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A theory of electromagnetism, known as classical electromagnetism, was developed by several physicists during the period between 1820 and 1873, when James Clerk Maxwell's treatise was published, which unified previous developments into a single theory, proposing that light was an electromagnetic wave propagating in the luminiferous ether. [26]
The theory provides a description of electromagnetic phenomena whenever the relevant length scales and field strengths are large enough that quantum mechanical effects are negligible. For small distances and low field strengths, such interactions are better described by quantum electrodynamics which is a quantum field theory .
The electromagnetic spectrum. Together, Maxwell's equations provide a single uniform theory of the electric and magnetic fields and Maxwell's work in creating this theory has been called "the second great unification in physics" after the first great unification of Newton's law of universal gravitation. [17]
The macroscopic 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 quantum theory was needed to explain effects even with visual light that Maxwell's classical theory could not (such as spectral lines). Quantum theory In 1900 Max Planck , attempting to explain black-body radiation , suggested that although light was a wave, these waves could gain or lose energy only in finite amounts related to their ...
In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is the set of waves of an electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and electromagnetic radiant energy. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Classically , electromagnetic radiation consists of electromagnetic waves , which are synchronized oscillations of electric and magnetic fields .
The electromagnetic theory of light adds to the old undulatory theory an enormous province of transcendent interest and importance; it demands of us not merely an explanation of all the phenomena of light and radiant heat by transverse vibrations of an elastic solid called ether, but also the inclusion of electric currents, of the permanent ...
Lorentz force on a charged particle (of charge q) in motion (velocity v), used as the definition of the E field and B field. Here subscripts e and m are used to differ between electric and magnetic charges. The definitions for monopoles are of theoretical interest, although real magnetic dipoles can be described using pole strengths.