Electricity and Matter

From Photons to Atoms - The Electromagnetic Nature of Matter

“…The result is the description of an "immaterial" flow that carries vector quantities representing electricity and magnetism. I think that this is, to some extent, what Maxwell had in mind when writing his papers, trying for example to interpret the attraction of magnets as the difference of pressure of certain micro-vortices resident in matter 36 . Indeed, in those works there is a constant reference to the properties of electromagnetism, viewed as a flow of some nature.…”

“…This symbolic expression turns out to be the essence of all energy-preserving electromagnetic phenomena, cleared from specific geometric environments and coordinate systems. One has the following implication: ∂F = 0 ⇒ ∂U = 0 (see (36)), saying that Maxwellian waves comply with energy conservation rules. The good thing is that Maxwell's equations are not the sole laws compatible with ∂U = 0, though (unlikely) the interest is reduced to such a linear subcase in common practice 28 .…”

“…Indeed, in those works there is a constant reference to the properties of electromagnetism, viewed as a flow of some nature. Nowadays, this mechanical approach looks an ingenuously intricate gadget 37 , but the 36 In [87], J.C. Maxwell writes: "Let us now suppose that the phenomena of magnetism depend on the existence of a tension in the direction of the lines of force, combined with a hydrostatic pressure; or in other words, a pressure greater in the equatorial than in the axial direction; the next question is, what mechanical explanation can be given of this inequality of pressure in a fluid or mobile medium? The explanation that most readily occurs to the mind is that the excess of pressure in the equatorial direction arises from the centrifugal force of vortices or eddies in the medium having their axes in the direction parallel to the lines of force".…”

“…Of course this does not match at all my viewpoint: electrons neither in the form of particles nor in the form of waves travel across molecules. In solids, electrons may enjoy a certain degree of freedom only near the surface; for instance they can be liberated through the 118 From [36], p.335: "When a physical theory has to be buttressed by particular assumptions which do not derive directly from the premisses on which the theory is founded, then the theory is failing in a most important respect. [...] The classical free-electron theory of metallic conduction of heat and electricity must be adjudged to be in this category: it provides a pictorial representation of these phenomena which even now is not seriously misleading, but in a wider context it is sterile and unprofitable".…”

“…From[36], p.5: "We naturally wish to describe an electric current in a conductor as a flow of electrons through its substance, but detailed enquiry convinces us that any picture that we may make of this process in classical terms is fraught with inconsistencies".…”