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Course Outline

The theory of electromagnetism was one of the great accomplishments of 19th century physics and, built on the general framework of Newton's Laws of mechanics, unified and explained a large range of phenomena associated with charged objects, currents and magnets. By the end of the century the theory had evolved to a compact and aesthetically pleasing form, which is still widely used.

Electromagnetism is arguably the most important way of probing and learning about the physical world. Almost all modern scientific laboratories and the experiments conducted in them would be impossible to imagine without extensive use of electronic equipment. Much of what is learned in these circumstances hinges on understanding the electromagnetic interaction between the equipment and the physical system that is being observed. Electromagnetism has made possible much of the technology that is characteristic of the industrialized world: electric appliances, electronics, electric motors, power generation, computers, wireless communication, etc,...

One of the predictions of the theory of electromagnetism is the existence of electromagnetic waves, which offer a complete description of the classical properties of light. Optics is the study of the properties of light. Some, such as reflection, refraction and image production using lenses are readily apparent. However, optics has consistently yielded surprising phenomena, which often provide fundamental insights into the nature of the physical world.

Phys 132 aims to introduce you to the phenomena of electricity and magnetism and optics and the theories which describe them as well as some of their practical applications.

• Course Number: PHYS 132
• Instructor: Prof. David Collins, Physics
• Contact Information:
  • Wubben 228B
  • Telephone: 248-1787
  • Email: [email protected]
• Class Times: MTWF 11:00am - 11:50am
• Classroom: Wubben 161
• First Class Meeting: Monday 21 August 2017
• Text:

  R. D. Knight Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 2, 4th ed, Pearson (2017).

• Syllabus: Pdf Format

The course will cover the following topics subject to minor modifications.

1. Electric charge, fields, potentials and currents.
2. Electric circuits.
3. Magnetic fields, interaction with currents.
4. Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves.
5. Wave optics.
6. Geometric optics.

Course Structure

The Monday, Wednesday and Friday class meetings will usually be in lecture format. You will be expected to study the relevant sections of the text before class meetings.

Most Tuesday meetings will consist of a discussion/problem session during which you will work in small groups (with the instructor's help) on pre-assigned problems. You will be expected to attempt these before the Tuesday class meeting. There will be a short quiz covering the material at the end of the discussion session.

Homework Assignments

Apart from the Supplementary Exercises, problem numbers all refer to Knight, Physics, 4th ed. Supplementary Exercises can be found by clicking this link.

Homework Solutions

Homework solutions will be posted in the course Desire 2 Learn (D2L) shell.

Quizzes

There will be a short quiz at the end of each of each Thursday discussion session. Quiz solutions will be posted in the course D2L shell.

Warm Up Exercises

There will be warm up exercise, approximately once per week, due by 9:00am. Exact dates will be announced by the instructor closer to the time. Warm up exercises are hosted on D2L.

Exams

There will be three 50 minute exams during class on the following dates: 19 September 2017, 24 October 2017 and 14 November 2017. There will be a comprehensive final exam on 13 December 2017. Solutions to the exams for this semester will be posted below after the exams have been graded.

Exams and solutions from previous semesters.

Exams and solutions from this semester.

Solutions will be posted after each exam has been graded.

Links and Animations

1. Reference Sources
   1. Physlink Reference information and data, including decimal system notation, physical constants, math constants, astro-physical constants, etc,....
   2. Eric Weinstein's World of Physics Encyclopedia of Physics maintained by Wolfram Research. Entries at a variety of technical levels.
   3. Science and Engineering Encyclopedia: Physics Encyclopedia of Physics with a somewhat cumbersome interface. Includes conversion calculators.
   4. Periodic Table of Elements WebElements site.
   5. NIST Databases Administered by the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The final word in physical data. Intended for professionals.
2. Animations
   1. PhET From the University of Colorado.
   2. LTU Applets Collection of simulations provided by Scott Schneider, Lawrence Technological University.
   3. Animations for Physics and Astronomy Collection of simulations from the Penn State University, Schuylkill.
   4. Physclips Collection of simulations from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
3. Demonstrations
   1. MIT TechTV. Videos of demonstrations provided by MIT.
   2. University of Maryland Demos Lecture demonstrations provided by the University of Maryland.
   3. Wake Forest University Demos. Main website for demonstrations provided by Wake Forest University, North Carolina.
   4. Wake Forest University Demos. Videos of demonstrations provided by Wake Forest University, North Carolina.
   5. University of Iowa Demos. Demonstrations provided by University of Iowa.
4. Electrostatics
   1. Electric Fields Paul Falstad's 2 dim simulator.
   2. Electric Fields From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   3. Electric Field Hockey From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   4. Electric Potential From Eugene Khutoryansky.
   5. Capacitor Lab From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
5. Circuits
   1. DC Circuits From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   2. AC and DC Circuits From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
6. Magnetic Fields
   1. Magnet and Compass From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   2. Faraday's Electromagnetic Lab From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   3. Bubble Chamber tracks From Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Alternative link here.
   4. Bubble Chamber tracks From FermiLab. Alternative link here.
   5. Earth's Magnetic Field From National Center for Atmospheric Research.
   6. Charged Particle in Magnetosphere From National Center for Atmospheric Research.
   7. Trapped Charged Particle From Southwest Research Institute.
   8. Charges in Planetary Magnetic Field Create Radiation Belt From Penn State Schuylkill.
   9. Magnetic Bottle 1 From Penn State Schuylkill. A local link is here.
   10. Magnetic Bottle 2 From Penn State Schuylkill. A local link is here.
   11. NMR and MRI From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   12. DC Motor From Penn State Schuylkill. A local link is here.
7. Electrons
   1. Discovery of the Electron from the AIP.
8. Electromagnetic Induction
   1. Generator From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   2. Induction jump rope. from the University of Iowa.
9. Electromagnetic Waves
   1. Radio Waves From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
   2. Electromagnetic waves. from PSU Schuylkill.
   3. Electromagnetic spectrum. from K Fornash, IUS.
10. Waves and Optics
    1. Geometric Optics From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    2. Waves on a String From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    3. WebTop Optics Simulations From Mississippi State University.
    4. Newton's Rings From The University of Iowa.
    5. Air wedge interference From The University of Iowa.
    6. Waves From Zona Land. Best with IE.
    7. Rectangular and Triangular Wave Interference From Zona Land. Best with IE.
    8. Sinusoidal Wave Interference From Zona Land. Best with IE.
    9. Wave Interference From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    10. Two dimensional waves; ripple tank (From Paul Falstad) Best with IE.
    11. Microwave Interference From The University of Iowa.
    12. Interference Fringes From Dietrich Zawischa, The University of Hannover.
    13. Interference in Nature From Peter Vukusic and Roy Sambles, The University of Exeter.
    14. Soap Film Interference Fringes From HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
    15. Michelson Interferometer From The University of Iowa.
    16. Poisson spot From the University of Melbourne.
    17. Diffraction from circular aperture From PhilScience.
    18. Bending Light From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
11. Vision
    1. Eye anatomy From the University of Utah.