ELECTROMAGNEISTM (I)

Physics 385     FALL 2007
Course Information

Updated 28-Aug-07

back to P385 home page

Lectures: W: 12:00PM – 1:20PM;  F: 1:40AM - 3:00PM; ARC 107

On-time attendance at all classes is expected and considered when grading. If arriving to class on time poses a problem for you, please see me right away.


Lecturer:     Prof. R.A. Bartynski     bart@physics.rutgers.edu
                   Office: NPL 203; 732-445-4839
                   Lab: NPL 115; 732-445-3943

                   Office Hours: Official Hours: Thursday 3PM
                   In addition, you are welcome most any time you find me in my office or my lab.

                                                (Please avoid the hour before class, if possible.)
                                                If you wish, you may schedule a visit by e-mail or in conversation after class.


Grader:  Yi Zhang  sczy@physics.rutgers.edu,   Office: ???? , Phone: 732-445-????
                 Mailbox: Across hall from Chairman's office in Serin Physics Lab (second floor).
Text: Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd Edition by David J. Griffiths (Prentice Hall, 1999)  ISBN 0-13-805326-X

Exams: We will have two in-class exams and a Final Exam.
Please see syllabus for exam dates.

Homework: Count on a problem set typically assigned on Friday of each week and due Friday of the following week. Late homework will be accepted in the grader's mailbox until Noon of the Monday after the due date, at a penalty of 20%. (One late HW will be forgiven without penalty.) Later homework will not be accepted unless you are sick or have a compelling excuse and make arrangements in advance. Collaboration with your peers on the homework is encouraged. I suggest you try all the problems yourself on the weekend. Then you should have a regular meeting with a small group where you can work together on the hard parts. The night before is too late for this meeting--that's when you should be writing up your solutions in a way that the grader easily can follow your reasoning.

Grading: In-class exams: 20% each ; Final Exam: 30% ; Problem sets/Classwork: 30%
The classwork grade will be based on on-time attendance, homework, and contribution to the classroom discussion.

General Information

The course will follow Griffiths rather closely.  We will cover chapters 2 through 6 during the Fall semester and the reminder of the text (the "dynamic" [i.e., time dependent] part of electrodynamics) in the Spring.  The course will be a significant expansion of what you have already learned of electro- and magnetostatics in previous courses, but at a higher mathematical level, enabling application of the theory to a considerably wider array of situations.  We will also expand the discussion of some important results that deserve closer attention, and I may add material from other texts.

This text is really quite excellent.  It contains a good concise discussion of essential introductory concepts, and gives very lucid descriptions of several important subtleties. Neverthelss, you may find it useful to consult other texts for additional descriptions from a different perspective.  I plan to put several books on reserve in the library, including the classic text by Lorraine and Corson.

You should read as much of Chapter 1 of Griffiths as you can right away, to brush up on your vector algebra and calculus.  I will NOT begin the course by going through Chapter 1.  I plan to review the essential mathematical concepts and results as we encounter them.  However, Chapter 1 is a very good and concise summary.  In addition, I have designated the book Div, Grad, Curl and All That by Schey, a very nice primer on vector calculus, as a supplementary text. 

This should be an interesting and lively course. My goal is to help you master this material. I hope you will learn a lot and enjoy it. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please meet me after class or drop by my office.



Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability, please let me know as early in the semester as possible so that we can make any arrangements that may be necessary to support a successful learning experience. If you have a disability, please follow the directions at the following link

http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/ugrad/disabilities.html


back to P385 home page