Determining c from Maxwell's Equations

[vanhees71]

Hi, I hope someone can explain this mystery to me. When we set j to zero, why doesn't the displacement current term also vanish? There is no charge, no current, hence no E field, right?

The displacement current is no current. Its name is from a highly complicated and utterly wrong early mechanical model invented by Maxwell to "derive" is famous equations. Maxwell himself later abandoned all these mechanical models and came to the conclusion that the electromagnetic field is a fundamental entity with no need for any mechanical models.

 

[bryanso]

vanhees71, Thank you very much. This is the most intuitive explanation. I will reread displacement current with this history perspective in mind.