- #1
Nick89
- 555
- 0
Hi,
I was simply wondering this for some time now... I am constantly seeing similarities between electric (E) fields and magnetic (B) fields.
A few examples, Coulomb's law and Biot-Savart's law:
[tex]dE = \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \frac{dQ}{r^2}[/tex]
[tex]dB = \frac{\mu_0}{4 \pi} \frac{I dl}{r^2}[/tex]
They are nearly the same... Especially the constants [itex]\mu_0[/itex] and [itex]epsilon_0[/itex], they always seem to be taking each other's place, where [itex]epsilon_0[/itex] is always replaced with [itex](\mu_0)^{-1}[/itex] (not just in this example but everything I have ever come across, like in EM-waves etc...)
Also in the case of time-varrying E or B fields they seem to be related, you can't only look at one without considering the other anymore (maxwell equations etc)...
I have heard / read a bit about this and it seems to be that E and B fields are essentially the same, in quantum mechanics, or in (general?) relativity (or both? I dunno..)...
Is this true?
If anyone has some information on this that would be great, I'm very interested in this...
Thanks!
EDIT
I don't know if it's the same with you guys but for some reason I cannot see the latex images in my post... Seems to be something wrong...
I was simply wondering this for some time now... I am constantly seeing similarities between electric (E) fields and magnetic (B) fields.
A few examples, Coulomb's law and Biot-Savart's law:
[tex]dE = \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \frac{dQ}{r^2}[/tex]
[tex]dB = \frac{\mu_0}{4 \pi} \frac{I dl}{r^2}[/tex]
They are nearly the same... Especially the constants [itex]\mu_0[/itex] and [itex]epsilon_0[/itex], they always seem to be taking each other's place, where [itex]epsilon_0[/itex] is always replaced with [itex](\mu_0)^{-1}[/itex] (not just in this example but everything I have ever come across, like in EM-waves etc...)
Also in the case of time-varrying E or B fields they seem to be related, you can't only look at one without considering the other anymore (maxwell equations etc)...
I have heard / read a bit about this and it seems to be that E and B fields are essentially the same, in quantum mechanics, or in (general?) relativity (or both? I dunno..)...
Is this true?
If anyone has some information on this that would be great, I'm very interested in this...
Thanks!
EDIT
I don't know if it's the same with you guys but for some reason I cannot see the latex images in my post... Seems to be something wrong...