Electromagnetism as a Second Order Effect

Abstract

It is important for the reader to appreciate from the outset that the magnetic forces between moving charges are generally very much smaller than the electric forces between the same moving charges, and that magnetic forces can be interpreted as second order relativistic effects. Before proceeding in Chapter 3 to consider the general case of two moving charges, in this chapter a simple example will be considered from the viewpoint of Maxwell’s equations. The same example will then be interpreted in terms of the force transformations of the theory of special relativity.