Abstract

The Abraham force is discussed briefly. It is recalled that the old controversy concerning the Minkowski and Abraham tensors for an electromagnetic field in matter, as well as efforts at observing the Abraham force, are pointless because it is now well established that both tensors are equally satisfactory, as long as the various subsystems are treated correctly. If one ascribes to the electromagnetic field in matter a momentum density of E × H/c2, like Abraham, then Lahoz and Graham have observed the magnetic force density on a polarization current, or only one of the six components of the Abraham force. Their interpretation of their experiments is erroneous.

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