sion loop detected at Template:Quote Coulomb also showed that oppositely charged bodies obey an inverse-square law of
attraction.
[13] Jackson, J. D. (1998) [1962]. Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-
30932-1. OCLC 535998.
[14] Coulombs law, Hyperphysics
[15] Coulombs law, University of Texas
[16] Charged rods, PhysicsLab.org
ke = H/m is not correct it must be F/m
33.9 References
Coulomb, Charles Augustin (1788) [1785]. Premier mmoire sur llectricit et le magntisme. Histoire de
lAcadmie Royale des Sciences. Imprimerie Royale. pp. 569577.
Coulomb, Charles Augustin (1788) [1785]. Second mmoire sur llectricit et le magntisme. Histoire de
lAcadmie Royale des Sciences. Imprimerie Royale. pp. 578611.
Tipler, Paul A.; Mosca, Gene (2008). Physics for Scientists and Engineers (6th ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman
and Company. ISBN 0-7167-8964-7. LCCN 2007010418.
Young, Hugh D.; Freedman, Roger A. (2010). Sears and Zemanskys University Physics : With Modern Physics
(13th ed.). Addison-Wesley (Pearson). ISBN 978-0-321-69686-1.

Coulombs Law on Project PHYSNET
Electricity and the Atoma chapter from an online textbook

