Classical Electromagnetism

   Of the four forces of nature that have been harnessed by humans, there is little doubt that electromagnetism has had the greatest impact. It is the reason you're able to read is, the reason you can instantly communicate with your friends, the reason information is accessible instantly via internet, the reason for your lighting, the reason society has advanced so far and looks so different from 100 years ago. Humanity has mastered this force and the results of it, but how did it get started? Who first used it? Why is it caused? What is its future? This category, like the scientific revolution, will be split into several blog posts.

   As the name suggests, electricity and magnetism are different aspects of the same, intrinsically related thing. Early scientists and philosophers were familiar with magnetism when they observed materials like lodestone move certain metals. Electricity was first studied by the Greek scientist Thales when he observed how amber had certain electric qualities (in fact, the word electric comes from the Greek word for amber, elektron). In coming years, the two seemingly dissimilar forces were mostly shrouded in mystery until 1873 when James Clerk Maxwell wrote his famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. He showed mathematically that the interactions found between positive and negative charges (poles) were actually governed by the same  force, electromagnetism. Another physicist, Michael Faraday, a poor and relatively uneducated scientist, found the force lines we see when we place iron shavings near a magnet, now called a Faraday field or Faraday lines. These were both important steps for understanding the force and connecting the two ideas.

   Electromagnetism is essentially the interactions between electrically charged particles. Light is also an electromagnetic emission, as are radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light (color), ultraviolet light, X rays, and gamma rays. The particles of each one of these, the photon, is a massless particle that travels 186,000 miles per second (300,000 kilometers per second) making it the fastest thing in the universe. The relation between electrons and their respective nuclei is explained in electromagnetism as well. And we are all familiar with the story of Benjamin Franklin discovering the relationship between lightning and electricity.

   Overall, we have barely begun to cover this extensive topic, but we will soon see much of the mystery that covers this dynamic and most useful of universal forces. I will probably return to this topic when I have elaborated on quantum mechanics so we can have a true understanding of what this force is. On a personal note, sorry guys for taking so long, moving has taken it all out of me and it has been difficult getting back into the rhythm of things, but I hope to be posting much soon, so keep checking in. Until then, salutations!