Interpretation of Classical Electromagnetism

A presentation of Maxwell's equations and the laws of classical electromagnetism, starting from the equations for the electric and magnetic fields due to an accelerating classical point charge. A microscopic perspective is used to interpret the electric field due to a current element, the origin of induced electromagnetic fields and detached electric field lines, motional electromagnetic fields, the mode of action of inductors and capacitors in AC circuits, conduction current flow, the Biot-Savart law, etc. A review of energy methods is presented in a way consistent with this microscopic approach, leading up to discussions of the conservation laws for a system of spatially separated moving charges and the Poynting vector hypothesis. After extending Maxwell's equations to field points inside dielectrics and magnetic materials, a brief review of special relativity is given stressing those topics that illustrate the essential unity of classical electromagnetism and special relativity.