the.com/electromagnetism
the invisible force gluing every atom together and letting your phone scream across the planet.
means the fundamental physical force linking electricity and magnetism, governing how charged particles attract, repel, and radiate energy as light and other waves.
from A 19th-century compound stitched from "electro-" and "magnetism." "Electric" traces to the Greek "ēlektron," meaning amber — the fossilized resin that ancient Greeks rubbed to make it crackle and cling, the first hint of static electricity anyone noticed. "Magnet" comes through Latin from Greek "magnēs lithos," the "stone of Magnesia," a region in Asia Minor whose iron-rich rocks famously pulled at metal. The two words spent centuries apart until experimenters showed a current could deflect a compass needle — proving electricity and magnetism were one phenomenon — and the joined word was born to name that newly-seen unity.
- speed
- its waves travel at the universe's hard speed limit
- unification
- electricity and magnetism are one force in disguise
- reach
- light, X-rays, and radio are all the same thing
- strength
- vastly stronger than gravity at small scales
- touch
- why your hand never falls through a table
faraday's law of induction — michael faraday, 1831: changing magnetic fields induce electric currents in conductors
maxwell's equations — james clerk maxwell, 1865: four equations unifying electricity, magnetism, and light
lorentz force — hendrik lorentz, 1892: describes how charged particles move in electric and magnetic fields