Classical Electrodynamics Div and Curl

Contents
3 Realms of Mechanics 1

4 Forces and their unification 2

4.1 Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4.2 Unified framework for the fundamental forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

5 Field formulation 4
5.1 What and why of fields approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5.2 Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

6 Electromagnetics - the jingle spreads in space and time 6

6.1 Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

7 Need for mathematical primer 7

8 Conclusions 8

9 Exercises for the interested reader 9

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Classical Electrodynamics Div and Curl

List of Figures
1 The four realms of mechanics [1] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

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3 Realms of Mechanics
As we grow up we realise that nothing is static in the world around us, in the true sense
of the word static. It changes. It is dynamic. More interestingly it changes with time and
changes with space. If something is changing and dynamic, then there must be something
else that causes this dynamics. Whatever is apparently static may be a time-frozen view
of a dynamic happening, like our past or old photographs!
It might be simple to correlate dynamics of bodies, large and small, with forces acting
on them. The subject which correlates forces with motion or with dynamics is called
Mechanics.
Generally speaking, Electrodynamics falls under the realms of Mechanics [1]. An
author, David Griffiths, has nicely represented this fact in his book [1]. It is vividly
explained there that if, as in Fig.1 below, we broadly think of distances and speeds as
large and small then there are four broad realms of mechanics with no specific thin line
of demarcation. The same is repeated, at length, below (but not verbatim) for the sake
of relevance. It may be noted that, unlike the conceptual diagram in [1], the 4-quadrant
representation here allows for considering displacements (distance with direction) and
velocities (speed with direction) to be of any ”sign”.

Figure 1: The four realms of mechanics [1]

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Classical Electrodynamics Div and Curl

The next small benefit that it may lead us to is that we can tend to think of dis-
placements as a symbol x and velocities as ẋ. The next small step may be to recall that
forces are dimensionally proportional to ẍ. The issue gets more and more interesting in a
simple way. In case that does not seem to be significant, at least it may provide us with
a tool to remember the contents of the figure!
The length scales of the objects and events that we come across in our daily lives can
be taken as large with respect to (w.r.t) atomic distance scales and their speeds can be
duly taken as small with w.r.t the speed of light. Thus Classical Mechanics (CM) that
evolved due to the combined painstaking and era-defining work by stalwarts like Galileo,
Newton and others occupy the light coloured side zones in Fig.1. At these distance scales
but at much higher speeds a path-breaking modification in the area of mechanics was
introduced by the great Einstein and later on by some others too. It is called Relativistic
Mechanics (RM) and occupies the pink-coloured corner regions in the above figure.
At atomic and sub-atomic length scales but at very large speeds (as in the the par-
ticle physics experiments e.g, the Higgs Boson experiment, at the LHC, CERN, Geneva,
Switzerland) an area of mechanics called Quantum Field Theory (QFT) got developed
due to breakthrough work by people like Paul Dirac, Enrico Fermi, Julian Schwinger
and Richard Feynman. Finally at atomic and sub-atomic length scales and at speeds
which are less ther is another well known branch of study called the Quantum mechanics
(QM) developed by stalwarts like Erwin Schrȯdinger, Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr and
others.
It is a fascinating fact that Electrodynamics (electromagnetics) is the only area of
study that is the most completely understood till date and nicely fits into all the above
areas and approaches of study.

4 Forces and their unification

4.1 Forces
We have already discussed that forces cause dynamics (statics may be considered as a
special case of dynamics). The reader may be aware that though there are so many
forces like collision between bodies, friction, pushing, pulling, chemical forces and what
not, all the forces can be finally classified under four basic types as below. It is listed in
decreasing magnitude of strength[1].