A maze game for teaching Coulombs Lawa game created by the Molecular Workbench software
Electric Charges, Polarization, Electric Force, Coulombs Law Walter Lewin, 8.02 Electricity and Magnetism,
Spring 2002: Lecture 1 (video). MIT OpenCourseWare. License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-
Share Alike.
33.11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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c, Razibot, Hillbillyholiday, Joeinwiki, Mark viking, Bubba2match, Alexanderjt, Katterjohn, MaxwellSystem, BAdhi, Nijoakim, Wis-
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Pranav.Kosuri and Anonymous: 633
Vector calculus Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_calculus?oldid=785467190 Contributors: Damian Yerrick, AxelBoldt, To-
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3primetime3, Loraof, KasparBot, BD2412bot, Maybeparaphrased, JiyCasas, Fmadd and Anonymous: 122
Maxwell stress tensor Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_stress_tensor?oldid=790143546 Contributors: Charles Matthews,
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Luiservela, Elenceq, WikiLentia, Mouztre, Vindarmagnus, Thefurlong and Anonymous: 31
Poynting vector Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poynting_vector?oldid=788626511 Contributors: PierreAbbat, Michael Hardy,
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dum, BrokenAnchorBot, Pragmaknowledge, RockMagnetist, ClueBot NG, Wcherowi, Historikeren, Eric Wieser, Helpful Pixie Bot, Bib-
code Bot, BG19bot, Rousfo, DaleSpam, F=q(E+v^B), MaxwellDecoherence, Mogism, KAHR-Alpha, SJ Defender, Henri BONDAR,
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Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_stress%E2%80%93energy_tensor?oldid=
784347934 Contributors: Michael Hardy, Giftlite, Anythingyouwant, Rich Farmbrough, Gene Nygaard, Sbyrnes321, KasugaHuang,
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General relativity Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity?oldid=792417987 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Mav, Bryan
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laga, Rahul Ray, Prajaman, Holdenjsmith, GRB4478, Dakleman and Anonymous: 755
Covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covariant_formulation_of_classical_electromagnetism?
oldid=791880892 Contributors: SebastianHelm, Stevenj, Giftlite, DemonThing, Sohanley, Falcorian, David Haslam, Mpatel, Nanite,
Rjwilmsi, Ligulem, Nimur, Srleer, ScottAlanHill, Hwasungmars, Nur Hamur~enwiki, Retired username, Light current, Teply, Sbyrnes321,
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Kaye101, O.Koslowski, Machina Lucis, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, F=q(E+v^B), Gsadovski, JFrech14, Bender the Bot and Anonymous:
37
Vacuum permittivity Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_permittivity?oldid=786434641 Contributors: The Anome, Patrick,
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Aman12997, Bear-rings, Earl of Arundel, Lorstenoplo, MinusBot and Anonymous: 88
Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_descriptions_of_the_
electromagnetic_field?oldid=787260602 Contributors: Michael Hardy, Ancheta Wis, Dratman, Rgdboer, Mpatel, Alfred Centauri, Teply,
Sbyrnes321, Barney Stratford, G-W, XelAr, Myasuda, Juansempere, Headbomb, Magioladitis, Red Act, Antixt, Wing gundam, Peeter.joot,
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Dilaton, 786b6364, Z = z + c, Magic links bot and Anonymous: 23
Hall eect Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_effect?oldid=791666922 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Derek Ross, Bryan Derksen,
The Anome, Taw, Rmhermen, Heron, Youandme, Thalakan, Michael Hardy, Gbleem, Glenn, Reddi, Dfeuer, Dysprosia, Zoicon5, Max-
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ing, Leonard G., Tom-, Jason Quinn, Bobblewik, Alan Au, Knutux, Karol Langner, Glogger, Sonett72, Mike Rosoft, Pmsyyz, Quist-
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tomi, Dirac66, Yahp, StuFifeScotland, Edward321, MartinBot, Lucyfanclub, Niclisp, Arcette, Tokamac, Yadevol, Matthardingu, Lights,
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bot, CanadianLinuxUser, Download, Bob K31416, Avi PhD, Tide rolls, Lightbot, OlEnglish, SPat, Zorrobot, Meisam, Yobot, Grebaldar,
