Maxwell's equations
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For thermodynamic relations, see Maxwell relations. For the history of the equations,
see History of Maxwell's equations. For a general description of electromagnetism,
see Electromagnetism.
Part of a series of articles about
Electromagnetism
Electricity
Magnetism
Electrostatics[show]
Magnetostatics[show]
Electrodynamics [hide]
Lorentz force law
Electromagnetic induction
Faraday's law
Lenz's law
Displacement current
Magnetic vector potential
Maxwell's equations
Electromagnetic field
Electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic radiation
Maxwell tensor
Poynting vector
Liénard–Wiechert potential
Jefimenko's equations
Eddy current
London equations
Mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic field
Electrical network[show]
Covariant formulation[show]
Scientists[show]
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Maxwell's equations (mid-left) as featured on a monument in front of Warsaw University's Center of New
Technologies
Maxwell's equations are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together
with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism,
classical optics, and electric circuits. The equations provide a mathematical model for
electric, optical, and radio technologies, such as power generation, electric
motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar etc. They describe
how electric and magnetic fields are generated by charges, currents, and changes of
the fields.[note 1] The equations are named after the physicist and mathematician James
Clerk Maxwell, who, between 1861 and 1862, published an early form of the equations
that included the Lorentz force law. Maxwell first used the equations to propose that
light is an electromagnetic phenomenon.
An important consequence of Maxwell's equations is that they demonstrate how
fluctuating electric and magnetic fields propagate at a constant speed (c) in a vacuum.
Known as electromagnetic radiation, these waves may occur at various wavelengths to
produce a spectrum of light from radio waves to gamma rays.
The equations have two major variants. The microscopic Maxwell equations have
universal applicability but are unwieldy for common calculations. They relate the electric
and magnetic fields to total charge and total current, including the complicated charges
and currents in materials at the atomic scale. The "macroscopic" Maxwell equations
define two new auxiliary fields that describe the large-scale behaviour of matter without
having to consider atomic scale charges and quantum phenomena like spins. However,
their use requires experimentally determined parameters for a phenomenological
description of the electromagnetic response of materials.
The term "Maxwell's equations" is often also used for equivalent alternative
formulations. Versions of Maxwell's equations based on the electric and magnetic scalar
potentials are preferred for explicitly solving the equations as a boundary value
problem, analytical mechanics, or for use in quantum mechanics. The covariant
formulation (on spacetime rather than space and time separately) makes the
compatibility of Maxwell's equations with special relativity manifest. Maxwell's equations
in curved spacetime, commonly used in high energy and gravitational physics, are
compatible with general relativity.[note 2] In fact, Einstein developed special and general
relativity to accommodate the invariant speed of light, a consequence of Maxwell's
equations, with the principle that only relative movement has physical consequences.
The publication of the equations marked the unification of previously described
phenomena: magnetism, electricity, light and associated radiation. Since the mid-20th
century, it has been understood that Maxwell's equations are not exact, but
a classical limit of the fundamental theory of quantum electrodynamics.
