Chapter 0 A Brief History of Electromagnetism

Figure 0.1.1 Branches of physics:

Classical physics: Modern physics:

Classical Mechanics
Optics (Special) relativity
Thermal physics Quantum mechanics
Electricity and magnetism

Electricity
Electromagnetism Magnetism

Optics
Figure 0.1.2 Timeline of classical physics. Courtesy of Yi-Yuh Chen.
 Some main figures
(b)
(a)

Figure 0.2.1 (a) Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806), a French physicist. He is

best known for developing Coulomb’s law, F = ke(q1q2)/r2, but also did important work
on friction. The SI unit of electric charge, the coulomb, was named after him. (b)
Coulomb’s torsion balance.
 (b)
(a)

Figure 0.2.2 (a) Luigi Aloisio Galvani (1737-1798) was an Italian physician, physicist,
biologist and philosopher. He discovered animal electricity, and is recognized as the
pioneer of bioelectromagnetics. In 1780, he discovered that muscles of dead frogs’ legs
twitched when struck by an electric spark. (b) Electrodes touch a frog and the legs twitch
into the upward position.
(a) (b)

Figure 0.2.3 (a) Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (1745-1827), an Italian
physicist, chemist and a pioneer of electricity and power, is credited as the inventor of
electrical battery and the discoverer of methane. The SI unit of electric potential is
named in his honor as the volt. (b) A Voltaic pile invented by him in 1799 was an early
battery which allow to generate steady state current.
(a) (b)

Figure 0.2.4 (a) Hans Christian Ø rsted (Oersted) (1777-1851), a Danish physicist and
chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first
connection found between electricity and magnetism, known as the Oersted law. He
shaped post-Kantian philosophy and advances in science throughout the late 19th century.
The oersted (Oe), the cgs unit of magnetic H-field, is named after him. (b) A compass
needle with a wire, showing the effect of Ø rsted discovered.
(a) (b)

0 ( I1dl1  I 2 dl2 )rˆ21

F12  
4 L1 L2 | r |2

Figure 0.2.5 (a) Andre-Marie Ampere (1775-1836) was a French physicist and
mathematician who was one of the founders of classical electromagnetism. He is also the
inventor of numerous applications, such as the solenoid and electric telegraph. The SI
unit of electric current, the ampere, is named after him. (b) Illustration of Ampere’s force
law: Two current-carrying wires attract each other magnetically.
(a) (b)

An experiment demonstrated Faraday’s law

Figure 0.2.6 (a) Michael Faraday (1791-1867), a English scientist who contributed to the
study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the
principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.
(b) One of Faraday's 1831 experiments demonstrating induction.
(a) (b)

Figure 0.2.7 (a) Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854), a German physicist and mathematician,
began his research with the new electrochemical cell, and found that there is a direct
proportionality between the potential difference (voltage) applied across a conductor
and the resultant electric current (known as Ohm’s law). (b) V, I and R, the parameters of
the Ohm’s law: I = V/R.
 (b) Maxwell demonstrated (1865) that electric and
(a) magnetic fields travel through space as waves
at the speed of light and that light itself is just
such a wave, leading to the prediction of the
existence of radio waves.

Figure 0.2.8 (a) James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish mathematical physicist,
whose most notable achievement was to formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic
radiation (1862). Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetism (1873) is often called the
“second great unification in physics” after the first one by Newton. He also made
significant contributions to thermal physics including (a) the Maxwell’s distribution of
velocities of a molecular gas (1860) (b) and Maxwell’s thermodynamic relations (1871).
(a) (b)

Figure 0.2.9 (a) Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894), a German physicist, first proved the
existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by Maxwell. The unit of frequency was
named the “hertz” in his honor. (b) Hertz’s 1887 apparatus for generating and detecting
radio waves: a spark transmitter consisting of a dipole antenna with a spark gap powered
by high voltage pulses from a Ruhmkorff coil, and a receiver consisting of a loop antenna
and spark gap.
 Chapter 1 Elements of Vector Analysis
Figure 1.1.1 Addition of 2 vectors.
Obviously, A + B = B + A, and thus
the vector addition is commutative.

