What does the development of electromagnetism inspire philosophy, thinking method and experimental method?

In the whole development process, it has experienced the process of conjecture, repeated experiments, discussion and symmetry.

Before19th century, people basically thought that electricity and magnetism were two different phenomena, but people also found that there might be some connection between them, because sailors saw that the magnetic needle on the compass would deflect when it thundered more than once. 1820 In July, Danish professor Oster confirmed the interaction between electricity and magnetism through experiments. He pointed out that the direction of the magnetic needle is related to the direction of the current. This shows that there is a rotating force in nature besides the force acting along the center line of the object, which Newton mechanics can't explain. So, is this a new subject? Electromagnetism was born.

Oster's discovery shocked the physics field, and scientists made various experiments in succession, trying to find out the relationship between electricity and magnetism. The Frenchman Ampere put forward the theory of electrodynamics. British chemist and physicist? ? In 83 1 year, he summarized the law of electromagnetic induction. In 845/kloc-0, he also discovered the "magneto-optical effect" and sowed the seeds of the unified theory of electricity, magnetism and light. But Faraday's theories are all expressed in intuitive form, lacking precise mathematical language. Later, the British physicist Maxwell overcame this shortcoming. 1865, according to Coulomb's law, Ampere's force formula, electromagnetic induction law and other empirical laws, he put forward the electromagnetic field equation in vacuum by using the mathematical means of vector analysis. Later, Maxwell deduced the wave equation of electromagnetic field. From the wave equation, he deduced that the propagation speed of electromagnetic wave is just equal to the speed of light, and predicted that light is also electromagnetic wave. This unifies electricity, magnetism and light, and is another theoretical generalization and synthesis of natural laws after Newtonian mechanics.

1888, German scientist Hertz confirmed the existence of Maxwell's electromagnetic wave. Using the discovery of Hertz, Italian physicist Marconi and Russian popov successively realized the transmission and reception of radio, which gradually developed wired telegraph into radio communication. These appliances all need a lot of electricity, which is far from what weak batteries can provide. 1866, the first self-excited motor came out, which greatly improved the current intensity. In 1970s, Europe began to enter the electric power era. The central power station was built in 1980s, which solved the problem of long-distance power transmission. The wide application of electric power is the second scientific and technological revolution in modern history after the steam engine. The development of electromagnetism provides an important theoretical preparation for this scientific and technological revolution. Because the new discoveries of natural science were quickly applied to production, the second industrial revolution flourished in European and American countries.

/kloc-In the 20th century, natural science has made brilliant achievements in many fields. All the basic problems in physics are basically solved on the basis of Newtonian mechanics. Scientists have invented a kind of material undertaker-Ether, which is used in electromagnetic phenomena that cannot be explained by Newtonian mechanics. Electromagnetic phenomena attributed it to the mechanical movement of the ether. They believed that the whole physical world could be attributed to the absolutely inseparable atoms and the absolutely forbidden ether.

Just as classical physics reached its peak and people were intoxicated with the realm of "perfection", a series of major events that shocked the whole physics community happened unexpectedly. First of all, Michelson and Morey conducted a famous etheric drift experiment to find the etheric motion of the earth relative to absolute rest, but the experimental results were contrary to the predictions of classical theory. In the study of comparative heat and thermal radiation, there have been contradictions that classical theories such as "ultraviolet disaster" cannot overcome. Classical physics was once again seriously challenged and faced with a major crisis for the third time.

/kloc-at the end of 0/9th century, the German physicist Roentgen discovered an X-ray that can penetrate the metal plate to make the negative film sensitive. Before long, becquerel discovered radioactivity. Inspired by becquerel, the Curies discovered the radioactivity of polonium and radium, and extracted radium with radiation intensity 2 million times stronger than uranium under difficult conditions. 1897, Thomson discovered electrons, breaking the traditional concept that atoms are inseparable. The discovery of radioactivity of electrons and elements has opened the door of atoms, made people's understanding go deep into atoms and laid the foundation for the establishment of quantum theory. Quantum theory is a science that reflects the structure of microscopic particles and their laws of motion. At the same time, the theory of relativity came into being in the study of electromagnetic effects and the relationship between time and space. Relativity relates mechanics to electromagnetism and the motion of time, space and matter. This is another great synthesis in the history of physics after Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell electromagnetism. Quantum theory and relativity are the two pillars of modern physics and the theoretical basis for the rapid development of science and technology in the 20th century.

In the forties and fifties of last century, the third scientific and technological revolution rose. The invention and application of electronic computer is an epoch-making achievement in the history of scientific and technological development. Most of the technological inventions in age of steam and the electrical age are aimed at prolonging people's physical and sensory functions and liberating people's physical strength, while electronic computers are aimed at prolonging people's brain functions. It began to replace part of human mental work, materialized and amplified human intelligence to a certain extent, greatly enhanced human ability to understand and transform the world, and now it widely permeates and affects all fields of human society.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of science and technology, the trend and characteristics of collectivization, socialization and high speed are extremely obvious. We may face new crises and new challenges at any time. As long as we keep innovating, the future of science will be better.