1. Strong

2. Electromagnetic

3. Weak

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4. Gravitational

As Griffiths puts it ”the brevity of this list” is surprising, to say the list[1]! But frankly
speaking stalwarts have proved that it is so. It includes all forces that we consciously
come across in our daily lives and all the rest that arise in the micro-nano-pico-femto-atto
scales or the astronomical parsec-light year scales of which humans are not even aware
on a daily basis. Such is the versatility of the list.
It has been found by scientists that the strongest of them all is the strong force/inter-
actions. ”In nuclear physics and particle physics, the strong interaction is the mechanism
responsible for the strong nuclear force....” [14]. However it operates over extremely short
ranges that is within the atomic nucleus. But, ”at the range of 1015 m (1 femtometer),
the strong force is approximately 137 times as strong as electromagnetism, a million times
as strong as the weak interaction, and 1038 times as strong as gravitation” [14, 15]. The
above sentence represents the relative strengths of the forces in the list most compactly.
Electromagnetism comes next in the strength list and is also the most versatile, om-
nipotent and omnipresent. The ”weak force or weak nuclear force, is the mechanism of
interaction between subatomic particles that is responsible for the radioactive decay of
atoms. The weak interaction participates in nuclear fission, and the theory describing it
in terms of both its behaviour and effects is sometimes called quantum flavourdynamics
(QFD)”[16]. Though sufficiently weak, it is still stronger than gravity but operates on
atomic scales only.
It is known that gravity shows up meaningfully only for very massive bodies like stars,
planets, their satellites etc. It is responsible for our ebb and flow tides in the oceans and
seas apart from providing us with this planet!
The next issue worth consideration is then, where are the varied forces, that we come
across everyday, hiding in the above list? Let us take the case of issues like friction,
aerodynamic friction or drag force of air, drag of flowing water etc. Feynman et al
([?], Vol.I, Chapter 12) have very nicely clarified their predominantly electromagnetic
origin. Very interestingly, the distances between particles decide how many of the above
fundamental forces show up and in what combination! the final result may be very
complicated unless we try to segregate which force (and a combination of them) take
over at what stage/condition and separation of the particles.To say the least it is mind
boggling initially, and in some cases finally even. Similarly the cases of collision , both
elastic and inelastic, ourselves not falling through the floors, buoyant forces has been duly
ascribed to the 4 fundamental forces in the above list. Even more interestingly, most of
our experienced forces in daily life are electromagnetic in origin, however difficult for us
that may be to accept[1]!

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4.2 Unified framework for the fundamental forces

Two hundred or less years back, even, the science of electricity and magnetism were
looked upon as separate areas of study. Exactly two hundred years back from now, in
1820, Oersted’s work raised the first suspicion that the two might be connected. The work
of Michael Faraday, the recognised unparalleled experimentalist of all times, thereafter
established the suspicion as a conviction - that electricity and magnetism are interlinked
aspects of the same phenomenon of nature. In the 1860s James Clerk Maxwell, another
timeless genius, established mathematically the two are connected and people started
talking of electro-magnetism.
Soon, due to Maxwell’s work getting followed up by Hertz’s experiments, even optics -
with its entire and huge band of infra,visible light, X-ray, UV and other radiations - joined
the team as a member of electromagnetics. Work by Feynman and others showed that
electromagnetics was perhaps the most omnipresent of Nature’s forces affecting many
more areas and getting connected invisibly to many apparently unconnected phenomena.
Hence, electrodynamics was coined as a more general name.
The level of unification of phenomena electro-magnetism or electro-dynamics
caused among phenomena, previously thought as dis-connected, encouraged scientists
to attempt further. Einstein led the way with his Grand Unified Theory (GUT) by
formally attempting to bring all the fundamental forces into a possible unified framework.
A little more than a decade after Einstein’s death in 1955, 3 scientists showed that weak
forces could be brought into the band-wagon of electromagnetism. The electro-weak
theory formally got recognised. In the late 1970s the Super-string theory was put in
place by scientists and, till date, is among the closest contenders towards a GUT.

