Chapter 1
Introductory concepts
1.1 Notation, conventions, and symbology
Any hook thit covers a broad range of topies will Hikely harbor some problems with
notation and symbology, ‘This results from having the same synabol used in different areas
Lo vepresent different quantities, aay! also front having too meany qliautities to represent
Rather than invent new symbols, we ehonse Lo stay close to the standards and wart the
The basic nature of a physical quantity is inieated bir typeface or by the nse of a
digeritieal mark, Senlars-are shossn in oninary typefuee: q.'B, for example. Vectors
fe show in babeiface’ ETL Dyacice are showat inv boklfare with at verbars @.A
Frequency dipenulent antities ate indicated by a tilde, wheras time dependent quart
lites are written without additional indications this we write Bar ¢9) and Bart. (Som
‘quantities, sich as impelance, are use in th frequency uma, to interraate Fourie
spectra: althongh these qpiautities are frqpiency dependent they are seldom ssritten i
the time donin, and hence we lo not attach tides to their aytnbots,) Wo after eontin
dincrtical marks: for example, & denotes w frequeney domain dyadic, We distinguish
the frequency vaciable of clue Fousier speetruns, while fis used to indieate the enstant
frequeney of a time harmonic sigaal. We this further separate the notion of a phasor
Field from a frequeney deraain field by using a eheck to indicate « phasor field: Bq.
However, there is often a simple relationship between the two, sueh as B= Bea)
We designate the fied aud sontee point position vectors by anc, respectively, aud
the corresponding relative displacement or distance sector by Re
Rer—r
A hat designates a veetor as a unit sector (eg, 8}. The sets of ecurdinate variables itv
rectangular, eylindrieal, and spherieal enordinates are denoted bn
respeetively. (In the spherieal systens gis the azitnat al anude stad # is the potas ns
We freely nse the “del” operator notation V for etudient, eurl, divergenee, Laphician
ati so on
The SI (MKS) system of nnits is employed thronghout the book1.2. The field concept of electromagnetics
atments of eleettor
Introdnetory ty nieties often stress the role of the field in foree
Iransnuission® the ineliviehial fiels E agul Boave defiyed vie the 1
sinall test ela
This is certainly acceptable, bt does not tell the whole story. We
night, for example, be lelt with the impression that the EM field always arises: fronu
interaction between ebiargend abjeets, Often eoupleed with this is Ue tation at the
Field concept is meant merely as an ail to the calenlation of farce, a kinel af notational
convenience hot placed on the same plisical footing as foree iiselt, In fact, felis are
hore than usefiil — they are fimdamental, Before discussing electroumenetie fields in
fe detail, lot us attempt to sain a better perspective on the field concept ard its role
in modern physieal shears. Pields play a ccutral role in atty attempt to deseribe physical
reality. ‘They are ae cval as the physical substances we ascribe 10 everday experience,
Inv the words of insteine {ts
ratter aud field 9 eluarse aan il
We nnst therefore pnt fields and particles of nutter on the same feoting: both earry
enerwy and qnomentiunt, and both intemet with the observable world
1.2.1 Historical perspective
Barly ninetocntis century physical the
concept, lormulated by Newton more ttn 10 sears earlier in his immensely successful
dominated by the action at « distance
theory of gravitation, In this view the inthienee of individnal bodies extends acrass spaes
nstantaneonsly alfeets other bodies, aud renwins completely unaffected by the presene
‘ofan intervening medintn, Shel an idew Was revolutionary; until then aetian hy contact it
which objrets sre thought to alfvet eel other Uaronsh physical contact or by contact witht
the intervenuinys median, seemed Uae obvians aud only meas for tieehanieal iatersetion,
Priestly’s experiments in IT6G and Coulomb's torsion-bar experiments in L785 seemed to
indiewte that the foree between Oxo electrically ehurged objects beluwes in striet analy
with gravitation: both forces obey inverse square laws aud set alan a line joining th
objets, Oersted. Ainpere, Biot, anil Savart soon shoved that the manetie force ot
nents af current earrving wires also obeys an inverse square kiw
The experiinenis of Faraday in the 1830s placed dolst on whether action nt a distane
ia. Wher wnat
