- #1
jonourd
Electromagnetics has become integral to the existence of the Modern world, we cannot function without man-made electrical power or natural electromagnetic energy but do we really undersatnd it?
chroot said:As far as radio is concerned, commercial interests are what drive progress. We have communications satellites broadcasting gigabytes of digital data every second through advanced modulations and error-correcting mechanisms. We have $100 cell phones with spread-spectrum frequency-hopping digital communications done in a single chip. We have software radios. We have the Global Positioning System, which basically uses the properties of radio waves to pinpoint a location on the Earth's surface with sub-millimeter accuracy. We have elaborate radio telescopes, hundreds of feet across, which are effectively large radio receivers. Radio has come a hell of a long way since the days of Marconi... and almost all of the advances have been in the interest of either commerce or military.
- Warren
jonourd said:Who in invented radio is arguable and its an old one and will be bashed out for years to come, George Francis Fitzgerald and Hertz are wonderful pioneers, I have often wonder what if they and Maxwell went another direction, where would we be? Assuming they did go another direction can any of you imagine where that might be and what might have happened?
We'd be right where we are today. Radio was an invention - radio waves are not.jonourd said:I have often wonder what if they and Maxwell went another direction, where would we be? Assuming they did go another direction can any of you imagine where that might be and what might have happened?
ZapperZ said:You are going somewhere with this whole thing. I don't know where yet, but I don't see any physics content in this, or else Maxwell equations would have been featured prominently in why you don't think these are satisfactory in understanding electromagnetism.
Since this is more of a "historical" issue and not physics, I'm moving this to the GD forum.
Zz.
jonourd said:Electromagnetics has become integral to the existence of the Modern world, we cannot function without man-made electrical power or natural electromagnetic energy but do we really undersatnd it?
I guess I'll take a stab at this: Are you suggesting that if people's creativity had led them in different directions, Maxwell's equations would look different than they do now?jonourd said:I have often wonder what if they and Maxwell went another direction, where would we be? Assuming they did go another direction can any of you imagine where that might be and what might have happened?
I think it might help to learn what an axial vector (or pseudovector) is.Donski said:But still, how can something work well in one direction but not equally well in the other?
The reference orientation and nomenclature are arbitrary, but the relationships involved at what they are. We look at natural process and try to describe them as best we can. The fact that we can predict reasonable well outcomes of experiments, and we can manipulate materials to build generators, motors, lasers, CPU's and other microelectronics, lights, radar, microwave ovens, . . . . indicates that we understand EM pretty well.Donski said:In my electronics class I learned about the right hand rule. I have no problems with it and I know how to apply it. What bothers me is that we even have a right hand rule. If we lived in a mirror universe then couldn't it be a left hand rule. Why can't it work equally well in both directions? I don't think anyone can actually answer the question why, all they do is show evidence to prove that it is. I've learned to accept the fact and live with it.
Please provide an example.But still, how can something work well in one direction but not equally well in the other?
Changing the polarity of the DC input causes a DC motor to run in the 'opposite' direction. That is how we have reversible drills and motors.Examples are all around us, and I think you're reading far more into it than needed. If you took a textbook explaining the right hand rule and changed every place that said "right hand" to "left hand", and every place that said "left hand" to "right hand", it wouldn't work the same. The fact that the rule only works in one direction allows us to build DC motors and have them rotate in the desired direction every time.
It doesn't help at all because it only answers the question how, and not why.Moonbear said:Post #5 in this thread might help:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=1514802
I give up because at this point in history we just don't have the answers yet.waht said:We only have elaborate models of how electromagnetic waves might behave. But truly, no one knows what it is. Just like in models of atoms, electrons are orbiting the nucleus, in quantum mechanics models call for electron clouds to describe atoms, which is amazingly accurate. In the untested yet string theory, particles are modeled to be vibrating strings of energy. Sounds great, but still we have no idea what everything is at the most fundamental level.
waht said:We only have elaborate models of how electromagnetic waves might behave. But truly, no one knows what it is. Just like in models of atoms, electrons are orbiting the nucleus, in quantum mechanics models call for electron clouds to describe atoms, which is amazingly accurate. In the untested yet string theory, particles are modeled to be vibrating strings of energy. Sounds great, but still we have no idea what everything is at the most fundamental level.
novaa77 said:I agree. Our current theories describe the behaviour of electromagnetic waves, but cannot explain the true "nature" of the electromagnetic field.
Well, in order to understand electromagnetics, we must learn to feel things from the magnet's perspective! Empathy, warren, is the key to understanding. :tongue:chroot said:Nonsense. Our theories describe how they work, what they do, and how to use them. What deeper description can there be than an exhaustive list of all their characteristics and behaviors?
- Warren
That's a pretty attractive way to look at it.russ_watters said:Well, in order to understand electromagnetics, we must learn to feel things from the magnet's perspective! :tongue:
chroot said:Nonsense. Our theories describe how they work, what they do, and how to use them. What deeper description can there be than an exhaustive list of all their characteristics and behaviors?
- Warren
novaa77 said:For example if I were to describe the dimensions and other physical characteristics of an airplane to some one it still wouldn't give him any idea as to what keeps it up in the air.
chroot said:jonourd,
We decide where posts go. You should also recognize that ZapperZ is a professional physicist, and knows quite well the role of creativity in science.
- Warren
russ_watters said:I guess I'll take a stab at this: Are you suggesting that if people's creativity had led them in different directions, Maxwell's equations would look different than they do now?
Donski said:Simply because we have theories that can predict the outcomes of electromagnets for an extreme degree, does this really mean that we fully understand it?
In my electronics class I learned about the right hand rule. I have no problems with it and I know how to apply it. What bothers me is that we even have a right hand rule. If we lived in a mirror universe then couldn't it be a left hand rule. Why can't it work equally well in both directions? I don't think anyone can actually answer the question why, all they do is show evidence to prove that it is. I've learned to accept the fact and live with it.
But still, how can something work well in one direction but not equally well in the other?
Donski said:Examples are all around us, and I think you're reading far more into it than needed. If you took a textbook explaining the right hand rule and changed every place that said "right hand" to "left hand", and every place that said "left hand" to "right hand", it wouldn't work the same. The fact that the rule only works in one direction allows us to build DC motors and have them rotate in the desired direction every time. Simply because you can explain the cause of the right hand rule in great detail still doesn't negate the fact that it rotates in only one direction perpendicular to the flow of electrons through a wire. Passing the blame to something else that spins in only one direction at a subatomic level still doesn't answer my question. So then I'm just left asking, why would that only spin in one direction and not the other? It just goes on and on and on. It's as if God flipped a coin and said "I think I'll have it work this way".
And I really don't care because we made some cool toys with it. ;)
chroot said:So you're telling me a man cannot understand an airplane unless he has seem or experienced one? How did the first airplane come into existence, then?
My point this: What can you possibly say to another human being about what an airplane 'is' other than a list of its physical characteristics, behaviors, and uses?
- Warren