What is the first Maxwell equation?

What is the first Maxwell equation?

• A. Faraday's law
• B. Ampere-Maxwell law
• C. Gauss's law for electricity
• D. Gauss's law for magnetism

Answer: (C)

Electric charges are the sources of electric fields. The first Maxwell equation captures this by relating how much electric field spreads out from a point to the amount of charge in that region. In differential form, it says the divergence of the electric field equals the charge density divided by ε0. In words: the flux of E through a closed surface depends on the charge enclosed. This is Gauss’s law for electricity, which tells you where electric field lines begin and end. The other laws describe different phenomena: changing magnetic fields can create electric fields (Faraday’s law), currents and changing electric fields produce magnetic fields (Ampère–Maxwell law), and there are no magnetic monopoles because the net magnetic flux through a closed surface is zero (Gauss’s law for magnetism).

Electric charges are the sources of electric fields. The first Maxwell equation captures this by relating how much electric field spreads out from a point to the amount of charge in that region. In differential form, it says the divergence of the electric field equals the charge density divided by ε0. In words: the flux of E through a closed surface depends on the charge enclosed. This is Gauss’s law for electricity, which tells you where electric field lines begin and end.

The other laws describe different phenomena: changing magnetic fields can create electric fields (Faraday’s law), currents and changing electric fields produce magnetic fields (Ampère–Maxwell law), and there are no magnetic monopoles because the net magnetic flux through a closed surface is zero (Gauss’s law for magnetism).