more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 20629

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 2. Electrodynamics / a. Electrodynamics ]

Full Idea

Faradays' measurements predicted the speed of electro-magnetic waves, which happened to be the speed of light, so Maxwell made an inspired leap: light is an electromagnetic wave!

Gist of Idea

Electro-magnetic waves travel at light speed - so light is electromagnetism!

Source

Frank Close (Theories of Everything [2017], 3 'Light!')

Book Ref

Close,Frank: 'Theories of Everything' [Profile Books 2017], p.39

A Reaction

Put that way, it doesn't sound like an 'inspired' leap, because travelling at exactly the same speed seems a pretty good indication that they are the same sort of thing. (But I'm not denying that Maxwell was a special guy!)

The 18 ideas from 'Theories of Everything'

20625 Third Law: total order and minimum entropy only occurs at absolute zero [Close]
20626 Modern theories of matter are grounded in heat, work and energy [Close]
20629 Electro-magnetic waves travel at light speed - so light is electromagnetism! [Close]
20632 In QED, electro-magnetism exists in quantum states, emitting and absorbing electrons [Close]
20627 Electric fields have four basic laws (two by Gauss, one by Ampère, one by Faraday) [Close]
20630 Light isn't just emitted in quanta called photons - light is photons [Close]
20628 The electric and magnetic are tightly linked, and viewed according to your own motion [Close]
20631 Dirac showed how electrons conform to special relativity [Close]
20622 All motions are relative and ambiguous, but acceleration is the same in all inertial frames [Close]
20623 First Law: energy can change form, but is conserved overall [Close]
20624 Work degrades into heat, but not vice versa [Close]
20633 The Higgs field is an electroweak plasma - but we don't know what stuff it consists of [Close]
20635 The general relativity equations relate curvature in space-time to density of energy-momentum [Close]
20637 In general relativity the energy and momentum of photons subjects them to gravity [Close]
20641 Electrons get their mass by interaction with the Higgs field [Close]
20640 Space-time is indeterminate foam over short distances [Close]
20639 Quantum fields contain continual rapid creation and disappearance [Close]
20642 Photon exchange drives the electro-magnetic force [Close]