Syllabus
Textbook: Wolfson and Pasachoff, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd ed., Addison-Wesley (1999)
I. Electric Charge
- electric charges
- conservation of charge
- Coulomb's law
- superposition
II. Electric Field
- E-field and field lines,
- E-field of a point charge, a dipole, and a continuous charge distribution
- motion of charges in E-field
- torque on a dipole
III. Gauss' Law
- electric flux
- application of Gauss' law
- conductors in E-fields
IV. Electric Potential
- electric potential energy
- potential difference
- equipotentials
V. Capacitors and Dielectrics
- capacitance
- capacitors in parallel and in series
- energy in capacitors
VI. Currents in Materials
- currents
- Ohm's law
- resistance and resistivity
- Drude model of conductivity
VII. DC Circuits
- batteries
- resistors in parallel and in series
- Kirchhoff's law
- RC circuit
VIII. Effects of Magnetic Fields
- magnetic forces on an electric charge and on a current
- Hall effect
- magnetic dipole
- torque on a current loop
IX. Production of Magnetic Fields
- Biot-Savart Law
- Ampère's Law
- solenoids
- the Maxwell displacement current
X. Faraday's Law
- Lenz's Law
- Faraday's Law
- eddy currents
XI. Inductance
- inductance
- energy in inductors
- RL circuits
XII. Maxwell's Equations and E&M Waves
- Maxwell's equations
- E&M waves
- dipole radiation
- polarization
XIII. Light
- speed of light
- reflection and refraction
- Fermat's Principle
- dispersion
XIV. Mirrors and Lenses
- lenses
- mirrors
- optical instruments
- aberrations
XV. Interference
- double-slit interference
- thin-film interference
XVI. Diffraction
- single-slit diffraction
- diffraction gratings