the link between electricity and magnetism.
In: Physics
essentially it boils down to relativity. imagine a static line of charges. you get an electric field. now move along that line. from your perspective it looks like current of charges moving by, and you would expect some magnetic field as well.
Hence magnetic field and electric field are connected by the principles of relarivity. electric field in one frame of reference will appear as magneic field in another frame of reference.
Both electric and magnetic forces are part of a single phenomenon called electromagnetism. Electricity is the flow of charged particles through a material, this movement of charges generates a magnetic field. If you change the movement (eg changing the current) then you’ll also change the magnetic field. These magnetic fields also act on charged particles, magnetic fields accelerate moving charges. This means that if you have a load of charges moving through a magnetic field they will feel a force applied to them. However it turns out that instead of having the charges moving you can also move or vary the magnetic field, a changing magnetic field will apply a force to charged particles like electrons in a wire.
This means that a changing magnetic field can induce an electric potential (electricity) and a changing electric potential will induce a magnetic field.
This is… not eli5 material.
However, best eli5 is magnetism is a manifestation of the motion of electric charge. Basically if the electrons in a material are moving around sufficiently it will become magnetized. Similarly if a material passes through a magnetic field it will make the electrons move.
If you can make the electrons move a lot you have electricity, and so you can use moving magnets to generate electricity.
Latest Answers