2/6/2015

Maxwell'sEquations

Maxwell'sEquations
This site aims to teach Maxwell's Equations in as simple and intuitive a manner as possible. This tutorial
shouldbeusefulforanyonewithaninterestinelectromagnetics.Don'tfearthemathI'llexplainthataswell,
whileavoidingunnecessaryrigorwhereverpossible.
IntroductiontoMaxwell'sEquations
Equation1:Gauss'Law
Equation2:Gauss'MagnetismLaw
Equation3:Faraday'sLaw
Equation4:Ampere'sLaw
Essay:Maxwell'sEquationsasaWhole
OtherFormsofMaxwell'sEquations
ClickonanyterminMaxwell'sEquationsfor
Explanation===>
Maxwell'sEquationsForum
ExternalLinks
RelatedEquationsContinuityEquationTheWaveEquation
MathTheCurlDivergencePartialDerivativeVectorFields
FieldSourcesElectricChargeDensity
PhysicalConstantsPermittivity

ElectricCurrentDensityJ

Permeability

Conductivity

This website is intended to be a source of knowledge for learning about and understanding Maxwell's
Equations.
ThiswebsitewillstrivetomakeMaxwell'sEquationsunderstandable,withoutunnecessarycomplexity.
The work on this website is copyrighted. No portion of this Maxwell's Equations website may be copied
withoutpermissionfromtheauthor.Copyright2012Maxwell'sEquations.com.VSWR.

IntroductiontoMaxwell'sEquations
Maxwell'sEquationsareasetof4complicatedequationsthatdescribetheworldofelectromagnetics.These
equations describe how electric and magnetic fields propagate, interact, and how they are influenced by
objects.
James Clerk Maxwell [18311879] was an Einstein/Newtonlevel genius who took a set of known
experimental laws (Faraday's Law, Ampere's Law) and unified them into a symmetric coherent set of
EquationsknownasMaxwell'sEquations.Maxwellwasoneofthefirsttodeterminethespeedofpropagation
ofelectromagnetic(EM)waveswasthesameasthespeedoflightandhencetoconcludethatEMwavesand
visiblelightwerereallythesamething.
Maxwell'sEquationsarecriticalinunderstandingAntennasandElectromagnetics.Theyareformidabletolook
at so complicated that most electrical engineers and physicists don't even really know what they mean.
Shroudedincomplexmath(whichislikelyso"intellectual"peoplecanfeelsuperiorindiscussingthem),true
understandingoftheseequationsishardtocomeby.
This leads to the reason for this website an intuitive tutorial of Maxwell's Equations. I will avoid if at all
possiblethemathematicaldifficultiesthatarise,andinsteaddescribewhattheequationsmean.Anddon't be
afraidthemathissocomplicatedthatthosewhodounderstandcomplexvectorcalculusstillcannotapply
Maxwell'sEquationsinanythingbutthesimplestscenarios.Forthisreason,intuitiveknowledgeofMaxwell's
Equations is far superior than mathematical manipulationbased knowledge. To understand the world, you
must understand what equations mean, and not just know mathematical constructs. I believe the accepted
methodsofteachingelectromagneticsandMaxwell'sEquationsdonotproduceunderstanding.Andwiththat,
let'ssaysomethingabouttheseequations.
Maxwell's Equations are laws just like the law of gravity. These equations are rules the universe uses to
governthebehaviorofelectricandmagneticfields.Aflowofelectriccurrentwillproduceamagneticfield.If
thecurrentflowvarieswithtime(asinanywaveorperiodicsignal),themagneticfieldwillalsogiverisetoan
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2/6/2015

Maxwell'sEquations

electricfield.Maxwell'sEquationsshowsthatseparatedcharge(positiveandnegative)givesrisetoanelectric
fieldandifthisisvaryingintimeaswellwillgiverisetoapropagatingelectricfield,furthergivingrisetoa
propgatingmagneticfield.
TounderstandMaxwell'sEquationsatamoreintuitivelevelthanmostPh.DsinEngineeringorPhysics,click
throughthelinksanddefinitionsabove.You'llfindthatthecomplicatedmathmasksaninnerelegancetothese
equationsandyou'lllearnhowtheuniverseoperatestheElectromagneticMachine.

HereisatutorialvideoexplainingMaxwell'sEquationsintuitively:

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