Electricity and Magnetism

Home > Chemistry > Matter and Energy > Electricity and Magnetism

The study of how electrical charges and magnetic fields interact with matter. This topic covers topics like electric circuits, electromagnetism, and the behavior of light and other electromagnetic waves.

Electric Charge: Electric charge is the fundamental property of matter that plays a significant role in most electrical phenomena. Electric charge can be positive or negative, and like charges repel while opposite charges attract.
Coulomb's Law: Coulomb's law is a basic law of electrostatics, which states that the force between two point charges is proportional to their magnitudes and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Electric Field: The electric field is the region around an electric charge where it exerts a force on other charges. It is a vector field that depends on the positions and charges of other charges in space.
Electric Potential: Electric potential is the energy required to move a unit charge from an infinite distance to a point in an electric field. It is a scalar quantity and is measured in volts.
Capacitance: Capacitance is the ability of a system to store an electric charge. It is a measure of the amount of electrical charge that can be stored on a capacitor per unit of voltage applied.
Electric Current: Electric current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor due to the movement of free electrons. It is measured in amperes.
Ohm's Law: Ohm's law is a basic law of electricity that relates the current flowing through a conductor to the voltage applied across it. It states that the current is directly proportional to the voltage and inversely proportional to the resistance.
Resistance: Resistance is a measure of a material's opposition to the flow of electric current. It is measured in ohms.
Electric Power: Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred or the rate at which electrical work is done. It is measured in watts.
Magnetic Fields: Magnetic fields are the regions of space around magnets, electric currents, and changing electric fields where a force is exerted on magnetic materials.
Ampere's Law: Ampere's law is a fundamental law of electromagnetism that relates magnetic fields to the currents that produce them. It states that the magnetic field around a current-carrying wire is proportional to the current and the distance from the wire.
Faraday's Law: Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction predicts the amount of electromotive force (EMF) that is induced in a closed loop of wire by a changing magnetic field.
Inductance: Inductance is the property of a circuit that opposes any change in the electric current flowing through it. It is measured in henrys.
Transformers: Transformers are electric devices used to convert high-voltage electric power to low-voltage power or vice versa, enabling efficient power transmission over long distances.
Electromagnetic Waves: Electromagnetic waves are waves that carry energy through the electrical and magnetic fields, such as radio waves, microwaves, and light waves.
Electric Charge: :.
Electric Current: :.
Electric Field: :.
Electric Potential: :.
Electromagnetic Force: :.
Magnetic Field: :.
Magnetic Flux: :.
Magnetic Moment: :.
Inductance: :.
Resistance: :.
Capacitance: :.
Electromagnetic Radiation: :.
"In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields."
"The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature."
"Electromagnetic forces occur between any two charged particles, causing an attraction between particles with opposite charges and repulsion between particles with the same charge."
"Electromagnetism can be thought of as a combination of electrostatics and magnetism, two distinct but closely intertwined phenomena."
"These two effects combine to create electromagnetic fields in the vicinity of charged particles, which can accelerate other charged particles via the Lorentz force."
"The electromagnetic force is responsible for many of the chemical and physical phenomena observed in daily life."
"Electric forces also allow different atoms to combine into molecules, including the macromolecules such as proteins that form the basis of life."
"Magnetic interactions between the spin and angular momentum magnetic moments of electrons also play a role in chemical reactivity; such relationships are studied in spin chemistry."
"Electromagnetism also plays a crucial role in modern technology: electrical energy production, transformation and distribution; light, heat, and sound production and detection; fiber optic and wireless communication; sensors; computation; electrolysis; electroplating; and mechanical motors and actuators."
"Electromagnetism has been studied since ancient times."
"Many ancient civilizations, including the Greeks and the Mayans, created wide-ranging theories to explain lightning, static electricity, and the attraction between magnetized pieces of iron ore."
"It wasn't until the late 18th century that scientists began to develop a mathematical basis for understanding the nature of electromagnetic interactions."
"In the 18th and 19th centuries, prominent scientists and mathematicians such as Coulomb, Gauss, and Faraday developed namesake laws which helped to explain the formation and interaction of electromagnetic fields."
"This process culminated in the 1860s with the discovery of Maxwell's equations, a set of four partial differential equations which provide a complete description of classical electromagnetic fields."
"Maxwell's equations also predicted the existence of self-sustaining electromagnetic waves. Maxwell postulated that such waves make up visible light, which was later shown to be true."
"In the modern era, scientists have continued to refine the theorem of electromagnetism to take into account the effects of modern physics, including quantum mechanics and relativity."
"The theoretical implications of electromagnetism, particularly the establishment of the speed of light based on properties of the 'medium' of propagation (permeability and permittivity), helped inspire Einstein's theory of special relativity in 1905."
"The field of quantum electrodynamics (QED) has modified Maxwell's equations to be consistent with the quantized nature of matter."
"In QED, the electromagnetic field is expressed in terms of discrete particles known as photons, which are also the physical quanta of light."
"Today, there exist many problems in electromagnetism that remain unsolved, such as the existence of magnetic monopoles and the mechanism by which some organisms can sense electric and magnetic fields."