Elec Fields & Waves,2/E: Science & Society

This, along with Griffiths' Introduction to Electromagnetism, is without a doubt the BEST introductory book on the subject ever written! Clear, well organized, with numerous awesome figures -- easy to read, understand, and learn from. A true gem of a book!

Great text alone or as a complement to any of the standards. Wangsness in my case.

This book is intended primarily for students of Physics or Electrical Engineering at the junior or senior levels, although some schools will prefer to use it with first-year graduate students. The book should also be useful for scientists and engineers who wish to review the subject.The aim of this book is to give the reader a working knowledge of the basic concepts of electromagnetism. Indeed, as Alfred North Whitehead stated, half a century ago, "Education is the acquisition of the art of the utilization of knowledge." This explains the relatively large number of examples and problems. It also explains why we have covered fewer subjects more thoroughly. For instance, Laplace's equation is solved in rectangular and in spherical coordinates, but not in cylindrical coordinates.CONTENTSA chapter on vectors (Chapter 1), a discussion of Legendre's differential equation (Section 4.5), an appendix on the technique that involves replacing cos wt by exp jwt, and an appendix on wave propagation.After the introductory chapter on vectors, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 describe electrostatic fields, both in a vacuum and in dielectrics. All of Chapter 4 is devoted to the solution of Laplace's and of Poisson's equations.Chapter 5 is a short exposition of the basic concepts of special relativity, with little reference to electric charges. It requires nothing more, in the way of mathematics, than elementary differential calculus and the vector analysis of Chapter 1. Chapter 6 contains a demonstration of Maxwell's equations that is based on Coulomb's law and on the Lorentz transformation and which is valid only for the case where the charges move at constant velocities.Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the conventional approach to the magnetic fields associated with constant and with variable currents. Here, as elsewhere, references to Chapter 6 may be disregarded.Chapter 9 contains a discussion of magnetic materials that parallels, to a certain extent, that of Chapter 3 on dielectrics.In Chapter 10, the Maxwell equation for the curl of B is rediscovered, without using relativity. This is followed by a discussion of the four Maxwell equations, as well as of some of their more general implications. The point of view is different from that of Chapter 6, and there is essentially no repetition.The last four chapters, 11 to 14, concern various applications of Maxwell's equations: plane waves in infinite media in Chapter 11, reflection and refraction in Chapter 12, guided waves in Chapter 13, and radiation in Chapter 14. The only three media considered in Chapters 11 and 12 are perfect dielectrics, good conductors, and low-pressure ionized gases. Similarly, Chapter 13 is limited to the two simplest types of guided wave, namely the TEM mode in coaxial lines and the TE1,0 mode in rectangular guides. Chapter 14 discusses electric and magnetic dipoles and quadrupoles, as well as the essential ideas concerning the half-wave antenna, antenna arrays, and the reciprocity theorem.For a basic a

Readers should start a campaign to reprint and/or get a new edition of this book. Professor Paul Lorrain is not only a recipient of the Legion of Honor of France and the equivalent of Montreal, Canada, but his book is a work of CREATIVE GENIUS. His problems contain very interesting applications of electromagnetism which both the public and specialists can identify with, including magnetic monopoles (very strange theoretical entities with only one pole instead of the usual north and south poles of magnets - see my reviews of Kursunoglu, Frolov, Klapdor-Kleingothaus, etc.) that are predicted by physics Grand Unified Theories, superconductors which have turned out to have remarkably important uses today (and the ferromagnetism which is closely related to them), the earth's magnetic field which is related to modern geophysics, hysteresis which is related to an important modern branch of nonlinear mathematics as well, artificial satellites which are so important today, solar wind which is extremely important today, and even the theory of continuous creation of electric charge. In addition, there are many chapters on electromagnetics in relativity (see my reviews of Weinberg and Misner et al.), Maxwell's equations, magnetic fields, electric fields, plane electromagnetic waves (see my review of A. Bohm), guided waves, radiation. Lorrain makes electromagnetism interesting, open minded on new ideas, and interdisciplinary, all characteristics of Creative Genius. The general public should also hire consultants or tutors to summarize this book or even teach it to them - it is well worth the effort because its ideas apply to fields far beyond physics. It should be mentioned that Lorrain et al give excellent summaries in the book, but the general reader might want some of them translated into closer to elementary mathematics or even approximately English.

Well, this review is pending of the fact that the text was only made better with time and further editions, but the 1970s edition is very good. It is a lucid and rigourus treatment of electromagnetics, and includes at least 140 examples, which i feel is an important learning mechanism. Some texts don't have examples or contain a very sparse selection of them, i find this appaling. In my opinion the book is right up there with David Griffiths' text. They make a good duo and it would behoove someone to obtain both of these great texts. Not necessarily because Electromagnetics is hard, but sometimes Griffiths leave out information that is pertinent to answer some of his question. This book provides those.