The Department of Physics

Course Description

This is a calculus-based advanced level physics course covering fundamental laws and phenomena in electromagnetism. The course is compulsory and is offered as part of the major in Physics. Through in-class discussions, and problem solving sessions, Students would have an opportunity to improve their ability to reason through challenging situations in the physical Universe using basic principles to develop appropriate solutions. Assessment and evaluation is done in the form of in-course tests and a Final examination.

CONTENT

This course will focus on the following:
Electromagnetic Theory

• The electric field: Coulomb’s law. Discrete and continuous charge distributions. Divergence and curl of electrostatic fields.
• The electric potential: The potential of a localized charge distribution. Work and energy in electrostatics.
• Electric fields in matter: Polarization. The electric displacement and linear dielectrics.
• The magnetic field: The magnetic field, magnetic forces and currents. The Biot-Savart law. The magnetic field of a steady current. The divergence and curl of magnetic fields.
• Magnetic fields in matter: Magnetization. Response of materials to magnetic fields. The magnetic field inside matter. Ampere’s law in magnetized materials
• Electrodynamics: Electromotive force and electromagnetic induction. Maxwell’s equations and the displacement current in vacuum and in matter.
• Electromagnetic waves: The wave equation for E and B. Electromagnetic waves in a vacuum. Electromagnetic waves in conductors and dielectrics.

Applications of Electromagnetism:

• Waveguides: The rectangular waveguide. Transverse electric modes (TE) and transverse magnetic modes (TM). Propagation characteristics of rectangular waveguides.
• Antennas: Introduction to types of antennas. Antenna parameters in terms of the time-averaged Poynting vector.

GOALS/AIMS

• To enable students to develop a good understanding of the principles of Electromagnetic Theory and Electromagnetism for more advanced studies of Physics.
• To produce graduates with good critical thinking and problem solving skills enabling them to apply theory to the study and analysis of phenomena in Physics.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:

• Explain interactions between static charges
• Compute electric field for various charge distributions using Coulomb’s law and Gauss’s law.
• Calculate electric potential and work and energy in electrostatics.
• Compute electric fields in matter.
• Apply polarization and the electric displacement to linear dielectrics.
• Apply the Lorentz force and the Biot-Savart law in magnetostatics
• Use the laws of magnetism in differential and integral form with simple applications of these laws to compute magnetic fields.
• Compute magnetic fields in materials.
• Apply magnetization and the auxiliary magnetic field with applications to linear magnetic media such as diamagnetic and paramagnetic materials.
• Explain electromotive force and electromagnetic induction, Maxwell’s correction to Ampere’s law and the four Maxwell’s equations and plane wave solutions in free space.
• Use Maxwell’s equations in dielectrics and conductors.
• Investigate plane wave propagation in materials.
• Evaluate Maxwell’s equations in regions of space bounded by conductors.
• Explain propagating modes along transmission lines and waveguides.
• Evaluate types of antennas and fundamental parameters of antennas.
• Analyse radiation pattern, radiation power density, radiation intensity and directivity; simple applications of antennas.

Assessment