Maxwell's Equations: 7.1 Divergence

Maxwell's Equations
Let us first consider vacuum. Light is an electromagnetic wave, propagating in space and time at
a constant speed c, in such a way that spatial variations along the direction of propagation in the
electric field generate time variations of the magnetic field, and changes in the electric field
along the direction of time cause spatial changes of the magnetic field along the direction of
propagation. You could then say that the electric and magnetic components of light are
interrelated through the space-time continuum. This is it! We have just stated two of Maxwell's
equations. Now how about the other two? Well, they just say that there are no sources or sinks of
the magnetic and electric fields in vacuum. In other words, that the fields don't just appear or
disappear in empty space. Which is hardly surprising.
In their mathematical form Maxwell's equation are written as:
(Eq.7.1a)
(Eq.7.1b)
(Eq.7.1c)
(Eq.7.1d)
I have chosen the CGS units instead of the SI because they are more symmetric and perhaps
easier to grasp intuitively.
In order to understand these formula, you should of course understand the meaning of the
divergence and curl operators.
7.1 Divergence
The divergence of a field F is a measure of sources and sinks for that field. For instance the light
intensity generated by a candle or an electrical bulb has a large divergence - if you look at its
value along any axis in space you will measure a decrease with distance. An inflating balloon
also has a large divergence - the amount of its material along any Cartesian axis gets thinner and
thinner as the balloon expands. This is expressed mathematically as:
(Eq.7.2)
Which is the vector product of the vector gradient defined as:

(Eq.7.3)
with the field vector F.
7.2 Curl
The curl of a field F is a vector. It is a measure of the rotation the field has at any point. The
direction of the curl is determined according to the right hand rule. The magnitude of the curl
tells us how much rotation there is.
In order to visualize the curl of a field, the field is often represented as a water flow. One can
then place an imaginary paddle wheel at different places in the flow and estimate the rate of
rotation of the paddle wheel (see Fig. 7).
Fig. 7 Illustration of the curl of the electric field in an electromagnetic wave. The electric field
is represented in blue and the magnetic one is in red.
Is there an intuitive way to relate the curl of the electric field with the magnetic field in a way to
produce equation 7.1a? Well, there are several observations that we can make after looking at
Fig.7. First, we notice that the vectors generated by the curl of E are in the plane of B. So far so
good!
Second, we see that they have an opposite sign to B. So, we can introduce a minus sign on the
left or the right side of our equation and write:

Third, the vectors generated by the curl of E appear to be phase shifted by 90� with respect to
B. Now, we know that B has a sinusoidal form, and a wave that has a 90� phase shift with
respect to a sine curve is, of course, a cosine curve. And how do we go from a sine to a cosine
curve (or vice-versa)? We use the derivative! Hence:
Finally, the vectors generated by the curl of E have a different amplitude from B. Hum, lets see...
on the one side we have variations in space, on the other we have variations in time. All we have
to do is to equilibrate the units of this equation. And the most natural way to do that is by
introducing the constant c - the speed of light. And voila:
(Eq.7.1a)
Eq. 7.1b can be obtained in a similar way.
Mathematically, the curl is defined as the cross product of the vector gradient with the field
vector F:
(Eq.7.4
)
In a sense, curl and div are complementary. The latter requires that the field changes when
moving along the field direction, the former that the field varies when moving across the field
direction. This is also understandable since the divergence is the vector product with the gradient
while the curl is the cross product with the gradient.

Maxwell's Equations: 7.1 Divergence

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Maxwell's Equations: 7.1 Divergence

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Maxwell's Equations: 7.1 Divergence

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Maxwell's Equations

In their mathematical form Maxwell's equation are written as:

Which is the vector product of the vector gradient defined as:

with the field vector F.

Eq. 7.1b can be obtained in a similar way.

You might also like