Electromagnetism

Browse Electromagnetic radiation news, research and analysis from The Conversation.

Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field, encompassing all of space, which exerts a force on those particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of such particles.

Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that includes radio waves, microwaves, X-rays and gamma rays, as well as visible light.

GCSE Physics Electromagnetism and magnetism learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

Move on to a loop of current carrying wire. Note how coiling the wire up produces a region of diverging field lines on one side (a north seeking magnetic pole) and a region of converging magnetic field lines on the other side. Introducing the solenoid.

The discovery of the relationship between magnetism and electricity was, like so many other scientific discoveries, stumbled upon almost by accident. The Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted was lecturing one day in 1820 on the possibility of electricity and magnetism being related to one another, and in the process demonstrated it conclusively by experiment in front of his whole class!

Unless your typical workday involves rocket ships or particle accelerators, all this relativity stuff might sound like a description of some bizarre futuristic world that is completely hypothetical. There is, however, a relativistic effect that occurs in everyday life, and it is obvious and dramatic: magnetism.

The existence of electricity, the phenomenon associated with stationary or moving electric charges, has been known since the Greeks discovered that amber, rubbed with fur, attracted light objects such as feathers. Ben Franklin proved the electrical nature of lightning (the famous key experiment) and also established the conventional use of negative and positive types of charges.

Science of charge and of the forces and fields associated with charge. Electricity and magnetism are two aspects of electromagnetism.

Electromagnetism is a branch of physics which involves the study of the electromagnetic force, a type of physical interaction that occurs between electrically charged particles.