what is the difference between an electromagnetic field and a magnetic field?
Hi Everyone,
I am wondering if someone would mine sharing some insights into the differences between an electromagnetic field and a magnetic field. Any information given to this question will be greatly appreciated.
I will look forward to reading any scientific explanations given to this post.
Thank you
George
I am wondering if someone would mine sharing some insights into the differences between an electromagnetic field and a magnetic field. Any information given to this question will be greatly appreciated.
I will look forward to reading any scientific explanations given to this post.
Thank you
George
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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A magnetic field is an electromagnetic field.
An electromagnetic field with only a magnetic component and no electric component must be a static field.
An electromagnetic field with only a magnetic component and no electric component must be a static field.
If you have a metal bar magnet with no power attached and you move it over a pin, the pin moves. That is a magnetic field.True enough.
And when you move it, you also create an electric field.
(if you move it slowly enough, the electric field may be weak enough that you only notice the magnetic component)
It may occur to you that whether or not something is moving relative to you can depend on ones frame of reference.
That is actually a profound observation.
A magnetic field is essentially the way we describe the effects of special relativity on moving electric fields.
ASKER
Hi
With regards to the most recent post given by ozo, is it a fair or accurate conclusion to say that magnetic fields and electric fields are interwined and can not be fully separated? And, could you elaborate more upon your statement that magnetic fields are used to describe the special relativity on moving electric fields? It sounds like you are making reference to Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity; perhaps using that to explain magnetic fields.
Thank you
George
With regards to the most recent post given by ozo, is it a fair or accurate conclusion to say that magnetic fields and electric fields are interwined and can not be fully separated? And, could you elaborate more upon your statement that magnetic fields are used to describe the special relativity on moving electric fields? It sounds like you are making reference to Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity; perhaps using that to explain magnetic fields.
Thank you
George
SOLUTION
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SOLUTION
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The only real difference involve relative motion between the source of the field and the observer. A magnetic field without motion in any frame of reference implies no related electrical force or field. Similarly an electric field (e.g. the presence of a static electrical charge) with no relative motion implies no related magnetic field. But if you have motion relative to an otherwise static magnetic field there is always an accompanying electric field and an electric charge in motion always involves a related magnetic field. A marginally famous nuclear physicist (my uncle) once described a magnetic field to me as the "relativistic correction" for the delayed (by the speed of light) response to the motion of an electric charge. In simplistic terms when an electrical charge is moved the effect of that motion will be propagated at the speed of light and while it's propagating a magnetic field will be present.
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ASKER
Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for the insightful feedback given to this post. To be perfectly honest, I did not fully realize how complicated my question really was until I began reading the feedback given. While I certainly appreciate the more scientific and technical explanations given, the most simplistic difference between the two given by edster9999 did make the most sense. Coming from a limited amount of science exposure in college, I guess it is more difficult for me to comprehend the more technical explanations despite of their truth and accuracy. At any rate, I went ahead and split up points to help in being fair to those explanations given which also answered this question.
Many thanks once again everyone for the help.
George
Thanks so much for the insightful feedback given to this post. To be perfectly honest, I did not fully realize how complicated my question really was until I began reading the feedback given. While I certainly appreciate the more scientific and technical explanations given, the most simplistic difference between the two given by edster9999 did make the most sense. Coming from a limited amount of science exposure in college, I guess it is more difficult for me to comprehend the more technical explanations despite of their truth and accuracy. At any rate, I went ahead and split up points to help in being fair to those explanations given which also answered this question.
Many thanks once again everyone for the help.
George
I wouldn't say that http:#37707218 describes the difference between an electromagnetic field and a magnetic field, because if you have a metal bar magnet with no power attached and you move it over a pin, the pin moves, that is also an electromagnetic field, and if you have a coil and you pass electricity through it, and when the power is turned on the pin moves, that is also a magnetic field.
http:#37707218 might have been an answer if the question was about the difference between a "magnet" and an "electromagnet".
But "magnetic field" and "electromagnetic field" refer to the force, rather than to the devices that produce the force.
"Electromagnetism" refers to all the intertwined phenomenon of electricity and magnetism.
And magnetic fields and electric fields are both manifestations of the electromagnetic field.
The main difference may be more in the usual usage of the words, than in the phenomenon to which they refer.
One might more more commonly speak of electromagnetic fields when one is talking about the propagating waves of mutually generated changing electric and magnetic fields, and one might more commonly speak of electric or magnetic fields, when one is primarily concerned with the static components of the electromagnetic field.
http:#37707218 might have been an answer if the question was about the difference between a "magnet" and an "electromagnet".
But "magnetic field" and "electromagnetic field" refer to the force, rather than to the devices that produce the force.
"Electromagnetism" refers to all the intertwined phenomenon of electricity and magnetism.
And magnetic fields and electric fields are both manifestations of the electromagnetic field.
The main difference may be more in the usual usage of the words, than in the phenomenon to which they refer.
One might more more commonly speak of electromagnetic fields when one is talking about the propagating waves of mutually generated changing electric and magnetic fields, and one might more commonly speak of electric or magnetic fields, when one is primarily concerned with the static components of the electromagnetic field.
ASKER
Thank you so much for giving very easy to understand examples of the difference between a magnetic field and an electromagnetic field. With respect to the earth, is it surrounded by a magnetic field?
George