Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/section-e/15/d/solution
Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Section E 15 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
In SI units, the microscopic Maxwell's equations for total charge density and current density areThe first is Gauss's law: electric charge sources electric flux. The second is Gauss's law for magnetism, expressing the absence of magnetic monopole sources in this theory. Faraday's law relates changing magnetic flux to circulating electric field. The Ampere-Maxwell law relates magnetic circulation to both material current and changing electric flux.
For fixed loops and surfaces, the integral versions areSurface and loop orientations are related by the right-hand rule. These forms follow from the divergence theorem and Stokes' theorem. In material media, equivalent macroscopic equations can separate free and bound sources using and together with constitutive relations; the displayed forms use total sources.
The displacement-current term is essential for charge conservation. Taking the divergence of the last differential equation and using Gauss's law gives . It also makes magnetic circulation consistent for surfaces spanning the same loop through either a charging capacitor's wire or its dielectric gap.
In source-free vacuum the curl equations combine to give , with the same equation for . ThusA plane wave is transverse, with , and propagation direction mutually perpendicular and . The fields transport energy with density and Poynting vector . Together with the Lorentz force law, the equations connect charges, currents, forces, induction and electromagnetic radiation.
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