Basics of Electricity and Magnetism

Abstract

This chapter provides a succinct review of the essential physics of electricity and magnetism that forms the basis for understanding how electric power systems work. Later chapters will use this foundational material to build models of power system components and systems. Electric fields, magnetic fields, and Maxwell’s equations are the topics of the three sections of this chapter. Examples are given that illustrate the basic characteristics of core electrical components and electromechanical devices.

“My direct path to the special theory of relativity was mainly determined by the conviction that the electromotive force induced in a conductor moving in a magnetic field is nothing more than an electric field.”

—Albert Einstein, message to the centennial of Albert Michelson’s birth, December 19, 1952.