This textbook presents an introduction to electromagnetism intended for undergraduate and graduate students in chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and related areas. The book requires no pre-existing knowledge of physics beyond Coulomb’s Law and the idea that electric currents serve as the source of magnetic fields. Only mathematics up through vector calculus is assumed. As a supplement to these basic concepts, there is an extensive appendix with clear explanations of the theorems and mathematical methods of electromagnetism that go beyond the vector calculus. Each equation in the text and in the appendix is derived with no details left out. The book is divided into two sections; the first covers electrostatics while the second covers electrodynamics. The first section introduces the theory of charges and electric dipoles with illustrations of their application to the properties of dielectrics, colloids, polymers, and electrolyte solutions. The second section introduces Maxwell’s equations and covers electromagnetic waves, light scattering, X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy, optical rotation, and the dispersive intermolecular forces, including Forster resonance energy transfer and the Hamaker force. In order to make the application of the theory of electromagnetism to chemistry complete, the book includes stand-alone chapters covering the relevant parts of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, classical mechanics, and quantum mechanics. The combination of clarity of presentation and careful attention to pedological detail serves to recommend the book as a source for self-study to students and also practicing physical chemists, who may need to refresh their memory of the various details of electromagnetism.
Electrostatics.- Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics.- Continuum
Theory of Dielectrics.- Molecular Theory of Non-Polar Dielectrics.- Plasmas
and the Poisson Boltzmann Equation.- Debye-Hückel Theory of Strong
Electrolytes.- Electromagnetic Waves.- Light Scattering.- X-Ray Diffraction
from Crystals.- Classical Mechanics and the Electromagnetic Field.- Quantum
Mechanics.- Semiclassical Theory of the Interaction of Radiation with
Matter.- Optical Rotation.- Dispersion Forces.
James K. Baird is Professor of Chemistry and Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA. He received the B.S. in Chemistry (summa cum Laude) from Yale University in 1963. He then entered Harvard University, where he received the A.M. in physics in 1965 and the Ph.D. in chemical physics in 1969. His dissertation advisor was Professor Norman F. Ramsey, the 1989 Nobel Laureate in Physics. After serving in the US Army as a Captain from 1969 to 1970, he joined the Health Physics Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He left Oak Ridge in 1981 to become Manager of Radiochemistry at the General Electric Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY. He joined the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1982, subsequently serving three terms as Chairman of the Chemistry Department. In 1990, he was awarded the Charles H. Stone Award for Research by the Carolina-Piedmont Section of the American Chemical Society. He has been a research fellow atthe Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force Research Laboratory, and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. He was twice Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Yale University.
