dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaGeneral students' misconceptions related to Electricity and Magnetism
| Authors | Cristian Raduta |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0503132 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0503132 |
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.
{
"annotation_id": "cd5634b9-dd93-442d-8b50-1786805c7a9a",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:00:57.282000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:00:57.282000Z",
"file_hash": "0beebfab2eee1f6ebf290863ef940672e8d9e784a687c0fd6497d1ad315a437e",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Electromagnetism, being much less intuitive than mechanics, where a lot of\nsources of misconceptions have been documented, has in addition to the common\nsources of misconceptions borrowed from mechanics other sources related to the\nabstract new concepts of electric and magnetic fields. This paper is the first\ngeneral overview of the most important documented misconceptions related to\nE\u0026M. New sources of misconceptions are also suggested. The shape of Lorentz\nlaw, tempting analogies between magnetic and electric fields, the connection\nbetween the Maxwell\u0027s equations and the derived laws (Ampere\u0027s law, the\nBiot-Savart law, Faraday\u0027s law and the Coulomb\u0027s law for the electric forces)\nand mathematics related misconceptions are among the suggested areas of\nmisconceptions. A possible explanation of some student E\u0026M related\nmisconceptions using p-prims is given in the end of the paper.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0503132",
"authors": [
"Cristian Raduta"
],
"categories": [
"physics.ed-ph",
"physics.class-ph"
],
"title": "General students\u0027 misconceptions related to Electricity and Magnetism",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0503132"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "d0a6ac50-6fe7-4b79-a9c3-f042d0b8c537",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}