CHAPTER I - ELECTROSTATICS OF CONDUCTORS

Abstract

Macroscopic electrodynamics is concerned with the study of electromagnetic fields in space that is occupied by matter. Electrodynamics deals with physical quantities averaged over elements of volume that are physically infinitesimal and ignore the microscopic variations of the quantities that result from the molecular structure of matter. The fundamental equations of the electrodynamics of continuous media are obtained by averaging the equations for the electromagnetic field in a vacuum. The form of the equations of macroscopic electrodynamics and the significance of the quantities appearing in them depend on the physical nature of the medium and on the way in which the field varies with time. Charges present in a conductor must be located on its surface. The presence of charges inside a conductor would cause an electric field in it. These charges can be distributed on its surface, however, in such a way that the fields that they produce in its interior are mutually balanced. The mean field in the vacuum is almost the same as the actual field. The two fields differ only in the immediate neighborhood of the body, where the effect of the irregular molecular fields is noticeable, and this difference does not affect the averaged field equations.