1 research outputs found

    Maxwell's equations revisited -- mental imagery and mathematical symbols

    Get PDF
    Using Maxwell's mental imagery of a tube of fluid motion of an imaginary fluid, we derive his equations curlE=Bt\operatorname{curl} \mathbf{E} = -\frac{\partial \mathbf{B}}{\partial t}, curlH=Dt+j\operatorname{curl} \mathbf{H} = \frac{\partial \mathbf{D}}{\partial t} + \mathbf{j}, divD=ϱ\operatorname{div} \mathbf{D} = \varrho, divB=0\operatorname{div} \mathbf{B} = 0, which together with the constituting relations D=ε0E\mathbf{D} = \varepsilon_0 \mathbf{E}, B=μ0H\mathbf{B} = \mu_0 \mathbf{H}, form what we call today Maxwell's equations. Main tools are the divergence, curl and gradient integration theorems and a version of Poincare's lemma formulated in vector calculus notation. Remarks on the history of the development of electrodynamic theory, quotations and references to original and secondary literature complement the paper
    corecore