Physical processes in electromagnetism

Electromagnetism is a difficult subject but also a fascinating one. The difficulties are of two kinds: conceptual or physical and mathematical or computational. In other words there are the ideas and there is the language in which the ideas are clothed. Of course a complete separation between these is impossible, nevertheless it is desirable to clarify the concepts before getting involved with the detailed mathematics. At least this is the procedure most suited to engineers who find abstract mathematics difficult. It is also the method which is historically correct, because Michael Faraday knew no formal mathematics and even Maxwell preferred mental pictures to mathematical equations. The mistaken idea that Maxwell´s theory is the same as Maxwell´s equations is due to Heinrich Hertz. The author discusses the physical ideas of electromagnetism