History of Electricity and Magnetism

Abstract

The history of Electric and Magnetic phenomena is complex; its origin goes back to Greek Antiquity, and over the years many philosophers and scientists have formulated their opinions about it.¹ Yet it would take a very long time before our contemporary view would become commonly accepted. For us today electromagnetic waves are waves of electric and magnetic forces. To define this notion more carefully, one could begin by stating that the universe consists of numerous small particles; among them some are charged positively and some negatively. The particles with the same charge repel each other, those of opposite charge attract each other. Moving particles are surrounded by electric and magnetic fields. If a particle with a charge is surrounded by other charged particles, it will be acted upon by a force by virtue of its electrification. The part of the total force which depends only on the charge of the particle and not on its velocity, is called the electrical force. The remaining part which depends on the velocity of the particle as well as its charge, is called the magnetic force. The ratio of the electric force to the charge of the particle is the electric intensity or the electric field strength at the point occupied by the particle. The ratio of the magnetic force to the product of the velocity of the particle and the charge is the measure of magnetic induction at the point occupied by the particle. To detect the existence of an electric and magnetic force and, thus of electric and magnetic waves, a supply of electric particles is needed as well as a means of detecting their motion in response to electric and magnetic forces.