Why Is Understanding Electricity & Magnetism Important?
It is essential to our understanding the world around us. The most fundamental processes in nature, from the forces that determine the structure of atoms and molecules to the phenomena of light to nerve impulses in living systems, depend on electric and magnetic fields. It is fundamental to current and future technologies. Motors, power generation and transmission, electronics, sensors, and communication – both wired and wireless – involve the manipulation of electric or magnetic fields. There are few advances in technology that can be made without the use of electronic circuits or electric and magnetic fields. It is the simplest example of unification in science. A large and diverse body of observational facts can be explained in terms of a few simple concepts. The phenomena of electricity and magnetism, which appear to be completely different, are shown to be two manifestations of the same physics. The theory requires few if any approximations. Results can be predicted with great acc