- #1
idea2000
- 99
- 2
Hi,
In the Purcell book on E&M that we used during college (berkeley physics course volume 2), the b field of a current carrying wire was explained as the result of a relativistic transformation between two frames of reference...
The explanation in purcell seems to require the existence of the wire, but is the wire actually needed to create the B field? Or can any moving point charge in vacuum also create a B field? (And if so, is there an alternative explanation for where the B field comes from besides one given in purcell?)
In the Purcell book on E&M that we used during college (berkeley physics course volume 2), the b field of a current carrying wire was explained as the result of a relativistic transformation between two frames of reference...
The explanation in purcell seems to require the existence of the wire, but is the wire actually needed to create the B field? Or can any moving point charge in vacuum also create a B field? (And if so, is there an alternative explanation for where the B field comes from besides one given in purcell?)