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 perhaps 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.

Modern physics, particularly quantum theory, covers phenomena which cannot be explained correctly using Newton's mechanics; these include the properties of atoms, nuclei, light particles, and solid materials. The concepts and results in this area are important for understanding chemistry, biochemistry as well as the workings of electronic devices, lasers, MRI and many more.

Phys 112 aims to introduce you to the phenomena and theories of electricity and magnetism, optics and modern physics as well as some of their practical applications.

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. Electromagnetic waves.
  5. Geometric optics.
  6. Interference and diffraction.
  7. Modern physics of atoms.

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 Ting, University Physics, 1st ed. Supplementary Exercises can be found by clicking this link.

Homework Due date Problems
Homework 1 25 Jan 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 1, 2, 4, 5ab, 6, Ch 20 Questions: 6, Ch 20 Probs.: 11, 49
Homework 2 1 Feb 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, Ch 20 Probs.: 23
Homework 3 8 Feb 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 29, 30, 31, 32, 33a, Ch 21 Questions.: 5, Ch 21 Probs.: 19, 79
Homework 4 22 Feb 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 45, 46, 47, Ch 22 Questions: 10, Ch 22 Probs.: 23, 40, 46, 68
Homework 5 1 Mar 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, Ch 24 Questions: 8, 10
Homework 6 8 Mar 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 67, 68, 69, 70, Ch 24 Questions: 32, Ch 24 Problems: 36, 37, 48
Homework 7 15 Mar 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, Ch 25 Problems: 19, 20, 60
Homework 8 5 Apr 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 89, 90 , 91, 92, 93, Ch 17 Problems: 8, 11, 19
Homework 9 12 Apr 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 99, 100, 102, 103, 104, 105, Ch 18 Questions: 5, Ch 18 Problems: 68
Homework 10 19 Apr 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 111, 114, 117, 118, 119, Ch 18 Questions: 19, Ch 18 Problems: 34, 59
Homework 11 3 May 2019 Supplementary Exercises: 126, 127, 128, 129, 130 Ch 28 Questions: 26, 38, Ch 28 Problems: 61

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: 15 February 2019, 27 March 2019 and 24 April 2019. There will be a comprehensive final exam on 15 May 2019. Solutions to the exams for this semester will be posted below after the exams have been graded.

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Exams and solutions from previous semesters.

Fall 2012 Class exam 1
Fall 2012 Class exam 1: Solutions
Fall 2012 Class exam 2
Fall 2012 Class exam 2: Solutions
Fall 2012 Class exam 3
Fall 2012 Class exam 3: Solutions
Fall 2012 Final exam (version 1)
Fall 2012 Final exam (version 1): Solutions
Fall 2012 Final exam (version 2)
Fall 2012 Final exam (version 2): Solutions
Fall 2013 Class exam 1 (version 1)
Fall 2013 Class exam 1 (version 1): Solutions
Fall 2013 Class exam 1 (version 2)
Fall 2013 Class exam 1 (version 2): Solutions
Fall 2013 Class exam 2 (version 1)
Fall 2013 Class exam 2 (version 1): Solutions
Fall 2013 Class exam 2 (version 2)
Fall 2013 Class exam 2 (version 2): Solutions
Fall 2013 Class exam 3 (version 1)
Fall 2013 Class exam 3 (version 1): Solutions
Fall 2013 Class exam 3 (version 2)
Fall 2013 Class exam 3 (version 2): Solutions
Fall 2013 Final exam
Fall 2013 Final exam: Solutions

Exams and solutions from this semester.

Solutions will be posted after each exam has been graded.

Fall 2019 Class exam 1
Fall 2019 Class exam 1: Solutions
Fall 2019 Class exam 2
Fall 2019 Class exam 2: Solutions
Fall 2019 Class exam 3
Fall 2019 Class exam 3: Solutions

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. oPhysics Physics simulations provided by Tom Walsh.
    3. LTU Applets Collection of simulations provided by Scott Schneider, Lawrence Technological University.
    4. Animations for Physics and Astronomy Collection of simulations from the Penn State University, Schuylkill.
    5. 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. Balloons and Static Electricity From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    2. Electric Fields Paul Falstad's 2 dim simulator.
    3. Electric Fields From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    4. Electric Field Hockey From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    5. Electric Potential From Eugene Khutoryansky.
    6. 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. B Field Due to a Single Loop Penn State Schuylkill. A local link is here.
    4. Bubble Chamber tracks From Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Alternative link here.
    5. Bubble Chamber tracks From FermiLab. Alternative link here.
    6. Earth's Magnetic Field From National Center for Atmospheric Research.
    7. Charged Particle in Magnetosphere From National Center for Atmospheric Research.
    8. Trapped Charged Particle From Southwest Research Institute.
    9. Charges in Planetary Magnetic Field Create Radiation Belt From Penn State Schuylkill.
    10. Magnetic Bottle 1 From Penn State Schuylkill. A local link is here.
    11. Magnetic Bottle 2 From Penn State Schuylkill. A local link is here.
    12. NMR and MRI From PhET, University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    13. 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 NASA.
  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. Thin film reflection in soap bubbles. From the University of New South Wales.
    14. Newton's Rings From the University of New South Wales.
    15. Soap Film Interference Fringes From HyperPhysics, Georgia State University.
    16. Michelson Interferometer From The University of Iowa.
    17. Circular aperture diffraction From Hyerphysics.
    18. Poisson spot From the University of Melbourne.
    19. Bending Light From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
  11. Vision
    1. Eye anatomy From the University of Utah.
  12. Quantum Physics
    1. Photoelectric effect From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    2. Quantum Wave Interference From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    3. Photon interference From the Lyman page, Princeton University.
    4. Electron interference patterns from IMM Institute of the Italian National Research Council (CNR)
    5. Electron Scattering Davisson-Germer experiment. From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    6. Fullerene Diffraction From Anton Zeilinger, University of Innsbruck, Austria,
    7. Electron microscopy Assorted images from Wikipedia.
    8. Electron diffraction Images from NIH.
    9. Hydrogen Spectrum From the University of Utah.
    10. Emission Spectra From Southeastern Lousiana University.
    11. Models of the Hydrogen Atom From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.
    12. Rutherford Scattering From PhET, The University of Colorado. Alternative link here.