Today I read in book,in that book the magnetic field is called as relative field how magnetic field is relative
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1$\begingroup$ The title reminds me of this: youtube.com/watch?v=2Uy4jBAc6NQ $\endgroup$– probably_someoneCommented Mar 11, 2020 at 22:32
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$\begingroup$ What book? Relative to what? Your question is lacking in context. Please quote the passage and/or explain in more detail what you mean.. $\endgroup$– sammy gerbilCommented Mar 12, 2020 at 10:14
1 Answer
There are certain cases in which a magnetic field can be made to disappear by a Lorentz transformation to a different inertial reference frame. One such case is obvious: a uniformly moving charged particle. In a frame moving along with it, there is no magnetic field because the particle isn’t moving in that frame!
But in general this is not possible. To see this, simply consider two charged particles moving in opposite directions. There is no frame in which both are at rest, and thus no frame in which their magnetic field disappears.
You should ignore anyone who claims that the magnetic field is entirely relative. In general, it is not.
The correct viewpoint is that there is an electromagnetic field, and how much of it it is electric, versus how much is magnetic, depends on which reference frame you use to observe it.
In general, Lorentz transformations transform purely electric fields into a combination of an electric field and a magnetic field. In general, they transform purely magnetic fields into a combination of an electric field and a magnetic field. In general, they transform a combination of electric and magnetic fields into a different combination.