Kemp, Grzegorczyk, and Kong ongoing work seeks to model the distribution of force on media by electromagnetic waves [11 The divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor [15 provide established method for calculating the radiation pressure on a dielectric surface via the application of the momentum conservation theorem[16 An alternate method for the calculation of radiation pressure on material media by the direct application of the Lorentz law has been recently reported [12 The method allows for the computation of force density at any point inside a dielectric [13 by the application of the Lorentz force to bound currents distributed throughout the medium and bound charges at the material surface and the method has been extended to include contributions from magnetic media [14 A comprehensive comparison of the two methods applied to particles has not been previously published, and, consequently, there exists some doubt in regard to the applicability of one method or the other. In the present paper, we compare the force exerted on 2-D dielectric cylinders as calculated from the divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor and the distributed lorentz force. First the total time average force as given by the divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor [16] is derived from the Lorentz law and the Maxwell equations for time harmonic fields. We demonstrate the numerical efficiency of he stress tensor method by computing the force on a 2-D dielectric particle represented by an infinite cylinder submitted to multiple plane waves. Second, we give the formulation for the distributed Lorentz force as applied to dielectric and magnetic media[12-14. The numerical integration of the distributed lorentz force over the 2-D particle cross-section area demonstrates equivalent results, although the convergence is shown to be much slower than the stress tensor line integration. Third, both the Maxwell stress tensor and the distributed Lorentz force methods are applied to two closely spaced particles in the three plane wave interference pattern, the former method exhibiting obustness with respect to choice of integration path and the latter method providing a 2-D map of the Lorentz force density distribution within the particles. Finally, the first theoretical demonstration of the Lorentz force applied to bound magnetic charges and currents in a 2-D particle is presented 2. MAXWELL STRESS TENSOR The momentum conservation theorem [16 relates the total force or a material object in terms of the momentum of the incident and scattered fields at all times it is derived from the lorentz force law and the Maxwell equations. In the case of time-harmonic fields, the828 Kemp, Grzegorczyk, and Kong ongoing work seeks to model the distribution of force on media by electromagnetic waves [11–14]. The divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor [15] provides an established method for calculating the radiation pressure on a dielectric surface via the application of the momentum conservation theorem [16]. An alternate method for the calculation of radiation pressure on material media by the direct application of the Lorentz law has been recently reported [12]. The method allows for the computation of force density at any point inside a dielectric [13] by the application of the Lorentz force to bound currents distributed throughout the medium and bound charges at the material surface, and the method has been extended to include contributions from magnetic media [14]. A comprehensive comparison of the two methods applied to particles has not been previously published, and, consequently, there exists some doubt in regard to the applicability of one method or the other. In the present paper, we compare the force exerted on 2-D dielectric cylinders as calculated from the divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor and the distributed Lorentz force. First, the total time average force as given by the divergence of the Maxwell stress tensor [16] is derived from the Lorentz law and the Maxwell equations for time harmonic fields. We demonstrate the numerical efficiency of the stress tensor method by computing the force on a 2-D dielectric particle represented by an infinite cylinder submitted to multiple plane waves. Second, we give the formulation for the distributed Lorentz force as applied to dielectric and magnetic media [12–14]. The numerical integration of the distributed Lorentz force over the 2-D particle cross-section area demonstrates equivalent results, although the convergence is shown to be much slower than the stress tensor line integration. Third, both the Maxwell stress tensor and the distributed Lorentz force methods are applied to two closely spaced particles in the three plane wave interference pattern, the former method exhibiting robustness with respect to choice of integration path and the latter method providing a 2-D map of the Lorentz force density distribution within the particles. Finally, the first theoretical demonstration of the Lorentz force applied to bound magnetic charges and currents in a 2-D particle is presented. 2. MAXWELL STRESS TENSOR The momentum conservation theorem [16] relates the total force on a material object in terms of the momentum of the incident and scattered fields at all times. It is derived from the Lorentz force law and the Maxwell equations. In the case of time-harmonic fields, the