I\'m just a beginner so bear with me. Consider two frames at rest wrt to each ot

Question

I'm just a beginner so bear with me. Consider two frames at rest wrt to each other separated by distance enough for light to take a minute or so. At a given instant we create two large dipoles by some method. Electric field will start to travel at the time of creation at speed of light. But before electric field reaches frame 1, we reunite the dipole in frame 1. so when electric field reaches from frame 2 to frame 1, there'll be no effect on it, since net charge is zero. But electric field from frame 1 when reaches, creates force on dipole of frame 2. So in reality what happens? Is conservation of momentum violated? Or law of equal and opposite forces???

Explanation / Answer

Action equals reaction isn't generally true in electrodynamics such as the simple case of magnetic forces acting upon moving charges, whereas the conservation of momentum holds in all areas of physics. There is momentum associated with the electromagnetic field which must be added to that of the momentum of the charges it acts upon to get the total momentum of the electrodynamic system.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse I
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.