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botBOT, 78.26, Pjbeierle, A. di M., Ottobonn, FrescoBot, Citation bot 1, Pinethicket, Knoppson, Clarkcj12, Extra999, Ajay.kumarmdp,
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ter, Teapeat, ClueBot NG, MelbourneStar, Lyla1205, Svartholes, Cntras, LaeliaMMT, Benzeman, JungerMan Chips Ahoy!, Helpful Pixie
Bot, Bibcode Bot, 4ProfDigory, BG19bot, Dan653, Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma, Millennium bug, John from Idegon, 786b6364,
Donn300, Messier104, BrightStarSky, Marcello Pas, Saehry, Skyba, Miessen, Androsx5, Akdhiman04, Ugog Nizdast, Apurv sahu, Ad-
dWittyNameHere, Narky Blert, Travailen, Qqwweerrttyy22, Rajsekharghosh, Gvprtskvnis, Krelcoyne, KasparBot, Wikixenia, Kcher12,
GreenC bot, Bender the Bot, Deadgilder, Asxdrgb, Magic links bot, Omerphys and Anonymous: 325
Gravitoelectromagnetism Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitoelectromagnetism?oldid=790812325 Contributors: Derek Ross,
Bryan Derksen, The Anome, Glenn, Reddi, Altenmann, Wolfkeeper, Mooquackwooftweetmeow, Beland, Rich Farmbrough, Pjacobi,
ArnoldReinhold, Paul August, Bender235, Bookofjude, Rbj, 9SGjOSfyHJaQVsEmy9NS, Slicky, Pearle, Keenan Pepper, RJFJR, Ahazred8,
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Gyrogravitation, Maschen, ClueBot NG, Aacke, Ant.acke, Helpful Pixie Bot, Bibcode Bot, Manuelfeliz, Waitedavid137, Antonio354,
ChrisGualtieri, Dexbot, MiceEater, Oranjelo100, *thing goes, Elenceq, Ira Leviton, Inn2694529, ABdder and Anonymous: 105
Ampres force law Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amp%C3%A8re{}s_force_law?oldid=776659727 Contributors: Dan Koehl,
Jph, Robbot, Dbachmann, Physchim62, Gaius Cornelius, Ospalh, Sbyrnes321, SmackBot, RAClarke, Colonies Chris, RProgrammer,
Ohconfucius, Kuru, Bjankuloski06, Geremia, Myasuda, Cydebot, Headbomb, Nick Number, JAnDbot, Swpb, CommonsDelinker, Gp4rts,
Xenonice, VolkovBot, Wdwd, Harsalan, Mild Bill Hiccup, Brews ohare, Bondrake, Addbot, LaaknorBot, Jasper Deng, Lightbot, Yobot,
AnomieBOT, Xqbot, , Serols, Toolnut, Dinamik-bot, DASHBot, Ryan.vilbig, Ambros-aba, SporkBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot,
F=q(E+v^B), BattyBot, ChrisGualtieri, Myxomatosis57, YiFeiBot, Fb8cont, GreenC bot, Quiddital, Bender the Bot and Anonymous: 15
Hendrik Lorentz Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Lorentz?oldid=790847936 Contributors: Danny, XJaM, Deb, Branko,
Tim Starling, Mic, Pde, Alo, Looxix~enwiki, Ahoerstemeier, H7asan, Hike395, Maximus Rex, Pibwl, Smallweed, Rorro, Ktotam,
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Thijs!bot, Headbomb, Bunzil, D.H, Escarbot, RobotG, Zachwoo, JEH, JAnDbot, Matthew Fennell, Arch dude, Demophon, T@nn, Cyk-
tsui, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Whithouse, SuperGirl, Kenneth M Burke, Cmetcalf, Alan U. Kennington, VolkovBot, AlnoktaBOT,
Thurth, TXiKiBoT, Duncan.Hull, CoolKid1993, Resurgent insurgent, EmxBot, SieBot, Robvhoorn, ToePeu.bot, Gerakibot, Polbot, Cm-
celwain, Miguel.mateo, RS1900, Binksternet, Niceguyedc, MARKELLOS, Rotational, Rozth, DragonBot, Alexbot, Brews ohare, You-
point, Lumpy27, Krawcz, Natty sci~enwiki, Muro Bot, Cardinalem, Boethius65, TimothyRias, YouRang?, Bletchley, Jan D. Berends,
TFOWR, Wythy, Addbot, HP1740-B, DaughterofSun, BepBot, Galloping Ghost U of I, Zorrobot, Meisam, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Kilom691,
KamikazeBot, JEms123, Rsva, Backslash Forwardslash, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, Allen234, ArthurBot, Xqbot, DSisyphBot, Davshul,
Gap9551, Omnipaedista, RibotBOT, Michaelw000, Hamamelis, GreenC, Thayts, Thorenn, Citation bot 1, Wdcf, Rameshngbot, Plu-
cas58, Fat&Happy, RedBot, Jauhienij, FoxBot, TobeBot, Teethonreed, Lotje, Leondumontfollower, Wikisidd, RjwilmsiBot, Dave-
martin7777, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, 478jjjz, Racerx11, Dcirovic, Lemeza Kosugi, Brothernight, Erianna, JeanneMish, ClueBot NG,
Editr, Helpful Pixie Bot, Titodutta, Bibcode Bot, Lilitik22, Benzband, Aranea Mortem, , Brad7777, Justincheng12345-bot,
Ninmacer20, ChrisGualtieri, Dexbot, BinaryPhoton, Laotao~enwiki, VIAFbot, Crispulop, Wikifan2744, Johnfranciscollins, Jonarnold1985,
Krelcoyne, Prinsgezinde, KasparBot, MisterPanckes, InternetArchiveBot, GreenC bot, Alejandro20Valencia, Bender the Bot, Hocimi,
Sayan11031998 and Anonymous: 103
Moving magnet and conductor problem Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_magnet_and_conductor_problem?oldid=777835734

