11	Waves in the ether Maxwell’s Equations

 

 

 

What do they say?

Electricity and magnetism can’t just leak away. A spinning region of electric field creates a magnetic field at right angles to the spin. A spinning region of magnetic field creates an electric field at right angles to the spin, but in the opposite direction.

Why is that important?

It was the first major unification of physical forces, showing that electricity and magnetism are intimately interrelated.

What did it lead to?

The prediction that electromagnetic waves exist, travelling at the speed of light, so light itself is such a wave. This motivated the invention of radio, radar, television, wireless connections for computer equipment, and most modern communications.