This dipole magnetic field, a diagram from your textbook, with field lines indicated by teeny iron filings, is a central object in learning about the concepts of electromagnetic radiation.- A bar magnet has an S pole and an N pole, and the field lines sprout from the N. This field line configuration is known as "the dipole field."
- A pair of opposite charges, like a proton and an electron, would form identical electric field lines if the proton was above and electron below.
- Electromagnetic radiation is, in itself, a union of electric and magnetic fields, coupled together and propagating across spacetime at the speed of light, c = 3×108 m/sec.
- This is not accidental. Michael Faraday found in the 1830s that electric and magnetic fields were unified, one physical phenomenon. And that is why we call it the electromagnetic field.
Your next learning module, for the week of Nov. 22, is now up. It is about electromagnetism.
Posts