5 Field formulation
5.1 What and why of fields approach
Let us take a concrete example of some force laws like either the Coulomb’s law or the law
of gravitation, say. If we consider 4 and segregate the term q2 , we appreciate that even in
absence of a specific q2 or q3 or whatever, the rest of the force law remains undisturbed.
Not only that, it describes a configuration of charges (considering q1 to be the resultant of
a collection of charges, some negative , some positive or the like). Now any ”test” charge
brought to a given position will experience a force depending on its charge-strength and
location. No charge can escape the effect of the other term which was already there. This
may be viewed as the ”new” charge feeling the effects of the field created by the existing
resultant charge configuration. The ”new test” charges that enter only learn about the
fact that somewhere there was already some effects of some charge configuration existing
a priori.

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The other aspect is called the action at a distance. It is like this. The test charge need
not collide with another charge to be pushed (repelled)” or pulled (attracted) by another
charge or set of charges in whose field of effect it entered. It feels the effect without any
physical contact.
(Interestingly, the literal fields, the green fields of nature or our play-fields have the
above two aspects associated them. One can additionally relate static and dynamic
components of the literal field when an observer observes in and around the field or when
one uses the field for playing a game or whatever. We might think deeper to associate
the analogies as a key to realisation of the technical meaning!)
The above two aspects are what characterise a field formulation. That defines the
what part of ”fields”. The why part is more associated with the inherent complication
of trying to delve deeper into the mechanisms that really cause electromagnetic forces
to work in presence of (i)different electric and magnetic component parts and (ii) micro-
level complications associated within the electric part or magnetic parts separately if one
starts considering each charge’s effect on each other charge and vice versa. It is indeed a
fortunate happening that the law of superposition works for most force and field variables,
as far as the fundamental forces are concerned, and allows us to take a segregated view
of the components. Field formulation thus allows us to view each aspect of the overall
field in a segregated way and to finally superpose the effects.
As Feynman clarifies ([11], Vol-I, Chap 12) ”In analysing forces by the use of fields, we
need two kinds of laws....The first is the response to a field, and that gives the equation of
a motion. ....The second part ...... is to formulate the laws which determine the strength
of the field and how it is produced. These laws are sometimes called the field equations.”

5.2 Dynamics
It is understood that in this world of physical existence forces lead to dynamics of bodies
and happenings in space and time. This can be appreciated from simple notions too.
If we accept that a particular variable is a function of space (representing space in one
dimension alone for the sake of simplicity, without loss of generality, w.o.l.o.g) and time
and write,
f = f (x, t), (1)

then it at once follows from the methods of partial derivatives that

∂f ∂f
df = dx + dt (2)
∂x ∂t
df ∂f dx ∂f
= + (3)
dt ∂x dt ∂t

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The above well known mathematical relations lead us to a striking understanding. The
dynamics, by which we usually refer to change with respect to time, has two inseparable
parts for a function of two variables (here space and time, f (x, t)). The first term on the
RHS of (3) above deals with space derivative and rate of change of space co-ordinates
with respect to time for the variable f . On the other hand the second term deals with
the time derivative alone. Each complete term has the same units as the other term and
hence refer to the same quantity! All these above facts have very deep implications and
may be addressed time and again, at least when one deals with Faraday’s Law and emf
generation in electrical apparatus.
The point that is to be made here is that the feature dynamics changes the character
of physical events at which we look. It has two aspects, one w.r.t. space and the other
w.r.t. time! Again, when we consider space there may be infinite direction along which
we may move. However we know that in a 3-D space it is sufficient to consider 3 (linearly
independent) coordinate directions (usually x, y and z in the Cartesian system). However
when we talk of space derivatives in a 3-D space we have to consider 3 directional space
derivatives. We shall deal with these later on as the course progresses.