really describes eleettie aul tagnetie phettan ial (suel us a diclee
Irie) is placed between two charwed objects, the force of interaction decrenses: Hs, the
intervening medinns does play a role in conveying the force from one object to the other
To explain this, Faraclay visualized “lines af foree” extending fram one ehatsed object to
aniother, ‘The manner in which theso fines were Hhonubt to iaiteraet with materials they
intercepted alon
Fuvir path was erncial in understandings Uhe forces on the abjeets, This
rise held for inagnetie effeets, OF particular importance wes the rmumber of Fines prassines
3. ashiely was thaweht te determine the ataplitinde of the
effect observed in Faraday’s experiments on electromagnetic induction
Uhrongh a certain area (the
Furaday’s ideas presented « new workd view: eleetronagietie phenomena ocenr it the
region surround
the “fiel” of his lines of fares, a\asalagies were anade to Ue stresses saul stuns ih material
« eliarged bodies, and ean be described in ternis of the kaws governs
objets, and it appeared that Faraday’ foree lines ereatecd equitalent eleetronnsnetiestresses ane strains in media surrounding chacwed objects His law of induction was:
formulated not itn terms of px
Luspired by Farachay’s ideas, Ganss restated Conlorib’s law it terms of flux fines, and
Maxwell extended the ides to tithe changin fields Hhrosh his concept of isplaceten
current
mitiones of bodies, but in terms of [ines of masnetie forec
Ii the 18605 Maxwell created what Einstein ealled te mest important invention
since Newton's time” — a set of eqhations deseribing an entirely fiekdbased theory af
clectranaunetisn, ‘These equations do not anode the forces aeting between bodies, der
Nevton’s lav af gravitation md Conlonab's Inve, Init rather describe only the dynatnie
Linw-evolviny structure af the electromagnetic field. ‘Thus bodies are not seen te inter
et with each other, but rather with the (very real) electronmznetic field they ereate
an interaction deserthed hy a snpplementary equation (the Latent: fares Ine). Ta be
ter understand the itseraetions hi terms of mechanical cmeepts, Maxwell alse assisned
properties of stress and enerey be the fie
constructs that we now eal the electric mut magnetic fields ancl potentials
Maswell synthesized all known eloctromasnetie lives tel pe
sited then as a syste of
differential andl algebraic equations. By the end of tlw tineteenth century, Hertz. tnd
devised equations involving only the eleetrie and tie fields, and hed lerived the
Jars of cirenit theory (Ohm's law and Kircholl’s laws) from the field expressions, His
experiments with bish-fequeney fields verified Maswell’s predictions af the existence af
clectromaunelie waves propasitiny at finite velneity, and helped solidify the link between
pties. Bnt one problem reniained: if the electromaznetie fields
electron
propagated by atre
waenn’? A substance called the huminiferons a
ne through a
strains on a meditin, how conkl they propa
her, long thanelt ta support Che bran
verse waves of fut, was put ta the task of earryins the vibrations af the eleetromasietie
Fold as well, However, the pivotal experiments of Michelson and Morely showed that the
faether was fletitions, and the phsien! existence of the field wns Hirmnly established
The essener af the fold concept can be conveyed throngh a «iuple thonsht experiment
Consider two stationary charged particles in free «pare, Since the charyes are stationary
we kno that (1) another force is present to halanee the Conlomty force between the
charges, and (2) the momentune nnd Kinetie enerey’ of the systemt ate gene, Now supp
fone charge is qnickly moved and returned ta pest ab is 0
nal position. Action at a
distance would require the second charge to react immediately {Newton's third a)
nc by Hottz's experiments Th does not. There appears ta be aw change iy enensy of
nal positions. However, after
time (given hy the distance herseen the charges divided by the speed of bht) we find
that the second eharse does experience a change in eleetrieal foree and besins to move
way from its state of equilibriunt, But by doi ned et kinetic ene
dari momentinn, said the eneray ane snomentim ef Git system seen farser than at the
start. ‘This can only be reconetled through field theory. If we regard the field as a
physieal entity, then the nonzero work required jhitiate the mation of the fst eharse
dru coturh € 10 its initial