Where does faraday's law come from (law of induction)

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the origins and derivation of Faraday's Law of electromagnetic induction, with participants exploring its historical context, connections to other physical laws, and its relationship with special relativity. The scope includes theoretical inquiries and references to foundational texts in physics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether Faraday's Law should be considered an 'axiom' or if it has been derived from other principles, similar to Coulomb's law and relativity.
  • Another participant notes that Faraday's Law originated from Michael Faraday's experiments and intuition, suggesting that it was not derived in the conventional sense.
  • A suggestion is made to consult Faraday's own work, "Experimental Researches in Electricity," for insights into the law's origins.
  • There is a reference to the relationship between electric and magnetic fields and special relativity, with a recommendation to read Einstein's 1905 paper for further understanding.
  • Participants express interest in how laws like Ampere's Law and the Biot-Savart Law relate to simpler known facts, indicating a desire for deeper connections between these concepts.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the derivation and foundational status of Faraday's Law, with no consensus reached on whether it is an axiom or derived from other laws.

Contextual Notes

Some participants highlight the potential for connections between Faraday's Law and special relativity, but these relationships remain speculative and are not fully resolved in the discussion.

DaNiEl!
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hello,
i'm wondering where this law comes from. I'm currently reading Feynman's lectures. I skipped some parts but i don't think it says where it comes from. does anyone here know of a link, a book or the part in Feyman's lectures which mentions the origin of it? i know Maxwell's equations have been verified by experience but is this law really to be taken as an 'axiom' while it isn't connected with other facts (like coloumb's law and relativity) or has it been explained already? by the way, i have the same question about ampere's law/ bio-savart's law. i know one can be deduced from the other but how are these laws a consequence of 'simpler' known facts?

edit:i think the english word I'm looking for is 'derivation'. in the book i mentioned above it is described the idea of how the magnetic field comes from the special theory of relativity plus the equations for electrostatics. I'm wondering if the same doesn't apply to faraday's law since it deals with time, and time is dependent on the referential.
 
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The original came from Michael Faraday's experiments and his extremely powerful intuition. He did not derive it in the way we normally think of derivation today. I believe the argument is in Experimental Researches in Electricity (or a name close to that). Try Googling that.

Clerk Maxwell really put the math in Faraday's Law.
 
Alright, i have found the book through google and i'll see if i find it in my university's library. Thank you.
 
special relativity & e/m

DaNiEl! said:
hello,
i'm wondering where this law comes from. I'm currently reading Feynman's lectures. I skipped some parts but i don't think it says where it comes from. does anyone here know of a link, a book or the part in Feyman's lectures which mentions the origin of it? i know Maxwell's equations have been verified by experience but is this law really to be taken as an 'axiom' while it isn't connected with other facts (like coloumb's law and relativity) or has it been explained already? by the way, i have the same question about ampere's law/ bio-savart's law. i know one can be deduced from the other but how are these laws a consequence of 'simpler' known facts?

edit:i think the english word I'm looking for is 'derivation'. in the book i mentioned above it is described the idea of how the magnetic field comes from the special theory of relativity plus the equations for electrostatics. I'm wondering if the same doesn't apply to faraday's law since it deals with time, and time is dependent on the referential.

If you desire to relate the electric and magnetic fields to special relativity, I would direct you to Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". It's a free download, and a Google search should turn it up. If you don't find it, e-mail me and I'll send it to you. BR.
 

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