B and H, the intensity vectors of magnetism: A new approach to resolving a century-old controversy
Abstract
The B and H controversy, which has persisted for more than a century, is at bottom a debate over the structure of the macroscopic magnetic field, both in a vacuum and in a magnetized body. It is also a controversy over units and notation. It is paralleled by the problem of D and E in dielectrics. Its origins are traced to a dual magnetic field concept of William Thomson, to an altogether different dual field concept of Faraday, and to Maxwell's attempt to bind the concepts of Thomson and Faraday together. The author argues that severe ambiguities were inadvertently introduced to this subject during its foundational period and subsequently, and that many of these still remain embedded in the present-day interpretation of the subject. The article attempts to clear up a long history of misunderstanding by dealing with each difficulty in the same sequence in which it was introduced to electromagnetism.
- Publication:
-
American Journal of Physics
- Pub Date:
- May 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1119/1.19459
- Bibcode:
- 2000AmJPh..68..438R
- Keywords:
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- 01.50.-i;
- 41.20.-q;
- Educational aids;
- Applied classical electromagnetism