As many of you know probably know, Albert Einstein’s initial inspiration for his theory of relativity stemmed from his considerations of Maxwell’s equations. The connection is so important that the first paper he published on relativity was titled “On the electrodynamics of moving bodies (1905).” In particular he considered the relative motion of a magnet and a conductor. In the conductor’s rest frame the interaction between the two is electric, yet in the magnet’s frame they interact magnetically. I can model this problem very easily and then go about showing how Einstein resolved the seemingly paradoxical relativistic nature of classical electrodynamics. From there I can continue into discussing the field transformations and showing how these effect real life problems.
– Your visualizations will be a very useful tool for teaching EM and relativity.
– Don’t forget to use the correct category. I fixed this entry for you.
– What do you mean by being able to “model this problem very easily?”
– Replace “effect” with “affect.”
– How will you model these effects? Will you model E-fields, B-fields and/or forces on the conductor? Or all of it?