Advanced Search

Using Maxwell’s mental imagery of a tube of fluid motion of an imaginary fluid, we derive his equations $curl𝐄=-\frac{\partial 𝐁}{\partial t}$, $curl𝐇=\frac{\partial 𝐃}{\partial t}+𝐣$, $div𝐃=\varrho$, $div𝐁=0$, which together with the constituting relations $𝐃={\epsilon }_0𝐄$, $𝐁={\mu }_0𝐇$, form what we call today Maxwell’s equations. Main tools are the divergence, curl and gradient integration theorems and a version of Poincare’s lemma formulated in vector calculus notation. Remarks on the history of the development of electrodynamic theory, quotations and references to original and secondary literature complement...