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Re: [Phys-l] Magnetic Field Symbol source



Go to the original papers for such questions. A coincidence: the subject of a contributed paper this last Sat. at the SCAAPT section**. Here's a google found answer to the student's question:

(note: B is magnetic induction the field is H)


3.3 A, B, C, D... H!
Three symbols that seem to make no sense are A for magnetic vector potential, B for magnetic induction, and H for the magnetic field. All these symbols can be traced back to Maxwell’s Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. In article 618 he displays a table of all his important electrical and magnetic quantities. If one reads the table from top to bottom in the symbol column, one notices it reads, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H!10 Thats right, they are in alphabetical order! Maxwell must have noticed that most of the quantities lined up with the beginning of the alphabet, C for current, D for displacement vector, E for electromotive force, etc. The ones that didn’t have any phonetic relevance, he just started filling in from the beginning of the alphabet. Moreover, his choice for magnetic vector potential being A might not be an arbitrary one, taken from article 540:

http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-030509-114708/unrestricted/symbols.pdf




**
3:15 PM

Contributed: "Why Do We Use this Symbol for that?"
James Lincoln, Tarbut V’Torah HS

Why do we use h for Planck’s constant, or I for current? What does the “a” in ΣF=ma really stand for? Who decided, and when, to use c for the speed of light? I have done some historical research on several symbols and constants, tracking down when they first appeared in literature and what they actually stand for. The results have been enlightening and that they will help both teachers and students understand the meaning behind the choice for the symbols we use.


http://www.csupomona.edu/~scaapt/meetings/2010mtg1spr/program.htm


bc googling to his last breath.




On 2010, Apr 27, , at 08:10, Arlyn DeBruyckere wrote:

I had a student ask what I would normally consider a trivia question
today. Why is the symbol for the magnetic field B?

--
Arlyn DeBruyckere
Science Teacher
School Photographer
Hutchinson High School
1200 Roberts Road SW
Hutchinson MN 55350


cut