Electrodynamics

The force responsible for driving a current around a circuit comes from a number of physical sources - temperature gradients in a thermocouple, chemical eects in batteries etc - but the net eect is described by the line integral of the force per unit charge around the circuit, or the electromotive force or e.m.f = f dl (1)

This can be interpreted as the work done per unit charge by the source in maintaining the current. An important example of e.m.f is motional e.m.f. When a wire is moved through a region of magnetic eld, a potential dierence can develop between the ends of the wire, which can drive a current if the wire is connected to an external circuit. This is an example of a generator. For motional e.m.fs = dB dt (2)

where B is the magnetic ux : B = B da. In this case, B is the magnetic eld and the area is the area of the loop that is changing within the eld. Faraday performed three experiments which gave the same results He pulled a loop through a magnetic eld and measured the e.m.f He moved the magnet instead of the loop and measured the same e.m.f He changed the magnitude of the magnetic eld and measured the same e.m.f The e.m.f from the rst experiment came from magnetic forces since charges in the loop are moving, but the e.m.f from the second two experiments must come from electrical forces as no charges are moving. To account for this Faraday suggested that A changing magnetic eld induces an electric eld and formalised Faradays Law = or E dl = B da t (4) E dl = dB dt (3)

Using Stokes Theorem this may be written in dierential form as Faradays Law E= B t (5)

The electric eld in Faradays Law forms closed loops and is not an electrostatic eld. It only exists whilst the magnetic ux is changing. 1

 The minus sign in Faradays Law is a reection of Lenzs Law : The current induced in a circuit by in induced electric eld ows in a direction such that the magnetic eld it generates tends to cancel the change in ux that is causing it - or Nature hates a change in ux. Lenzs Law is an expression of energy conservation.

Maxwells Equations
Charge conservation is described by the continuity equation (6) t which states that if the charge density in a region changes with time, then it must be owing out of the region as a current. J = With Faradays Law, Maxwells Equations look like E= B=0 0 B B = 0 J E= t

(7) (8)

Amperes Law ( B = 0 J) does not agree with the equation of continuity so Maxwell changed it by adding the displacement current density term E t With this addition, Amperes Law in dierential form looks like JD = 0 B = 0 J + 0 0 In integral form Amperes Law now looks like B dl = 0 Ienc + 0 0 E t da (11) E t (9)

(10)

This implies that a changing electric eld induces a magnetic eld. Maxwells Equations are therefore B=0 E = 0 B E= B = 0 J + 0 0 E t t

(12) (13)

In matter Maxwells Equations can be rewritten by slicing up the charge density into free and bound charge densities, and by slicing up the current in free, bound and polarisation current densities : = f ree + bound = f ree + P J = Jfree + Jbound + JP = Jfree + M + JP where P and M are the electric polarisation and magnetisation respectively. 2 (14) (15)

 The polarisation current density describes the linear motion of charge when the electric polarisation changes. It has nothing to do with the magnetisation bound currents. It is given by P (16) JP = t where P is the electric polarisation. In matter Maxwells Equations can be written in terms of the electric displacement, D, the H eld D = f ree B=0 B E= H = Jfree + t (17)
D t

(18)