Figure 1.1.2 Cross product of 2 vectors A × B = AB sin n where n is a unit

vector pointing perpendicular (in) to the plane of A and B. | A × B | is the area
of the parallelogram generated by A and B.
 A  Ax xˆ  Ay yˆ  Az zˆ

Figure 1.1.3 (a) Cartesian coordinate system. (b) A vector A in component form.

Figure 1.1.4 Example 1.1.2 Use the dot

product to find the angle between the
body diagonal of a cube and one of the
Cartesian coordinate axes. A 
B
Solution:
A  B  (0xˆ  0yˆ  1zˆ )  (1xˆ  1yˆ  1zˆ )  1  3 cos  ,
1  1  3 cos  , cos   1/ 3,   54.7356.
Figure 1.1.5 Scalar triple product:
A(B×C) = B(C×A) = C(A×B).
A(B×C) = (A× B)×C. Furthermore,
| A(B×C) | is the volume of the
parallelepiped (left) generated by A,
B and C.
 Figure 1.2.1 (a) f(x) varies
slowly with x, and its
(df/dx) is thus small. (b)
f(x) increases rapidly with x
and hence its derivative is
large.

(b)

(a)

Figure 1.2.2 (a) 3D contour plot of f(x,y) and the constant line (red curve) g(x,y)=c
of g(x,y). (b) Contour map of (a). The arrows in (b) illustrate the magnitudes and
directions of the gradients [f(x,y) or g(x,y)] at the selected points.
(a) f(x,y) (b) f(x,y) (c) f(x,y)

x x x
y y y

Figure 1.2.3 Stationary points [f(x,y) =0] ] of a function f(x,y). (a) a

maximum (a summit), (b) a minimum (a valley) and (c) a saddle point (a pass
or a shoulder).
 6
1
  A  lim
V  0 V
 A a
i 1
i i

Figure 1.2.4 (a) A vector function [A(x,y,z)] that has a large positive
divergence (A). (b) A vector function that has zero divergence. (c) A vector
function that has again a large positive divergence. All three vector functions
in (a-c) have zero curl (×A).
Example 1.2.2 (a) Sketch the vector function V(r) = r/r3 and (b) calculate its
divergence.

Solution: (a) See Fig. 1.2.5.

(b)
 x  y  z  x  y
V  ( 3 )  ( 3 )  ( 3 )  [ 2 ]  [ ]
x r y r z r x ( x  y  z )
2 2 3/2
y ( x  y  z )
2 2 2 3/2

 z 1 3 2x 1 3 2y
 [ 2 ]  [  x (  ) ]  [  y (  ) 5/2 ]
z ( x  y  z )
2 2 3/2
() 3/2
2 () 5/2
() 3/2
2 ()
1 3 2z 1 3x 2 1 3y2 1 3y2 3 3r 2
[ 3/2  z ( ) 5/2 ]  [ 3  5 ]  [ 3  5 ]  [ 3  5 ]  3  5  0.
() 2 () r r r r r r r r
Thus, V(r) = 0 if r  0. If r = 0, V(r) is singular (see Sec. 1.5.2 below).

Figure 1.2.5 Schematic of the

vector function V(r) = r/r3.
A   yxˆ  xyˆ A  xyˆ
  A  2zˆ   A  zˆ

1 4
(  A)  nˆ  lim
S  0 S

i 1
A i l i

Figure 1.2.6 The vector functions [A(x,y,z)] in both (a) and (b) have a
substantial curl (×A), pointing in the z-direction.
(a) (b)

Figure 1.3.1 (a) A path P from point a to point b over which a line integral is
carried out. The gradient theorem says that the integral of the gradient of a
function is given by the value of the function at the boundaries (here a and b).
(b) For a function of one variable, the derivative theorem states that the
integral of the derivative of a function is given by the value of the function at
the boundaries (here a and b).
 I2
I3
I1 I
I1
I3
I2
1 1
I1   2 xdx  1; I 2   4dy  4; I1   0dz  0;
1
I   (10 x  14 x 6 )dx  5  2  7.
1

0 0 0 0
1
I3   6 z 2 dz  2.
1 1

0
I 2   2dy  2; I3   (2 x  4) dx  5.
0 0

Figure 1.3.2 Example 1.3.1 Check the fundamental theorem for gradients, using
T = x2 + 4xy + 2yz3, the points a = (0,0,0), b = (1,1,1), and the three paths in
(a) (0,0,0) → (1,0,0) → (1,1,0) → (1,1,1);
(b) (0,0,0) → (1,0,0) → (1,1,0) → (1,1,1);
(c) the parabolic path z = x2; y = x.

