16: Generation of Electromagnetic Fields
- Page ID
- 32841
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In this chapter we investigate how charge produces electric and magnetic fields. We first introduce Coulomb’s law, which is the basis for everything else in the section. We then discuss Gauss’s law for the electric and magnetic field, drawing on what we learned while using it on the gravitational field. Coulomb’s law and the theory of relativity together show that magnetic fields are generated by moving charge. We then use this fact to compute the magnetic fields from some simple charge distributions. We finish with a discussion of electromagnetic waves.