Contributors: Heron, Reddi, Bri, BRW, Zzyzx11, Ketiltrout, Srleer, Sbyrnes321, SmackBot, Chris the speller, Complexica, Vyznev
Xnebara, Gregbard, Barticus88, Headbomb, Corwin MacGregor, D.H, Stannered, Gblandst, Brews ohare, Addbot, Robert B Francis
Jr, ScienceMind, Citation bot, LilHelpa, , Earthandmoon, Ripchip Bot, EmausBot, Wikipelli, Dcirovic, SporkBot, BrokenAnchor-
Bot, RockMagnetist, Mikhail Ryazanov, Frietjes, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, BattyBot, Mediavalia, Hyperfuzzy, Bender the Bot and
Anonymous: 10
AbrahamLorentz force Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham%E2%80%93Lorentz_force?oldid=786994760 Contributors:
Palmpilot900, Tea2min, Karol Langner, Bender235, Rgdboer, Laurascudder, Linas, Daniel Case, Mpatel, Seidenstud, HappyCamper,
Rsrikanth05, Alain r, Sbyrnes321, KasugaHuang, SmackBot, Incnis Mrsi, Chris the speller, Complexica, Salmar, Ligulembot, JRSpriggs,
Vyznev Xnebara, ShelfSkewed, Yaron hadad, Vttoth, Xxanthippe, Headbomb, D.H, MichaelMaggs, Gh5046, Gcm, The Transhumanist,
Hroulf, Hans Dunkelberg, Cpiral, M-le-mot-dit, DemonicInuence, Thurth, Voorlandt, The Wilschon, Venny85, Legoktm, Brews ohare,
Addbot, DOI bot, AgadaUrbanit, Yobot, Citation bot, Quondum, Maschen, Zueignung, Mikhail Ryazanov, Cntras, Widr, Helpful Pixie
Bot, Bibcode Bot, BG19bot, Yaghjian, Andyhowlett, 22merlin, NavneetTey, Nerd271, Bender the Bot, Magic links bot and Anonymous:
30
Larmor formula Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larmor_formula?oldid=785142289 Contributors: SebastianHelm, Silversh,
Michael Devore, Rich Farmbrough, Stillnotelf, Firsfron, Linas, Mpatel, Zzyzx11, Pfalstad, Koavf, Srleer, Gaius Cornelius, Light
current, Sbyrnes321, That Guy, From That Show!, SmackBot, CommodiCast, Kmarinas86, Complexica, Colonies Chris, E4mmacro,
Christopherodonovan, Stikonas, MOBle, DanHickstein, Vttoth, Schmloof, Craigheinke, Jwkeohane, Riancon, Trumpsternator, Trojan-
cowboy, Mlandre1, Mild Bill Hiccup, CohesionBot, Steven.schear, Mousetrails, Addbot, AnomieBOT, ^musaz, Citation bot, LilHelpa,
FrescoBot, Vuldoraq, AXRL, Kutsop, Dcirovic, ZroBot, TonyMath, Zueignung, Scottlawsonbc, Rslothhansen, BG19bot, Jhmadden,
Dr.Kup, Erriene, and Anonymous: 41
Cyclotron radiation Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclotron_radiation?oldid=733581769 Contributors: Bryan Derksen, Road-
runner, Heron, Looxix~enwiki, Ellywa, Art Carlson, John Palkovic, RJHall, Laurascudder, Evgeny, Brim, Tevatron~enwiki, Rjwilmsi,
Krash, Wavelength, Spike Wilbury, SCZenz, Whobot, SmackBot, Gilliam, DMS, Croquant, Sergio.ballestrero, TenPoundHammer, No-
vangelis, Clarityend, JRSpriggs, Thijs!bot, Barticus88, Mbell, HEL, Banchali, Sbierwagen, TXiKiBoT, Henrykus, KJG2007, Alexbot,
Rror, Addbot, Lightbot, Legobot, Luckas-bot, AnomieBOT, Piano non troppo, Kingpin13, Mnmngb, Erik9bot, Tom.Reding, Snaevar-
bot, Zedshort and Anonymous: 17
Magnetic potential Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_potential?oldid=785371928 Contributors: Stevenj, HolIgor, Charles
Matthews, MatrixFrog, Grendelkhan, Phys, Tobycat, Giftlite, Karol Langner, MFNickster, Icairns, Lumidek, Rich Farmbrough, Hidaspal,
Laurascudder, Burn, Wtshymanski, Gene Nygaard, Enon, Kri, Archelon, Zwobot, Sbyrnes321, SmackBot, Chris the speller, TimBentley,
Colonies Chris, RyanC., Avb, Christopherlumb, Clean Copy, Makyen, Iridescent, Kupirijo, Xxanthippe, Pinestone, Christian75, Martin
Hogbin, Headbomb, Yill577, Dmo160981, Infovarius, R'n'B, The Anonymous One, Thucydides411, Glmory, Constant314, DoktorDec,
Omnispace, StewartMH, Vreezkid, Excirial, Kmellem, Hess88, Larssl, TStein, Yobot, KamikazeBot, AnomieBOT, Dwayne, Adjust-
Shift, The High Fin Sperm Whale, Citation bot, St.nerol, RibotBOT, , FrescoBot, Vuldoraq, Sneller2, I dream of horses, MastiBot,
Dinamik-bot, Sabzali, EmausBot, John of Reading, Abc1233108, Netheril96, Quondum, Fizicist, Maschen, ChuispastonBot, RockMag-
netist, ClueBot NG, Rezabot, Helpful Pixie Bot, F=q(E+v^B), Justincheng12345-bot, Razibot, Mark viking, ArmbrustBot, Shafaq123,
