Abstract

An abominable by-product of the modern relativity era is the widely circulated notion that a magnetic field is the relativistic component of the electric field. This idea arises out of applying the Lorentz transformation to Heaviside's versions of Maxwell's equations. The result yields both the Biot-Savart law and the Lorentz force along with the relativistic conversion factors. This article aims to demonstrate that the Lorentz transformation of the Maxwell/Heaviside equations, as regards producing the vXB component of the Lorentz force, is merely doing what a Galilean transformation would also do. It is restoring the convective component that was part of Maxwell's original fourth equation, and which Heaviside and Gibbs took away in 1884. This article also demonstrates that the Biot-Savart law is a solution to Maxwell's equations independently of the Lorentz transformation.