Welcome to Physics 321 Autumn 2019

Electricity and Magnetism (E & M) Tu Th 8:30-9:50

Prof. Gerald A. Miller miller@uw.edu Please use this email to contact me. B484, The head TA is Bert Xue, bertx@uw.edu)

Class email phys321a_au19@uw.edu

Office Hours Tues 4:00-5:00. Wednesday 11:30-12:30, or by appointment.

Text book- Griffiths (G), Introduction to Electrodynamics, 4th edition. The general goal is to provide you with the mathematical tools and physics experience that will enable you to use E & M to uncover the mysteries of Nature, to solve practical problems, to do well on exams, and eventually to use during your ultimate gainful employment.

The approximate syllabus: Electrostatics, boundary values problems, electric fields in matter and magnetostatics. This roughly the material covered in Chapters 1-4 of Griffiths. Knowledge of the mathematics discussed in Chapt.~1 is a prerequisite, but we'll begin with a review of the necessary background mathematics, Chapt.~1 will also be covered in Tutorial.

Goals of course: The student should gain understanding of electrostatics, be able to obtain for electric fields for various configurations of charges and boundary conditions. The student should gain an understanding of electric fields in dielectric media. Heavy emphasis will be placed on problem solving, and mathematical methods learned in previous math and physics courses will be employed. Successful completion of the course should result in a student gaining a professional ability to solve a wide variety of technical problems involving partial differential equations. We shall also discuss some modern physics topics within the context of E & M.

Course Structure

The time in class will be used mainly for lectures. From time to time we will do "Physics is Not a Spectator Sport" which means that you will be working out examples or parts of lectures yourself. It is very important that you participate. Some of the lecture material, needed for exams, will be from texts other than Griffiths.

Lecture notes will be posted

Tutorials are an important part of this course. The tutorial website is https://phys.washington.edu/tutorials-introductory-physics

Readings are from Griffiths

Approximate Schedule

Sept. 26 -Chapter 1, Math review Chapter 1

Oct. 1, 3. Electric field, Coulomb's law Gauss Law 2.1,2.2

Oct 8,10 Electrostatic potential 2.3, Static work, Conductors 2.4,2.5

Oct 15, 17 Laplace equation 3.1

Oct 22 Method of images 3.2

Oct. 24 Exam

Oct 25 Separation of variables I 3.3

Oct. 29, 31 Separation of variables II 3.3 Multipole expansion I 3.4

Nov. 5,7 Multipole expansion II 3.4

Nov. 12, 14 Polarization 4.1, Fields of a polarized object 4.2

Nov. 19 Electric Displacement Vector D 4.3

Nov. 21 Exam

Nov. 26 Linear Dielectrics I 4.4

Dec 2, 4 Linear Dielectrics II 4.4

Dec 10 10:30 Final Exam

Grading:

Homework (HW) Typically due Thursday at 10am in the boxes outside the north entrance of PAB (same as tutorial boxes). Please label your homework with name, section, and HW#. Most assignments will have two questions graded for 4 points each, and 2 points awarded for an adequate attempt at the non-graded questions. Lecture HW will be returned in tutorial. Lecture HW will not be accepted once solutions are posted (except under extenuating circumstances). Doing the assigned problems is probably the most important ingredient in learning the lecture material, and your scores on these represent 20 % of the grade. You may, and should discuss the HW problems with fellow students, but the solutions must be your own. The use of Mathematica, or other electronic tools, to solve homework problems is generally encouraged, and some HW sets may require the use of such tools. If you use Mathematica or Matlab, the relevant notebook (.nb) must be provided along with the HW.

Exams Midterms 1&2 will be worth 80 points total, and the Final will be worth 110 points. If you need more room that the front allows for a question, please use the back of the corresponding sheet, as each page will be separated in the grading process. Exams will be closed book, with the exception of one handwritten sheet of notes front and back no larger than 8.5"x11".

2019 midterm 1 solved questions 1-3

2019 midterm 1 solved question 4

2019 midterm 2 solved questions 1-3

2019 midterm 2 solved question 4

  • 2019 midterm histogram. Average = 53/80 (66%) St. dev. 16. Approximate GPA 53= 3.2, 69=4.0, 37=2.4
  • 2019 midterm 2 histogram. Average = 44/80 (55%) St. dev. 14. Approximate GPA 44= 3.2,58=4.0, 30=2.4

    2019 Final Exam solved questions 1-4

    2019 Final Exam solved question 5

    2018 midterm solved questions 1-3

    2018 midterm solved question 4

  • A 2017 midterm solved. Different Prof.

  • 2017 2nd midterm solved.

  • 2018 year's 2nd midterm solved. Q4 .
  • 2018 year's 2nd midterm solved. Q1-3 .
  • 2016 3rd midterm solved.
  • 2017 3rd midterm solved.
  • 2018 3rd midterm solved Q1-3. This midterm included magnetism. Magnetism will NOT be on the 2019 final exam
  • 2018 3rd midterm solved. Q4 .

    Scheduling issues:

    Holidays Nov 11, Nov 28,29. Midterm Exams Thursday Oct. 24,8:30 Thurs Nov. 21, 8:30

    Lecture notes:

  • Lecture Sept. 26

  • Lectures Oct. 2,4

  • Lectures Oct. 8,10

  • Lecture Oct. 15

  • Lecture Oct.17

  • Lecture Oct.22,28

  • Lectures Oct.28,31 Nov 5

  • Lectures Nov 5-12

  • Lectures Nov 14-19

  • Lectures Nov 26, Dec 3

    Final exam: Tuesday Dec. 10, 10:30:12:20,

  • HW1 due Oct. 3

  • Hw1 solution

  • HW2 due Oct. 10

  • Hw2 solution
  • HW3 due Oct 17
  • HW3 solution, numbering of solutions doesn't match numbers of assignment, but its all there
  • HW3 prob1 solution (first page was missing)
  • HW4 due Oct. 31
  • HW4 solution

  • HW5 due Nov. 7
  • HW5 solution

  • HW6 due Nov. 14
  • HW6 solution
  • HW7 due Dec 5
  • HW7 solution.
  • HW7 Mathematica for prob 2 solution.

    Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).