Electromagnetism is a branch of physics involving the study of theelectromagnetic force, a type of physical interaction that occurs betweenelectrically charged particles. The electromagnetic force usually exhibitselectromagnetic fields such as electric fields, magnetic fields, and light and is one of the four fundamental interactions (commonly called forces) in nature. The other three fundamental interactions are the strong interaction, the weak interaction, and gravitation.[1]
Lightning is an electrostatic dischargethat travels between two charged regions.
The word electromagnetism is a compound form of two Greek terms, ἤλεκτρον,ēlektron, "amber", and μαγνῆτις λίθος magnētis lithos, which means "magnesian stone", a type of iron ore. Electromagnetic phenomena are defined in terms of the electromagnetic force, sometimes called the Lorentz force, which includes both electricity and magnetism as different manifestations of the same phenomenon.
The electromagnetic force plays a major role in determining the internal properties of most objects encountered in daily life. Ordinary matter takes its form as a result of intermolecular forces between individual atoms andmolecules in matter, and is a manifestation of the electromagnetic force.Electrons are bound by the electromagnetic force to atomic nuclei, and their orbital shapes and their influence on nearby atoms with their electrons is described by quantum mechanics. The electromagnetic force governs the processes involved in chemistry, which arise from interactions between theelectrons of neighboring atoms.
There are numerous mathematical descriptions of the electromagnetic field. Inclassical electrodynamics, electric fields are described as electric potential andelectric current. In Faraday's law, magnetic fields are associated withelectromagnetic induction and magnetism, and Maxwell's equations describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated and altered by each other and by charges and currents.
The theoretical implications of electromagnetism, in particular the establishment of the speed of light based on properties of the "medium" of propagation (permeability and permittivity), led to the development of special relativity by Albert Einstein in 1905.
Although electromagnetism is considered one of the four fundamental forces, at high energy the weak force and electromagnetic force are unified as a singleelectroweak force. In the history of the universe, during the quark epoch the unified force broke into the two separate forces as the universe cooled
