Electromagnetism

Electromagnetism is the study of electric and magnetic fields and their interactions with matter.

a. Electrostatics

• The study of electric charges at rest.
• Coulomb’s Law: Describes the force between two charged objects.

b. Electric Fields and Potentials

• Electric Field: The force per unit charge experienced by a small test charge.
• Electric Potential: The work needed to move a unit charge from a reference point to a specific point in space.

c. Magnetism

• Describes the behavior of magnetic fields and their interaction with moving charges.
• Biot-Savart Law and Ampère’s Law: Fundamental laws describing the magnetic field generated by moving charges and currents.

d. Maxwell’s Equations

The set of four equations that describe how electric and magnetic fields interact. These equations are central to classical electromagnetism and include:

• Gauss’s Law (for electricity)
• Gauss’s Law (for magnetism)
• Faraday’s Law (of induction)
• Ampère’s Law (with Maxwell’s correction)

e. Electromagnetic Waves

• Light is an electromagnetic wave, and its speed in a vacuum is constant (denoted as ccc).
• Electromagnetic waves travel through space, carrying energy and momentum.