sid parameswaran, Oxford Physics - PHY7D: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2017

Physics 7D: Electricity and Magnetism, Spring 2017

Course Announcements:

6/19: Final grades have been uploaded to EEE and will be submitted to the registrar at 5pm Tuesday, June 20.

Course Information: For full information, see the syllabus.

Instructor: Sid Parameswaran, Assistant Professor

310J Rowland Hall, sidp_at_uci_dot_edu

TA: Rob Taylor

227 Rowland Hall robertbt_at_uci_dot_edu

MasteringPhysics: Register at http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com, course code parameswaran48359

Lectures: Tuesday/Thursday 9:30AM- 10:50AM, PSCB140.

Slides for lectures will be posted on the website usually on the day before or the day of the lecture. Lectures will involve both slides and chalkboard work, so you might like to take notes.

Office Hours: (a) Brief questions/clarifications: immediately after lectures

(b) In-depth questions:

Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00PM Rowland 227 (Rob Taylor)
Thursday, 2:00-3:00pm in Rowland 310J (Sid Parameswaran)

Note: the details on this website are a brief summary of the syllabus. For more detailed information on the course, grades, grading policy, please see the syllabus. I will assume you are aware of all the information, instructions, and rules contained in this document.

Overview:

This one-quarter course is an introduction, for physics majors, to one of the most beautiful and successful scientific theories: the study of electricity and magnetism (“E&M”). Over the next 10 weeks, you will develop an appreciation for how E&M embodies three fundamental aspects of good science. Demonstrations in nearly every lecture will illustrate how the theory is founded in empirical (i.e. observation-based) experimental facts — one reason why you are expected to attend every lecture. Readings, examples and assignments will hone your ability to use a handful of basic principles — the four “Maxwell Equations” — to quantitatively describe various electrical, magnetic, and optical phenomena in our daily experience. Finally, you will gain an appreciation for how E&M is predictive, by learning how its development has led to the continuous generation of new ideas and technological advances, since its development in the 19th century until the present day, aided by short quizzes in weekly discussion sections.

This is a difficult subject, and you are unlikely to master it in a one-quarter course. What you will do is get a taste of how very general principles and analytical reasoning can lead to quantitative results: in short, you will begin to think like a physicist. At the end of the course, you should come away with a basic familiarity with the key ideas of E&M and the ability to use these to describe natural phenomena.

Academic Honesty:

All UCI policies regarding academic honesty, as listed at https://aisc.uci.edu/, will be strictly and uniformly enforced. Anyone who is caught cheating will automatically receive a letter grade of F and usually cases will be referred to the Academic Integrity Office.

Graded Work:

There are two forms of graded work. Homework assignments, due weekly on Fridays at 5pm, must be completed using MasteringPhysics. Quizzes will be completed in the beginning of each discussion section.

Examinations:

There will be two timed, in-class, closed-book examinations, though you will have access to a formula sheet for reference.

Mid-term: in-class, on May 4 (1h 15min)
Final: June 15, 8:00-10:00AM in PSCB 220 (the usual lecture room) Apologies for the early time — this is set by the Registrar.

Sample Exams:

These will be posted around 7-10 days before the exams, with solutions. Please contact me if you wish to see old sample exams when the course is inactive.

Lecture Slides

Links will go live approximately one day before each lecture.

Topic 0: Overview

Topics to be covered before the Midterm

Topic 1: Electric Charges and Fields

Topic 2: Fux and Gauss's Law

Topic 3: Electric Potentials

Topic 4: Working with Potentials

Topic 5: Conductors and Insulators

Topic 6: Capacitors

Topic 7: Current and Resistance

Topic 8: Power (not on the midterm)