General students' misconceptions related to Electricity and Magnetism

Abstract

Electromagnetism, being much less intuitive than mechanics, where a lot of sources of misconceptions have been documented, has in addition to the common sources of misconceptions borrowed from mechanics other sources related to the abstract new concepts of electric and magnetic fields. This paper is the first general overview of the most important documented misconceptions related to E&M. New sources of misconceptions are also suggested. The shape of Lorentz law, tempting analogies between magnetic and electric fields, the connection between the Maxwell's equations and the derived laws (Ampere's law, the Biot-Savart law, Faraday's law and the Coulomb's law for the electric forces) and mathematics related misconceptions are among the suggested areas of misconceptions. A possible explanation of some student E&M related misconceptions using p-prims is given in the end of the paper.