6 Electromagnetics - the jingle spreads in space and

time
We shall see in course of our studies that the entire area of electromagnetics arises from
a source charge, another charge and a movement of at least one of the charges. In fact a
disturbed charge, in presence of another charge, is enough to create all the electromagnetic
disturbances in this otherwise steady Cosmos!
That is what scientists like Faraday, Maxwell and others have led us to believe. An
electrostatic force arises not for one charge (source charge) but when a second (test!)
charge is there (Coulomb force). However, a single charge still has its own electric field
~ which can be detected only by a second charge). From high school physics it is known
(E
to be,
1 q1 q2
F~Coulomb = r̂ (4)
4π0 r2
If the above force causes an attraction or repulsion between the charges, so as to move
either one or both of them (electrons etc. have negligible masses!) we have an electric
current, from the motion of charge(s). A current, through another basic law (Biot-Savart’s
~ Now the ringing, the
law, we studied in high school), gives rise to a magnetic field (B).
jingle, of a cumulative mutually affecting set of activities start to take place. From our
knowledge of freshmen physics course we know about the Maxwell’s equations which

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are as follows:

~ ρ
∇.E = (5)
0
~
∂B
~
∇×E = − (6)
∂t
~
∇.B = 0 (7)

∂ ~
E
~
∇×B = µ0 ~J + 0 (8)
∂t

In this course we are supposed to revisit these equations at sufficient length. Hence, a
deep understanding of the above equations is not presently sought or expected. However
if we understand that ∇ operator stands for space derivatives, that is enough at this
stage. Then, we can appreciate that the motion of one or more charge(s) (following 5
above) set up and cause space variation of E ~ which sets up a current (~J) which sets up
~
a magnetic field (B).
As the magnetic field changes in time from zero (as per (8), above) it causes a further
space variation in E~ (as per (6) above). It must be noted that all along from (7), that
a bipolar magnetic field configuration is maintained. Next, the time changing E ~ causes
~ (following (8) above).
(space) variation in B
The space variation builds up of course over time and this again invokes a changing E~
..... and thus the disturbance continues to spread in space and extends in time in the form
of a wave - a space-time wave disturbance. This sets up the well known electromagnetic
radiations which spread, not instantaneously, but at the speed of light. We shall realise
in this course that this does not require any intervening medium, unlike sound, and can
and does spread over vacuum. We are given to understand that it has done so ceaselessly
ever since space, time and charges were born out of a Big Bang or in whatever way!
Action at a distance is possible and happens throughout this Creation!

6.1 Charge
We have however realised that the concept of electric charge is very fundamental to all
the above happenings. The properties of charge, as learnt from elementary physics are
that (i) it comes in two polarities, (ii) it is quantised and (iii) it is locally and globally
conserved.

7 Need for mathematical primer

Going by the courses and curriculum listing, you supposedly know quite a few of the tools
that will be required for an analytical treatment of the issues involved in this course. Still
it has been seen that many a times we are not aware of the presence or use of already

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existing tools, since we might not have consciously used them. we might have only
possessed them unconsciously.
The same is the case for the mathematical tools that will be needed. Frankly speaking,
the phenomenon of electromagnetics would have existed in nature. However, it would
have only been felt. But its physics would not have been as well understood by mankind,
as it is today! The great inventions also might not have followed with the repetitive
success rate and engineering design of electromagnetic apparatus would not have taken
place. Scientific modelling of electromagnetic phenomena and mathematical predictions
would not also have been possible.
We shall briefly revisit those and learn the specific way(s) of using them for a math-
ematical approach towards electromagnetics. As we learn step by step, the students are
requested to forget the Maxwell’s equations till they get established in our minds
through derivations in this course. The reader(s) may only remember the phenomenon
as discussed above.

