PHY 350 Electricity and Magnetism

Syllabus

 

 

 

Instructor:         André Wehner, Olin 111, Ph. 238-5919, e-mail wehner@centre.edu,

                        Office Hours: M-T-W-Th: 4-8, or by appointment.

 

Class Time:       10:20-11:20 M-W-F, Olin 109

 

Text:                 Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd edition, Griffiths

               

Grading:           4 tests @ 12.5% each = 50%

Final 25%

Homework 25%

 

 

Course Description

 

This course is a continuation of PHY 230, which already gave you an introduction to electricity and magnetism. We shall now approach the same topics from a more theoretical, geometric point of view. One of our goals is to motivate the introduction of special relativity, field theory, and gauge theory, another is to prepare you sufficiently for graduate studies in physics.

 

We will skip Ch. 1 in our textbook, the mathematical introduction, because we have covered all of this material in PHY 330. You are expected to be intimately familiar with this material. The mathematical methods that will be most important in this class are vector calculus in rectangular and curvilinear coordinates (including integral theorems), orthogonal functions (including Legendre polynomials and Fourier series), and delta functions.

 

We will cover all the topics that are traditionally part of a one-semester E&M class: electrostatics (Ch. 2), with special techniques (Ch. 3) and applied to fields in matter (Ch. 4), magnetostatics in vacuum (Ch. 5) and matter (Ch. 6), and electrodynamics with Maxwell’s equations (Ch. 7). At this point we will have assembled all the tools necessary to discuss advanced applications – see Griffiths’ note on page 343. If time permits, we shall then consider conservation laws (Ch. 8) and electromagnetic waves (Ch. 9). Unfortunately, we will not have time to cover the exciting subjects of potential theory (Ch. 10) and relativistic electrodynamics (Ch. 12). 

 

Homework is an essential part of this class. You are encouraged to cooperate on the assignments, but you should only turn in your own work. Late homework will be marked down (of course, exceptions can be made for emergencies). The solutions you present in both the homework and the tests must be complete, coherent, and well-organized. Expect to be graded on a 90-80-70 scale, depending on the class average.

 

This syllabus can be found at http://web.centre.edu/wehner/courses/p350s04.htm .

 

Schedule

 

Day

Section covered

Homework (due dates will be announced in class)

 

 

 

2/4

2.1

1,3,6-8

2/6

2.2

9-11, 14, 15,18

2/9

2.3

20,22,23,25-27,29

2/11

2.4

31-33

2/13

2.5

36,39

2/16

2.5

41,44,46,49,51

2/18

3.1

2,3,5

2/20

3.2

6-9

2/23

3.3

12,13,17-19,21,23-25

2/25

3.4

26-28,32,33

2/27

3.4

38,40-42,45,46

3/1

Test 1 (Chs. 2-3)

 

3/3

4.1

2,5,7,8

3/5

4.2

10,11,13

3/8

4.3

15,16,17

3/10

4.4

18,20-23,26

3/12

4.4

33,37,38

3/15

5.1

2-5

3/17

5.2

8,9,11

3/19

5.3

13,15,16,20,21

3/29

5.4

22-25,27,31,33,37

3/31

5.4

38,39,41,42,44-46,50,53,54,57,59

4/2

Test 2 (Chs. 4-5)

 

4/5

6.1

3-5

4/7

6.2

8,9

4/9

6.3

12,13,15

4/12

6.4

16,20-25

4/14

7.1

1,4,5,8,9

4/16

7.2

12,13,16,18,20,22,25

4/19

7.3

31-34

4/21

7.3

39,40,42,47,48,50,55,57,58,60

4/23

Test 3 (Chs. 6-7)

 

4/26

8.1

2-5

4/28

8.2

9-12,14,15

4/30

9.1

1-4,6

5/3

9.2

9,11-13,15

5/5

9.3

Rest TBA

5/7

9.4

 

5/10

Test 4 (Chs. 8-9)

 

 

 

 

5/14,8:30

Final

(comprehensive)