Solution: T(b) – T(a) = 7 – 0 = 7. T  (2 x  4 y )xˆ  (4 x  2 z 3 ) yˆ  6 yz 2 zˆ .

T  dl  (2 x  4 y )dx  (4 x  2 z 3 )dy  6 yz 2 dz.
(a) I1 + I2 + I3 = 1 + 4 +2 = 7. (b) I1 + I2 + I3 = 0 + 2 + 5 = 7. (c) I = 7.
The gradient theorem is thus satisfied.
 Figure 1.3.3 A surface element on a
piece of surface in 3D Cartesian
space.

Figure 1.3.4 A illustration of the Stoke’s theorem.

 2 2 0
I1   2 yzdy   0dy  0; I3   0dz  0.
0 0 2
0 2 0
I 2   2 yzdy   0dz   2 y (2  y )dy
I2 2 0 2
2
I3 2  y
3
 8
I    (4 y  2 y 2 )dy   2  2 y 2    .
0
 3 0 3

I1
2 z 2 8 8
I   {  2 ydy}dz    (4  4 z  z )dz  (8  8  )   .
2
0 0 3 3
Figure 1.3.5 Example 1.3.2 Test Stoke’s theorem for the function
V = ( xy, 2yz, 3zx ), using the triangular shaded area.

Solution: V  dl  xydx  2 yzdy  3xzdz. I1 + I2 + I3 = 0 - 8/3 + 0 = - 8/3.

  V  2 yxˆ  3zyˆ  xzˆ . (  V )  da  (  V )  dydzxˆ  2 ydydz.
I = - 8/3 = I1 + I2 + I3 . The Stoke’s theorem is thus satisfied.
 2 2 2 2
2 I1   dz  2 ydy  8; I 2   dz  0dy  0;
0 0 0 0
2 2 2 2
I3   4 zdz  dx  16; I 4   dz  0dx  0;
0 0 0 0
2 2 2 2
I I5   dy  6 xdx  24; I6   dy  0dx  0.
0 0 0 0

2
2 2 2 2
I   (  V )d   dz  dy  ( y  2 z  3 x)dx
0 0 0
2 2
  dz  (2 y  4 z  6)dy
0 0
2
  (8 z  16)dz  16  32  48.
0

Figure 1.3.6 Example 1.3.3 Test the divergence theorem for the function
V=(xy, 2yz, 3zx). Take as the volume the cube shown above, with sides of length 2.

Solution:   V  y  2 z  3 x. I1 +I2 +I3 +I4 + I5 + I6 = 8 +0 +16 +0 +24 +0 = 48.

I = 48. The divergence theorem is thus satisfied.
(a) (b)

Figure 1.4.1 (a) Illustration of the spherical coordinates ( r, ,  ). r is the

distance from the origin (the magnitude of the position vector r ),  (the angle
down from the z-axis) is called the polar angle, and  is the azimuthal angle.
(b) Infinitesimal displacements in three unit vector directions.
(a) (b)

da1  dl dl rˆ  r 2 sin  d d rˆ

da 2  dl dl θˆ  rdrd θˆ

Figure 1.4.2 (a) Geometry of spherical section with a general surface element
highlited. (b) Illustration of two specific surface elements in the spherical
coordinates da1 and da2.
 

Figure 1.4.3 Illustration of the cylindrical coordinates ( , , z ).  is the

distance to P from the z-axis,  is the azimuthal angle and z is the same as
Cartesian.
(a) (b)

0 ( x  x0  0),
 ( x  x0 )  {
 ( x  x0  0); 2
1  x  x0 
 
b 0 (a, b  x0 or  x0 ), g ( x  x0 ) 
1 2  


a  ( x  x ) dx  { e
0
1 (a  x0  b). 2


g ( x  x0 )dx  1

Figure 1.5.1 (a) Illustration of the Dirac delta function (x-x0). (b) Illustration of
the Gaussian function g(x-x0) for several Gaussian widths (). The Dirac delta
function can be seen as the  → 0 limiting case of the Gaussian function.