Schrodinger1123 and Anonymous: 56
Magnetoresistance Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoresistance?oldid=785570756 Contributors: Marj Tiefert, Jqt, Michael
Hardy, Ghewgill, Postdlf, Curps, Ejrrjs, Andythomas~enwiki, Fantumphool, Gene Nygaard, BillC, Rjwilmsi, Intgr, Antikon, Jaraalbe,
Tone, YurikBot, Salsb, GeeJo, Prolineserver, Daniel C, A13ean, KnightRider~enwiki, Yamaguchi , Pieter Kuiper, DHN-bot~enwiki,
Tsca.bot, SimonD, CmdrObot, Christian75, Thijs!bot, Headbomb, Phooto, Escarbot, LorenzoB, Mrtangent, Birczanin, Rei-bot, DrQuak,
SieBot, Brews ohare, DumZiBoT, Forbes72, Addbot, DOI bot, Lightbot, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Xqbot, Citation bot 1, Buddy23Lee, TjBot,
John of Reading, , AlanSiegrist, RockMagnetist, Wbm1058, Bibcode Bot, Gauravjuvekar, Kvyb6672, Jytmetolen, BattyBot,
Jimw338, Dexbot, Tman12321, IN88, LoveOrNot, RainCity471, Mcp92, Jrafner, Bender the Bot, Contributor8472 and Anonymous: 43
Scalar potential Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalar_potential?oldid=791137644 Contributors: Patrick, Michael Hardy, AugPi,
Smack, Charles Matthews, COGDEN, Giftlite, Karol Langner, MFNickster, 9SGjOSfyHJaQVsEmy9NS, Allen McC.~enwiki, Oleg
Alexandrov, Linas, Grammarbot, Mathbot, YurikBot, Eraserhead1, KasugaHuang, SmackBot, Commander Keane bot, Cool3, Kcordina,
Anamexis, Headbomb, Minhtung91, Magioladitis, Usien6, Infovarius, Social tamarisk, Arcfrk, Tiddly Tom, Certes, Hess88, Addbot,
, Fgnievinski, TStein, PV=nRT, Yobot, Haljolad, Raamaiden, Lookang, Sawomir Biay, Craig Pemberton, FoxBot, Melna-
keeb, Xnn, WikitanvirBot, AvicBot, Qniemiec, MerlIwBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, Appelberry, Destrehandave, ArmbrustBot, Math bu and
Anonymous: 19
Helmholtz decomposition Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_decomposition?oldid=791001193 Contributors: Michael
Hardy, Charles Matthews, Reddi, Dysprosia, Jitse Niesen, Giftlite, Jason Quinn, MFNickster, Icairns, Rgdboer, Oleg Alexandrov, Waldir,
Starwed, Rjwilmsi, Mathbot, YurikBot, Lunch, Sbyrnes321, Spireguy, Complexica, Cybercobra, Dan Gluck, Stotr~enwiki, LeBofS-
portif, Dhk, Geometry guy, SieBot, Cwkmail, Mirko vukovic, Alexbot, Brews ohare, DownDeath, Crowsnest, DumZiBoT, Addbot,
Download, AndersBot, Arbitrarily0, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Olaf3142, Sawomir Biay, RedBot, Rausch, Jamolin, Kiwakwok, Acx01b,
Continuum-paradoxes, Netheril96, Slawekb, Sukarsono, ZroBot, Tolly4bolly, Robert littlejohn, Babakpst, Bibcode Bot, Solomon7968,
CitationCleanerBot, Turtle47, Ezalvarenga, Rabbityer, PhysicistRRE, Dangvugiang, Algebraonly, Nertuop, Mgunyho, Bender the Bot
and Anonymous: 42
Guiding center Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiding_center?oldid=752447764 Contributors: Art Carlson, Iantresman, Mike
Rosoft, D6, ABCD, Saga City, Vary, Nihiltres, KSmrq, Bluebot, DabMachine, Joseph Solis in Australia, CmdrObot, Stannered, SieBot,
Addbot, Tom.Reding, John of Reading, Reynodb2, BG19bot, Shawn Worthington Laser Plasma, Balljust, Elenceq, Ju4nk4 phys, Bender
the Bot and Anonymous: 24
Field line Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_line?oldid=774926471 Contributors: Patrick, Michael Hardy, BenFrantzDale,
MFNickster, Zowie, Vsmith, Oleg Alexandrov, Waldir, Zbxgscqf, MarSch, Aholtman, Bgwhite, Pmg, RussBot, Petri Krohn, Simxp,
Sbyrnes321, SmackBot, Adam majewski, Chris the speller, Hongooi, Bjankuloski06, JRSpriggs, Chetvorno, CBM, Zureks, Magioladi-
tis, EagleFan, Gwern, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Martinor, Antixt, Phe-bot, Paolo.dL, Firey322, Addbot, Kiril Simeonovski, Daniele
Pugliesi, Materialscientist, Citation bot, , FrescoBot, Lookang, I dream of horses, TheBFG, Specs112, DeanBrettle, Gertbuschmann,
Wayne Slam, RockMagnetist, ClueBot NG, Gauravjuvekar, BG19bot, Qxukhgiels, Winged Blades of Godric, PraanWiki and Anony-
mous: 27
Coulombs law Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulomb{}s_law?oldid=787957293 Contributors: Andre Engels, Peterlin~enwiki,

