Accordingt oMi chaelFowl erofthePhy sicsDepar tmentf rom Universit

yofVi r
gini
a,
Maxwel l
’sf ourequat ions descri
be t
he el ectri
c and magnet icfields ar i
sing f
rom
di
stri
butionsofel ect
ricchargesandcur rents,andhow t hosef i
eldschangei nti
me.
These equat i
ons wer et he mathemati
caldi stil
lat
ion ofdecades ofexper i
mental
observati
onsoft heel ect
ricandmagnet iceffectsofchar gesandcur rents.Theyare
i
mpor tantinmyf i
eldofstudybecausemycour sestudieselect
ri
calengineer i
ngaswel l
asitsapplicati
onst oourdai l
yli
ves.Thesef ourequat i
onsaswel last heirformulaand
meaningsar eshowni ntheill
ust
rati
onbelow.

Maxwel l'
sequat ionsar eimpor t
anti nmyf i
eldofstudysincetheyarebei ngusedt o
design electri
caland el ect
ronic devices.They serve as guides i
nr esearch and
developmentofengi neer i
ng tool
s as wel las its appli
cati
ons in making certai
n
equipment .Somer eal
li
feappl i
cati
onsofeachequat i
onareasf oll
ows:
a)Whenwear eusingmobi lephones,wecancommuni catewithot herpeople
throughi tbecauseoft hesi gnal.Thi
ssignaliscomposedofel ectromagneti
c
 wav eswhicharethechangi ngelectri
cfi
eldsandmagnet icf i
elds.Thissituat
ion
i
sj ustanexampleofappl icat
ionofGauss'Law.Ont heot herhand,Gauss'Law
formagnetism t
ell
sust hatmagnet i
cpolesdonotexi st.
b)When t he st
rength ofelectri
c currenti s connected t ot he magnet i
cf i
eld,
Amper e'
sLawi sappli
ed.Anexampl eoft hisappl icat
ionist hatonecani ncrease
thenumberofcoi l
sorcur r
enttoincreasethest rengthofthemagnet icfi
eld.
c)Faraday'
sLawwor ksonthepr i
ncipl
eofel ectromagnet i
cinduct ion.Oneex ample
ofitsappl
icat
ionistheuseoft ransf
ormerswhi chcarryelectri
cal si
gnal
s.