In the 1830s Michael Faraday's work established a relationship between electricity and magnetism however he did not have the mathematical skills to verify this mathematically.
Enter James Clerk Maxwell.
Maxwell set out to unify the electric and magnetism laws, and in doing so established the new theory of electromagnetism. This culminated in the understanding that light is a form of electromagnetic radiation travelling at a fixed speed.
This video looks at Maxwell's equations in a non mathematical way and how that led to a totally new understanding of the nature of light.
Enter James Clerk Maxwell.
Maxwell set out to unify the electric and magnetism laws, and in doing so established the new theory of electromagnetism. This culminated in the understanding that light is a form of electromagnetic radiation travelling at a fixed speed.
This video looks at Maxwell's equations in a non mathematical way and how that led to a totally new understanding of the nature of light.
Check your understanding
Interactive
The following interactive (by Tom Walsh) examine the nature of an electromagnetic wave
The following interactive (by Tom Walsh) examine the nature of an electromagnetic wave
Another interactive is the following from pHET
It demonstrates an important principle - the an accelerating charge will generate and electromagnetic wave. This wave in turn has the ability to accelerate electrons. This is the principle behind radio transmission and reception.
It is this principle that also had implications on the Rutherford model of the atom
It demonstrates an important principle - the an accelerating charge will generate and electromagnetic wave. This wave in turn has the ability to accelerate electrons. This is the principle behind radio transmission and reception.
It is this principle that also had implications on the Rutherford model of the atom
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Verification
Maxwell died prematurely in 1879, of stomach cancer. It was left to his then student, Heinrich Hertz, to perform an experiment which experimentally verified Maxwell's theory. By setting up a spark generator and a detector, he was able to demonstrate the existence of another form of EMR, namely radio waves. By determining the speed of the waves, he was able to show that the velocity was equal to that of the value Maxwell determined by his theory. The video examines this more closely. |
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