Heron, Ryguasu, Patrick, Michael Hardy, Ixfd64, Delirium, Eric119, Looxix~enwiki, Ahoerstemeier, Darkwind, AugPi, Reddi, Choster,
The Anomebot, E23~enwiki, David.Monniaux, Slawojarek, Robbot, Rorro, Prara, Kathy T, Giftlite, DocWatson42, Radius, Tom-,
Yath, Karol Langner, Maximaximax, Icairns, Edsanville, Safety Cap, Aponar Kestrel, Discospinster, Vsmith, Bender235, Laurascud-
der, Rbj, Foobaz, Pokrajac, Kjkolb, Sam Korn, Jumbuck, Mlessard, Rudchenko, Walkerma, Hdeasy, Gene Nygaard, Redvers, Falco-
rian, Oleg Alexandrov, MartinSpacek, StradivariusTV, Kzollman, Palica, Mendaliv, MZMcBride, Vegaswikian, The wub, Matt Deres,
Pediadeep, Fresheneesz, Srleer, Chobot, DVdm, Keko~enwiki, YurikBot, Hairy Dude, Jimp, JabberWok, Wimt, NawlinWiki, Dtreb-
bien, RUL3R, E2mb0t~enwiki, Leotohill, Aristotle2600, Dna-webmaster, Lazcisco, Searchme, Kelovy, Enormousdude, Sbyrnes321,
SmackBot, Jclerman, Mangoe, Ququ, InverseHypercube, KnowledgeOfSelf, Falustra77, Eskimbot, Jab843, Pedrose, Yamaguchi ,
Gilliam, Pieter Kuiper, Khoshzaban.m, Complexica, AlexDitto, Metacomet, DHN-bot~enwiki, Mona, Fjmustak, Can't sleep, clown
will eat me, Metal Militia, V1adis1av, Hoof Hearted, Drphilharmonic, Justin212k, Ligulembot, Sadi Carnot, DJIndica, Nmnogueira,
HDarke, Cronholm144, Mbeychok, Bjankuloski06en~enwiki, Nonsuch, Tiki God, Enelson, Ckatz, Dicklyon, Mets501, Asdfqwe123,
Robin Chen, Tawkerbot2, Nutster, Hedgeghter, Physic sox, WeggeBot, Danrah, Vttoth, Cydebot, Meno25, Christian75, FastLizard4,
Editor at Large, Irigi, Headbomb, Jojan, Navigatr85, AntiVandalBot, Luna Santin, Seaphoto, Credema, Steelpillow, JAnDbot, Douga,
MER-C, Acroterion, WRonG, RogierBrussee, WolfmanSF, =avallone, Euhedral, Kevinmon, Causesobad, Dr. Morbius, Rettetast, Leyo,
Qrystal, Hans Dunkelberg, JohnPritchard, SimpsonDG, Cpiral, M C Y 1008, New Hampshirite, NewEnglandYankee, DorganBot, Treisijs,
Lseixas, Yecril, Sheliak, VolkovBot, Je G., AlnoktaBOT, Fabbe, Thurth, Oshwah, Kychot, Gwib, Hqb, Broadbot, Psyche825, Wiae,
Andy Dingley, Lian1238, Spinningspark, Ohiostandard, CMBJ, Kbrose, SieBot, Cwkmail, Foosnag, Sanya3, OKBot, Randomblue, Clue-
Bot, RedGav, Avenged Eightfold, Mild Bill Hiccup, Niceguyedc, DragonBot, Kocher2006, Alexbot, Brews ohare, Jotterbot, PhySusie,
Thingg, T68492, Gonfer, Addbot, Stariki, NjardarBot, , Ehrenkater, Lightbot, Jan eissfeldt, ., Zorrobot, Snaily, Luckas-
bot, Yobot, TaBOT-zerem, Julia W, THEN WHO WAS PHONE?, Backslash Forwardslash, AnomieBOT, Jim1138, Materialscien-
tist, Joeyjoe10, Citation bot, Xqbot, TinucherianBot II, P99am, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, Vmcbride, Shadowjams, WaysToEscape,
Samwb123, Constructive editor, FrescoBot, Lookang, MrMathematique, Citation bot 1, I dream of horses, Elockid, 10metreh, Red-
Bot, Toolnut, IVAN3MAN, Inbamkumar86, TobeBot, SchreyP, Lionaneesh, Popovvk, Unioneagle, Irfanyousufdar, EmausBot, Wiki-
tanvirBot, Japs 88, Bengt Nyman, Marcreif, K6ka, ZroBot, Prayerfortheworld, Quondum, Arussoxyz, Isarra, Jesanj, RockMagnetist,
DASHBotAV, ClueBot NG, Joefromrandb, Umairhassankhanniazi, Yongtao-Li, BG19bot, Vagobot, Silvrous, Euphoria42, Zedshort, Dli-
tuiev, 123957a, FoCuSandLeArN, Foreverascone, IngenieroLoco, , Tomjensenmorgan, Reatlas, Luot, Verreax, Jagdshkn, Wamiq,
TQV, Nigellwh, JWNoctis, Frank Tiernan, SpecialPiggy, JaconaFrere, Mattdb100, Melcous, TE5ITA, Amortias, Kunino Sagiri, Gdzlg,
Crystallizedcarbon, TheCoeeAddict, Zommuter, NekoKatsun, CV9933, RedPanda25, Sweepy, CanaDeAlba, Gazooks301, Pushpraj99,
Lond1984, Mohaiminul8322, Helcharach, What cat?, DerinB, Physifeel and Anonymous: 345
33.11.2 Images
File:060618_conductor_magnet.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/060618_conductor_magnet.svg
License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: en:Image:060618 conductor magnet.png Original artist: User:Stannered
File:AMR_of_Permalloy.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/AMR_of_Permalloy.png License: CC
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LORENTZ FORCE

