7 ms·

I thought we had long since established that magnetism is illusory, an artifact of special relativity. But it seems like a thin film of this stuff would be a g

I thought we had long since established that magnetism is illusory, an artifact of special relativity. But it seems like a thin film of this stuff would be a good thing to skim an electron beam over, if you wanted some extremely short-waved photons.

pdonis 3y ago
It's not illusory or an "artifact", since you can have electromagnetic field configurations that cannot be reduced to simple electrostatics (i.e., electric field but zero magnetic field) by picking an appropriate frame. Special relativity helps to explain why, even if you have a configuration that is purely electrostatic in one frame, it won't be purely electrostatic in other frames. But that's not the same as saying that all electromagnetic field configurations are that way. They aren't.
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
The magnetic field may be an artifact of special relativity. Magnetic materials are not relativistic artifacts.
chasil 3y ago
The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces. It cannot be reduced. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interaction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interaction
- deleted 3y ago
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- ithkuil 3y ago
  I think GP alluded to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duality_(electricity_and_magnetism) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duality_(electricity_and_mag...
lupire 3y ago
Why isn't electricity an illusory artifact of relativistic magnetism?