CORE 007: Electromagnetism and Relativity
Syllabus

The topic list for this project is: electrostatics, DC circuits, dielectrics, magnetostatics, magnetic fields in materials, electromagnetic induction and inductance, AC circuits, Maxwell's equations, and the special theory of relativity.

Prerequisite: CORE 006 or the equivalent and CORE 004 or the equivalent.

Instructor: George E. Hrabovsky, george@madscitech.org, 608-276-6832.

Task #1: Start and keep a notebook for your study. This should be bound and have at least 300 sheets. You may need more than one notebook of this size. Smaller notebooks than 300-sheets can be used, but the total number of sheets should be at least 300. Each set of 300 pages started and completed is worth a point towards your final total of 4. To begin your notebook you will need a list of topics. The one listed below is only one possible choice. This choice is the default. Any choice other than this one must be approved by your instructor.

Procedure for the Course

If a topic from the list below is underscored that means there is some resource material for it. If there is no resource material for it then you must develop that for yourself.

It is expected that you will develop one or more questions for each topic. Questions can be of the form who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Once you have written down a set of questions for a topic, you either answer each of these qurestions or you explain how you attempted to answer the question and failed. Don't be alarmed; even some elementary questions resist answering. You can learn a lot just by making the effort.

The next step is to ask a set of new questions based on your previous attempts at answering your first set of questions (this can include those questions you were unable to answer before). Answer each of those questions as best you can and create another set of questions for each answer. Answer each of those to the best of your ability and ask another set of questios for each, but do not answer them right away. If you are really interested in one or more of these questions attempt to answer them in a, "topic of personal interest," session; or you may answer them in a personal research project.

Wherever possible give at least three examples of any definition, principle, or procedure.

This course will require a little less than three pages of notes for each topic to fill a 300 page notebook.

  1. The nature of electromagnetism
  2. Experimental electromagnetism
  3. Theoretical electromagnetism
  4. Computational electromagnetism
  5. Electric charge
  6. Electric fields
  7. The equations of Poisson and Laplace
  8. Capacitance
  9. Electric potential
  10. Electrostatics in Mathematica
  11. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, conductors and insulators, electric dipoles, electric flux, equipotential surfaces, method of images, charged particle beams, capacitors)
  12. Topic of personal interest.
  13. Topic of personal interest.
  14. Review of topics to date.
  15. Ohm's law
  16. Kirchhoff's laws
  17. Voltage and current sources
  18. Thévenin's theorem
  19. Transients in RC circuits
  20. DC circuits in Mathematica
  21. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, resistivity, energy and power in circuits, metallic conduction, multiloop circuits, Wheatstone bridge, voltage divider, current divider, amplifiers, differentiating circuits, integrating circuits)
  22. Topic of personal interest.
  23. Topic of personal interest.
  24. Review of topics 15-23
  25. Review of topics to date.
  26. Electric polarization
  27. Bound charges
  28. Electric displacement
  29. The interface between media
  30. Energy density in a dielectric
  31. Electric forces on dielectrics
  32. Displacement current
  33. Dielectrics in Mathematica
  34. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, Gauss' law in dielectrics, polar molecules, ferroelectricity, susceptibility, permittivity, coaxial cables, surface charge densities, dielectric capacitors, high-voltage transmission lines)
  35. Topic of personal interest.
  36. Topic of personal interest.
  37. Review of topics 26-36
  38. Review of topics to date.
  39. Magnetic fields
  40. The vector potential
  41. Ampère's law
  42. The Lorentz force
  43. Magnetic energy
  44. Magnetic forces
  45. Magnetostatics in Mathematica
  46. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, magnetic flux, motion of charges in magnetic fields, force and torque on a current-carrying loop, the DC motor, magnetic field energy, Biot-Savart law, magnetic monopoles, Helmholtz coils, solenoids, cyclotron frequency, magnetic focusing, magnetic pressure, energy storage)
  47. Topic of personal interest.
  48. Topic of personal interest.
  49. Review of topics 39-48
  50. Review of topics to date.
  51. Magnetization
  52. Diamagnetism
  53. Paramagnetism
  54. Ferromagnetism
  55. Magnetic fields in materials in Mathematica
  56. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, Larmor's theorem, hysteresis, current density, magnetic susceptibility, permeablity)
  57. Topic of personal interest.
  58. Topic of personal interest.
  59. Review of topics 51-58
  60. Review of topics to date.
  61. Faraday's induction law
  62. Mutual inductance
  63. Self inductance
  64. Induction in Mathematica
  65. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, Lenz's law, eddy currents, electromagnets, induced currents)
  66. Topic of personal interest.
  67. Topic of personal interest.
  68. Review of topics 61-67
  69. Review of topics to date.
  70. AC circuits
  71. Impedence
  72. Kirchhoff's laws for RLC circuits
  73. Transformations
  74. Transformers
  75. AC circuits in Mathematica
  76. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, phasors, reactance, resonant circuits, transformers, rectifier circuits, filters, motors, power factor)
  77. Topic of personal interest.
  78. Topic of personal interest.
  79. Review of topics 70-78
  80. Review of topics to date.
  81. Maxwell's equations
  82. Electromagnetic waves
  83. Waveguides
  84. Maxwell's equations in Mathematica
  85. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, the speed of light, energy and momentum in electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves in matter, standing electromagnetic waves, antennas, the oscillating dipole, the electromagnetic field tensor)
  86. Topic of personal interest.
  87. Topic of personal interest.
  88. Review of topics 81-87
  89. Review of topics to date.
  90. The principle of relativity
  91. Lorentz transformations
  92. Spacetime and 4-vectors
  93. Relativistic energy and momentum
  94. Lorentz transformations of fields
  95. Special theory of relativity in Mathematica
  96. Topic of personal interest (including, but not limited to, 5 practice problems, time dilation, Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction, transformation of velocities, mass-energy equivalence, field energy, field momentum, electromagnetic mass, motion of charges in electromagnetic fields, simultaneity)
  97. Topic of personal interest.
  98. Topic of personal interest.
  99. Review of topics 90-98
  100. Review of topics to date.

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