Unit 1

Unit 1

Unit 1 • Unit 2 • Unit 3 • Unit 4 • Unit 5 • Unit 6 • Unit 7 • Unit 8

From Coulomb to Maxwell - A Review of Maxwell's Equations

August 26 to September 10

You should review the notes and videos below by Thursday, September 10.
Your response to Discussion Question 1.1 is due Tuesday, September 1, at 5pm.
Your response to Discussion Question 1.4.1 or 1.4.2 is due Tudesday, September 8, at 5pm.
Your solutions to Problem Set 1 are due Thursday, September 10, at 5pm.
See the links at the bottom of this page for uploading your work to Blackboard.

In this unit we will review the development of Maxwell's Equations for classical electrodynamcis, expressing them in terms of both fields and potentials. We will discuss the different sets of physical units that are used for electrodynamics. We will see how gauge invariance leads to different representions of Maxwell's equations in terms of the potentials. We will see that waves are a solution. We will review Fourier transforms, that will be extensively used throughout the course.

Below is a list of links to course notes for each topic in this unit, followed by links to recorded video lectures. Following these topic-links are links to the unit Discussion Boards and the unit Problem Set.

Notes and Video Lectures

Notes 1-1 - Electrostatics
- Video 1-1.1 - Coulomb's Law, superposition, charge density [16 min]
- Video 1-1.2 - Electric field and Maxwell's equations for electrostatics [28 min]
- Video 1-1.3 - Helmholtz's Theorem [18 min]
Notes 1-2 - Magnetostatics
- Video 1-2.1 - Magnetic fields, current density, charge conservation [22 min]
- Video 1-2.2 - Maxwell's equations for magnetostatics [20 min]
Notes 1-3 - Faraday's Law and Maxwell's Correction to Ampere's Law, Systems of Units
- Video 1-3.1 - Faraday's Law, Maxwell's correction to Ampere's Law, waves, systems of units [30 min]
Notes 1-4 - Electromagnetic Potentials and Gauge Invariance
- Video 1-4.1 - Electrostatic potential, magnetostatic vector potential [18 min]
- Video 1-4.2 - Scalar and vector potentials for dynamics, gauge invariance [12 min]
- Video 1-4.3 - Lorenz gauge, Coulomb gauge [26 min]
- Video 1-4.4 - Transverse and longitudinal parts of a vector field, Helmholtz's Theorem revisited [17 min]
Notes 1-5 - Review of Fourier Transforms
- Video 1-5.1 - Fourier transforms, transform of the Dirac delta function, transform of the Coulomb potential [17 min]
Notes 1-5-supp - Review of Fourier Series and derivation of Fourier Transforms
Notes 1-supp - Review of Vector Calculus and Math Methods: surface and line integrals; rectangular, spherical and cylindrical coordinates; vector differential operators and their expression in different coordinate systems; integral vector calculus: Gauss' Theorem and Stoke's Theorem; the Dirac delta function

Discussion Board for Unit 1
Use this link to post questions regarding the material in Unit 1. Questions and replies will be viewable by the entire class. To post a question, click on the Create Thread link on the top of the Discusson Board page. To get an email message whenever someone makes a post, click on the Subscribe link on the top of the Discussion Board page.

Discussion Question 1.1 - Due Tuesday, September 1, at 5pm
In the Notes 1-1 you will find Discussion Question 1.1. Use this link to post your brief response to this question. You may view responses only after you have posted your own response. To post your response, click on the Create Thread link on the top of the Discusson Board page.

Discussion Questions 1.4.1 and 1.4.2 - Due Tuesday, September 8, at 5pm
In the Notes 1-4 you will find Discussion Questions 1.4.1 and 1.4.2. Use this link to post your brief response to one of these two questions. You may view responses only after you have posted your own response. To post your response, click on the Create Thread link on the top of the Discusson Board page.

Problem Set 1 - Due Thursday, September 10, at 5pm
You must scan or take a photo of your solutions, collate them into a single multi-page pdf file, and upload it to Blackboad using this link.