Hacker News Reader

Magnetic field can be derived from electrostatic effects and special relativistic effects. That sounds complicated but both are sophomore level concepts. Sure, the electromagnetic force is mediated by photons, but you don’t need that piece of (graduate-level) knowledge to understand magnetism.

View on HN

I personally absolutely need that piece of information. I have a simple assumption about the material universe. All interactions rely on touch. Atoms or their sub-particles don't magically interact with each other over a distance.

That's why I still don't understand gravitation, at all. I don't care that we can calculate something. That doesn't tell me what is actually happening.

In a classical sense, no interactions rely on touch and atoms only interact with each other over a distance.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com