>"The [Maxwell's] equations in their original format amounted to 20 equations, not the 4 elegant ones we have familiarity with today."
>"What exactly are fields?
Well, fields can be thought of as a function acting throughout space and time. The predominant thinking at the time tried to account for such fields through mechanical structures composed of ‘wheels’ and ‘vortices’ which carried the mechanical
stresses
that the these fields propagated. Of course, such thinking made it difficult to grasp the beauty and meaning of the equations. Maxwell’s theory only becomes simple and elegant once we start to think of the fields (mathematical functions) as being primary and the electromagnetic
stresses
and mechanical forces as being a consequence of such fields, and not vice-versa."
Question:
Is stress -- the cause or the effect -- of electromagnetic fields?
>"What exactly are fields?
Well, fields can be thought of as a function acting throughout space and time. The predominant thinking at the time tried to account for such fields through mechanical structures composed of ‘wheels’ and ‘vortices’ which carried the mechanical
stresses
that the these fields propagated. Of course, such thinking made it difficult to grasp the beauty and meaning of the equations. Maxwell’s theory only becomes simple and elegant once we start to think of the fields (mathematical functions) as being primary and the electromagnetic
stresses
and mechanical forces as being a consequence of such fields, and not vice-versa."
Question:
Is stress -- the cause or the effect -- of electromagnetic fields?
?