PHY 272 (PHY 272 H)- Spring 2014
Instructor: Paulo Bedaque, Physics Science Complex, room 3147
Office hours: TuTh 12:30pm - 1:45pm
Textbook: Either "Electricity and Magnetism", E. Purcell, 2nd edition or "Electricity and Magnetism", E. Purcell & D. Morin, 3rd edition. These books are very similar but the third edition uses the SI unit system we will use in lecture. Contrary to other topics, formulae in electromagnetism actually change in different systems of units so it's convenient to have the third edition. In any case I'll show you how to translate formulae from one system to the other in class. The lectures will not follow the book closely and the book (either edition) is only recommended, not required. The level of mathematical sophistication required in this class is somewhat above what most students start the semester with. I'll help you with multivariable and vector calculus during the semester and a good source for these topics is the free, online textbook "Mathematical Tools for Physics", by J. Nearing, that can be found here. Chapters 8, 9 and 13 are the relevant ones.
Discussion group: Questions and comments should,
if at all possible, be made through Canvas. You can do it anonymously
if desired. This way your question, and my and your colleague's
answers, can help all other students. Canvas is not good at
mathematical equations so, depending on how things go, we may migrate
to Piazza.
Grades: The grade will be based on frequent
homeworks (10%), and three in-class exams (30% each).
Syllabus and objectives: The goal of this class is to introduce the concept of electromagnetic fields and the mathematics used in their description, understand the laws governing them (Maxwell's equations) and apply these laws to a large variety of situations arising in several branches of physics, astrophysics and technology. The specific topics covered and the level of sophistication will be comparable to Purcell's book but it's unlikely we will be able to cover all chapters, in which case we will skip most of electric oscillating current circuits (discussed in depth in PHY272), dielectrics and magnetic materials.
Homework
homework_3 solution
correction
Electrostatics
Charge and electric field
Gauss' law; flux
Electric potential; line integral; gradients, divergence and curl; divergence and Stokes theorem
Conductors
Magnetostatics
Currents and Ohm's law; energy dissipation
Ampere's law
Electromagnetic induction
Faraday's law; inductance and self-inductance
Alternating current circuits
Maxwell's equations
Displacement current
Maxwell's equaiton in integral and differential form
Electromagnetic waves; energy transport
Electric and magnetic fields in matter
Electric dipoles, polarization and dielectrics
Magnetic dipoles, magnetization, ferromagnetics, paramagnetics and diamagnetics
Relativity
Origins of relativity and the relativistic invariance of
Maxwell's equations
Useful links:
Some people like " Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus", Fourth Edition, H. M. Schey.
Make sure you play with the applet
to find the field configurations generated by different charges
distributions. It is the best way to get some intuition for the
Coulomb law. There are other, better versions around the web. Let me
know if you find a particularly good one.
An amusing proof that
the line integral of a gradient over a closed contour must vanish (or,
what is the same, taht the curl of a gradient must vanish).
Undergraduate Peer Tutoring
There is a new tutoring service available to undergraduate physics
majors in the introductory courses, provided by physics majors who
have already completed the introductory series. The tutoring service
is available Monday through Friday, from 4pm - 6pm in PHYS 1204 (the
room next to the undergraduate student lounge). The tutors are happy
to provide homework help and discuss course topics in general with
students at no cost.
If you have any questions, please direct them to Hannalore
Gerling-Dunsmore at hannagd@terpmail.umd.edu
.
Academic Integrity: The University of
Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code
of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This
Code sets standards for
academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate
students. As a student you
are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is
very important for you to be
aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and
plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or
the Student Honor Council, please visit
http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html.
