Electrostatic and Magnetostatic Forces That Arise from Electrostatic and Magnetostatic Pressures

Abstract

With the insight provided by a balance equation of electromagnetic momentum, we compare the force on a dielectric slab inside a capacitor with the force on a magnetizable rod inside a solenoid. We conclude that these forces are not exactly analogous, as usually thought. We present a device that is a proper analogy of the case of a dielectric slab inside a capacitor. Our analysis shows the significance of the electrostatic and magnetostatic pressures to the understanding of these effects and shows the conceptual differences between both cases.