James Clark Maxwell, in taking stock of our knowledge of electricity and magnetism, summarised basic results in terms of four equations known as Maxwells equations. He also showed that one of these equations known as Ampere’s circuital law needed some modification. This was achieved by introducing the concept of displacement current. Maxwell also shared that the electric and magnetic fields satisfy equation of wave motion and co-exist with one another. He postulated the existence of what is now known as electromagnetic waves. In this unit we will discuss these ideas in a very simple, elementary way.
