Promenade Along Electrodynamics

by Junichiro Fukai

A superhighway connects the elementary laws of electric and magnetic interactions to Maxwell’s laws of electrodynamics. Physicists usually take this fast track in their education. But there are also interesting byways, while not as rapid, where one encounters many interesting and beautiful views that are not accessible from the main route. In particular, there are views of the superhighway’s bridges that span some conceptual gaps. For example, what formula correctly describes the immeasurable force between moving charges? How does one reconcile the contradiction between the Biot-Savart/Lorentz force and Newton’s third law? Why did Maxwell praise Ampere’s work but ignore his force law? What must be added to Wilhelm Weber’s incomplete theory of 1848 so that it can predict electromagnetic radiation? Fukai’s Promenade guides us through this unfamiliar but intriguing terrain.

126 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2003