8 Conclusions
Electrodynamics affects, knowingly or unknowingly, innumerable aspects of our existence
and daily lives. However in this course we shall take a perspective view so as to get ready
for understanding its relevance in electrical engineering.
In this course we shall start by revisiting certain concepts of vectors and vector calcu-
lus. We shall follow up by defining some elementary concepts like Dirac delta, Helmholtz
theorem etc.
Thereafter we shall take up electrostatics, followed by magnetostatics, electrodynam-
ics, field stored energy concepts etc. Concepts of inductance and capacitance get the
right perspectives when viewed from fields notions. We shall look at energy conservation
from a different perspective.
We shall talk of permanent magnets(since present day permanent magnets are made
out of certain materials which are the most energy dense materials known to mankind
after petroleum, and are increasingly getting used in different electrical apparatus to
address energy issues facing mankind) and understand their use in electrical engineering.
Similarly we shall talk of simple objects like wires and cables when viewed from fields
stand point.
We shall then move on to basics of electromagnetic waves. We shall end with some
discussions on superconductivity.
A practical point needs to be made here. The area of electrodynamics being sufficiently
broad, in this basic course we shall restrict ourselves to cases where conduction currents
are of major interest. The wave phenomenon is of more importance in telecommunication
engineering courses.

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9 Exercises for the interested reader

1. Evaluate the ration between the electrostatic repulsion and gravitational attraction
between two electrons just touching each other. Realities of wave-particle duality
may be neglected. Hint: Assume the masses and charges to be concentrated at the
geometric centre of the electrons and take the distance between the centres as equal
to double the radius of electron. Use your high school basics.

2. Can you try to establish in more clear logical steps to explain how the ”electromag-
netic jungle spreads”.

References
[1] David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, 4th ed.,2017, Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, New Delhi, India, ISBN-13: 978-1108420419 & ISBN-10: 1108420419.

[2] John C. Slater and Nathaniel H. Frank, Electromagnetism, 2015, Dover Publica-
tions USA, ISBN-10: 0486622630 & ISBN-13: 978-0486622637.

[3] John David Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd Ed., 2007, Wiley, ISBN-10:
9788126510948 & ISBN-13: 978-8126510948.

[4] Matthew N.O. Sadiku, Principles of Electromagnetics, 4th ed.,Student Edition,

2009, Oxford Intnatl., ISBN-10: 019806229X & ISBN-13: 978-0198099154.

[5] Joseph A. Edminister, Outlines of Electromagnetics, 4th ed.,2013, Schaums Series,

McGraw-Hill Education, ISBN-10: 0071831479 & ISBN-13: 978-0071831475.

[6] John R. Reitz, Frederick J. Milford and Robert W. Christy, Foundations of Electro-
magnetic Theory, 4th ed.,2008, Addison-Wesley, ISBN-10: 0321581741 & ISBN-13:
978-0321581747.

[7] John D. Ryder, Networks, lines and Fields, 2nd ed.,2015, Pearson Education, India,
ISBN 10: 9789332559516 & ISBN-13: 978-9332559516.

[8] Robert M. Fano, Lan Jen Chu and Richard B. Adler, Electromagnetic Fields, En-
ergy, and Forces, 2020, MIT Press, ISBN: 9780262561709.

[9] Robert M. Fano, Lan Jen Chu and Richard B. Adler, Electromagnetic Energy Trans-
mission and Radiation, 2020, MIT Press, ISBN: 9780262511407.

[10] Jordan and Balmain, Electromagnetic Waves and Radiating Systems, 2nd ed.,1964,
Prentice Hall India, ISBN-10: 8120300548 & ISBN-13: 978-8120300545.

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Classical Electrodynamics Div and Curl

[11] Richard P. Feynmann, R.B. Leighton and M. Sands, The Feynmann Lectures on
Physics, The Millenium ed.,12013, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., ISBN-10:
& ISBN-13: .

[12] Erwin Kreyszig, Advanced Engg. mathematics, 5th ed.,1996, John Wiley & sons,
1983, New Age(India) Pvt. Ltd. reprint 1996, ISBN-81-224-0016-7.

[13] George Arfken, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 1st ed.,1966, Academic Press,
Library of Congress Catalog No. 65-27740.

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong interaction

[15] https://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-physics-basics/the-
known-forces-of-nature/the-strength-of-the-known-forces/

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak interaction

Prof. M. Sengupta, IIEST, Shibpur 10