Section 2: Maxwell Equations
Section 2: Maxwell’s equations Electromotive force We start the discussion of time-dependent magnetic and electric fields by introducing the concept of the electromotive force . Consider a typical electric circuit. There are two forces involved in driving current around a circuit: the source, fs , which is ordinarily confined to one portion of the loop (a battery, say), and the electrostatic force, E, which serves to smooth out the flow and communicate the influence of the source to distant parts of the circuit. Therefore, the total force per unit charge is a circuit is = + f fs E . (2.1) The physical agency responsible for fs , can be any one of many different things: in a battery it’s a chemical force; in a piezoelectric crystal mechanical pressure is converted into an electrical impulse; in a thermocouple it’s a temperature gradient that does the job; in a photoelectric cell it’s light. Whatever the mechanism, its net effect is determined by the line integral of f around the circuit: E =fl ⋅=d f ⋅ d l ∫ ∫ s . (2.2) The latter equality is because ∫ E⋅d l = 0 for electrostatic fields, and it doesn’t matter whether you use f E or fs . The quantity is called the electromotive force , or emf , of the circuit. It’s a lousy term, since this is not a force at all – it’s the integral of a force per unit charge. Within an ideal source of emf (a resistanceless battery, for instance), the net force on the charges is zero, so E = – fs. The potential difference between the terminals ( a and b) is therefore b b ∆Φ=− ⋅ = ⋅ = ⋅ = E ∫Eld ∫ fs d l ∫ f s d l .
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