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 picture info Maxwell's Equations Maxwell's equations are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. The equations provide a mathematical model for electric, optical, and radio technologies, such as power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar etc. They describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated by charges, currents, and changes of the fields.[note 1] The equations are named after the physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell, who, in 1861 and 1862, published an early form of the equations that included the Lorentz force law. Maxwell first used the equations to propose that light is an electromagnetic phenomenon. An important consequence of Maxwell's equations is that they demonstrate how fluctuating electric and magnetic fields propagate at a constant speed (c) in a vacuum [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] picture info Thesis A thesis or dissertation[1] is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.[2] In some contexts, the word "thesis" or a cognate is used for part of a bachelor's or master's course, while "dissertation" is normally applied to a doctorate, while in other contexts, the reverse is true.[3] The term graduate thesis is sometimes used to refer to both master's theses and doctoral dissertations.[4] The required complexity or quality of research of a thesis or dissertation can vary by country, university, or program, and the required minimum study period may thus vary significantly in duration. The word "dissertation" can at times be used to describe a treatise without relation to obtaining an academic degree [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] Gibbs Phenomenon In mathematics, the Gibbs phenomenon, discovered by Henry Wilbraham (1848)[1] and rediscovered by J. Willard Gibbs (1899),[2] is the peculiar manner in which the Fourier series of a piecewise continuously differentiable periodic function behaves at a jump discontinuity. The nth partial sum of the Fourier series has large oscillations near the jump, which might increase the maximum of the partial sum above that of the function itself [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] Doctoral Advisor A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director or dissertation advisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well as shaping, refining and directing the students' choice of sub-discipline in which they will be examined or on which they will write a dissertation.[1] Students generally choose advisors based on their areas of interest within their discipline, their desire to work closely with particular graduate faculty, and the willingness and availability of those faculty to work with them. In some countries, the student's advisor serves as the chair of the dissertation committee or the examination committee. In some cases, though, the person who serves those roles may be different from the faculty member who has most closely advised the student [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] Vector Calculus Vector calculus, or vector analysis, is concerned with differentiation and integration of vector fields, primarily in 3-dimensional Euclidean space ${\displaystyle \mathbb {R} ^{3}.}$ The term "vector calculus" is sometimes used as a synonym for the broader subject of multivariable calculus, which includes vector calculus as well as partial differentiation and multiple integration. Vector calculus plays an important role in differential geometry and in the study of partial differential equations. It is used extensively in physics and engineering, especially in the description of electromagnetic fields, gravitational fields, and fluid flow. Vector calculus was developed from quaternion analysis by J [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] Physical Optics In physics, physical optics, or wave optics, is the branch of optics that studies interference, diffraction, polarization, and other phenomena for which the ray approximation of geometric optics is not valid. This usage tends not to include effects such as quantum noise in optical communication, which is studied in the sub-branch of coherence theory. Physical optics is also the name of an approximation commonly used in optics, electrical engineering and applied physics. In this context, it is an intermediate method between geometric optics, which ignores wave effects, and full wave electromagnetism, which is a precise theory [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] picture info Rudolf Clausius Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (German pronunciation: [ˈʁuːdɔlf ˈklaʊ̯zi̯ʊs];[1][2] 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founders of the science of thermodynamics.[3] By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's principle known as the Carnot cycle, he gave the theory of heat a truer and sounder basis. His most important paper, "On the Moving Force of Heat",[4] published in 1850, first stated the basic ideas of the second law of thermodynamics. In 1865 he introduced the concept of entropy [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] picture info Chemical Thermodynamics Chemical thermodynamics is the study of the interrelation of heat and work with chemical reactions or with physical changes of state within the confines of the laws of thermodynamics. Chemical thermodynamics involves not only laboratory measurements of various thermodynamic properties, but also the application of mathematical methods to the study of chemical questions and the spontaneity of processes. The structure of chemical thermodynamics is based on the first two laws of thermodynamics. Starting from the first and second laws of thermodynamics, four equations called the "fundamental equations of Gibbs" can be derived. From these four, a multitude of equations, relating the thermodynamic properties of the thermodynamic system can be derived using relatively simple mathematics [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...] Gibbs Entropy In classical statistical mechanics, the entropy function earlier introduced by Rudolf Clausius is interpreted as statistical entropy using probability theory. The statistical entropy perspective was introduced in 1870 with the work of physicist Ludwig Boltzmann. In Boltzmann's definition, entropy is a measure of the number of possible microscopic states (or microstates) of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium, consistent with its macroscopic thermodynamic properties (or macrostate). To understand what microstates and macrostates are, consider the example of a gas in a container. At a microscopic level, the gas consists of a vast number of freely moving atoms, which occasionally collide with one another and with the walls of the container. The microstate of the system is a description of the positions and momenta of all the atoms. In principle, all the physical properties of the system are determined by its microstate [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]