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So, below is a picture of a 3d electromagnetic field from a dipole antenna.

3d electromagnetic field from a dipole antenna

As we can see, the electric fields and magnetic fields are basically parts of the same thing. Now I'm curious, what is exactly the real difference between the electric fields and magnetic fields of an electromagnetic field? The electric fields are actually magnetic fields and vice versa if we look at the whole perspective, like for example the vertical part of my body can be interpreted as the "electric field" while the horizontal part of my body can be interpreted as the "magnetic field" but actually there is no difference between them as they are just parts of a single thing. Another example is the vertical part of a water wave can be interpreted as the electric field while the horizontal part of the same water wave can be interpreted as the magnetic field but in the end there is no difference between them as they are just parts of a single thing which is water. Electric fields being perpendicular to magnetic fields, in my opinion, is just am another viewpoint of someone who treat them as different objects seeing from different perspectives.

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    $\begingroup$ The magnetic field components are the purely spatial components of the gauge curvature of the four-potential. The electric field components are the remaining ones. Concretely, an electric field will change the trajectory of a particle over time, while a magnetic field will change its trajectory over space. $\endgroup$
    – Jeanbaptiste Roux
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 8:35
  • $\begingroup$ @JeanbaptisteRoux "Concretely, an electric field will change the trajectory of a particle over time, while a magnetic field will change its trajectory over space." so both are basically moving. They are waving after all, right? Therefore, no real difference between them? $\endgroup$
    – SnoopyKid
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 8:45
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    $\begingroup$ Ok, don't worry. I deleted my comment with the link. $\endgroup$
    – Voulkos
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 12:38
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    $\begingroup$ That’s a terrible rendering. Look at the one on page 16 of this PDF. The electric and magnetic fields don’t look even remotely similar. $\endgroup$
    – Ghoster
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 17:07
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    $\begingroup$ The electric fields are actually magnetic fields and vice versa … there is no difference between them. That’s false. In mainstream physics they are not the same thing, and there is a difference between them. $\endgroup$
    – Ghoster
    Commented May 20, 2023 at 17:22

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