Skip to main content
\(\require{cancel}\)
Physics LibreTexts

15.4: Maxwell's Second Equation

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    6214

    • Unlike the electrostatic field, magnetic fields have no sources or sinks, and the magnetic lines of force are closed curves. Consequently the surface integral of the magnetic field over a closed surface is zero, and therefore

    \[ \text{div} \, \textbf{B} = 0 \tag{15.4.1} \label{15.4.1}\]

    or, in the nabla notation

    \[ \boldsymbol{\nabla} \cdot \textbf{B} = 0 \tag{15.4.2} \label{15.4.2}\]

    This is the second of Maxwell's equations.