MAGNETIC TRANSDUCER GENERATOR

2.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

6.4 Formal denitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

7 Faradays law of induction 86

8.6 Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

9 Charge density 122

10 Maxwells equations 129

10.1.3 Key to the notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

11 Vector calculus 148

11.4.3 Physics and engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

12 Maxwell stress tensor 153

13 Poynting vector 158

14 Electromagnetic stressenergy tensor 166

15 General relativity 169

15.2.1 Geometry of Newtonian gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

16 Covariant formulation of classical electromagnetism 218

16.1.3 Four-current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

17 Vacuum permittivity 229

18 Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic eld 234

18.3 Geometric algebra formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

19 Hall eect 245

20.2.2 Poynting vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

21 Ampres force law 264

22 Hendrik Lorentz 271

23 Moving magnet and conductor problem 281

23.3.1 Magnet frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

24 AbrahamLorentz force 289

25 Larmor formula 294

26 Cyclotron radiation 300

27 Magnetic potential 302

29 Scalar potential 312

30 Helmholtz decomposition 318

31 Guiding center 324

32 Field line 330

33 Coulombs law 333

33.8 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

1.1.1 Charged particle

F(r, _r, t, q) = q[E(r, t) + _r B(r, t)]

1.1.2 Continuous charge distribution

so the continuous analogue to the equation is[9]

1.1.3 Equation in cgs units

Beam of electrons moving in a circle, due to the presence of a mag-

1.3 Trajectories of particles due to the Lorentz force

Main article: Guiding center

1.4 Signicance of the Lorentz force

1.5 Lorentz force law as the denition of E and B

1.6 Force on a current-carrying wire

1.8 Lorentz force and Faradays law of induction

and the Faraday Law,

and using the Maxwell Faraday equation,

since this is valid for any wire position it implies that,

F = q E(r, t) + q v B(r, t).

1.9 Lorentz force in terms of potentials

using the chain rule, the total derivative of A is:

1.10 Lorentz force and analytical mechanics

1.11 Relativistic form of the Lorentz force

1.11.1 Covariant form of the Lorentz force

where p is the four-momentum, dened as

the proper time of the particle, F the contravariant electromagnetic tensor

and U is the covariant 4-velocity of the particle, dened as:

is the Lorentz factor.

where is the Lorentz transformation tensor.

Translation to vector notation