Electromagnetism I

Joachim Vogt, Fall 2001


Course description

This theoretical physics course deals with the principles of electromagnetism. We proceed in four steps.

The first part mainly addresses the field concept and the mathematical tools of multivariate calculus. The second part deals with the relations between electric charges and fields, and further addresses electric forces, energy, and dielectric materials. The third part discusses magnetostatic fields, the associated current distributions, and magnetic materials. The final part takes into account the full set of Maxwell's equations and addresses phenomena where electric and magnetic fields interact, e.g., induction and electromagnetic waves.

Summaries are available for the first part and parts 2-4.

Homework, exams, and grading

Homework is assigned each Thursday class session and is due at the beginning of the next Thursday class session. Problems and methods of solution are discussed in the recitation sessions. There will be a midterm exam on 9 November, and a final exam in the examination week on 20 December. The final grade is determined on the basis of homework (40%), midterm exam (20%), and final exam (40%).

Literature

The textbook of this course is

Lorrain, P., D.R. Corson, and F. Lorrain, Fundamentals of electromagnetic phenomena, Freeman and Co.


Problem sheets

No. Topics Due date Problems Solutions
1 Basics of calculus and vector algebra Sep. 21 PS  
2 Scalar fields and the gradient vector Oct. 4 PS  
3 Vector fields, divergence, curl, line integration Oct. 25 PS PS
4 Surface integration, Stokes' theorem Nov. 1 PS PS
5 Electric fields, superposition, Coulomb's law Nov. 15 PS PS
6 Charge density, Gauss' law, Kirchhoff's law Nov. 22 PS PS
7 Energy of charge configurations, capacitance Nov. 29 PS PS
8 Ampere's law Dec. 6 PS PS

Last modified: Fri Jul 7 13:57:12 CEST 2006