171.301 Introduction to Electromagnetic Theory Fall 2010

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Course Description: The fall semester provides a thorough introduction to electrostatics, magnetostatics and electrodynamics. Practical examples and some demonstration experiments will be used to connect the elegant mathematical theory of electromagnetism with physical intuition. Instructor: Prof. C.L. Chien (pha.jhu.edu/people/faculty/clc.html) Office hours: Monday 2-4 pm in room 307 and by appointment. Questions are also answered by e-mail (clc@pha.jhu.edu) Teaching Assistant: Arpit Gupta Office hours: Thursday 12:30-2:30 PM in room 465 and by appointment Email: arpit@pha.jhu.edu ; phone (410) 516-0461 Text Book: "Introduction to Electrodynamics" by David J. Griffiths (3rd Ed.). An excellent introduction to the subject that I think you will enjoy. We will cover chapters 1-7 in the fall semester. Supplementary Literature: "Classical Electrodynamics" by J. D. Jackson. This is a rigorous graduate level text book. Complete and with many challenging problems. Ethics: The strength of the university depends on academic and personal in- tegrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized col laboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsifi- cation, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition. Homework assignments: It is the opportunity to test yourself how well you understand the material and solve related problems independently. So it is important that you pursue it independently. You may discuss with fellow classmates occasionally on some problems in general. But once you start to lay it out, you are expected to do it independently. If you do not work out the details on your own, I guarantee that it will be extremely difficult to pass the exams. Grading: Final Exam 50% / Midterm Exam 25% / Homework 25% Homework Assignments & Solutions Due 9/17: Q1 - "Show that eijk eijl = 2 dkl and eijk eijk = 6, summing over repeated indices from 1 to 3, where eijk is the Levi-Civita tensor, and d is the Kronecker delta." and Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch1: problems 22, 37, 38, 41, 42 Solution Due 9/24: Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch1: 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54 Solution Due 10/1: Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch2: 7, 16, 21, 32, 36 and Q6 - "Find the charge distribution that gives rise to a potential of the form V(r) = C exp(-ar), where C and a are positive constants and r is the distance measured form the origin." Solution Due 10/8: Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch2: 43, 44, 46; Ch3: 8, 14 Solution Due 10/15: Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch3: 24, 25, 28, 34, 41, 49 and Q7 - "An infinitely long conducting circular cylinder of radius R is cut into two halves lengthwise, and the two halves are held at potentials Vo and -Vo. (a) Find the potential everywhere. (b) Find the charge density on the cylinder as a function of f. If your answer is in the form of an infinite series, reduce the series to a simple term." Solution Due 10/29: Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch4: 10, 15, 18, 22, 24, 26 Solution Due 11/05: Griffiths (3rd ed) Ch4: 31, 32, 36; Ch5: 6, 9, 13 Solution Due 11/12: HW8 Solution Due 11/30: HW9 Solution Due 12/03: HW10 Solution