Department of Physics, University of Utah

REPRESENTATIVE TEXTBOOK

Electricity and Magnetism, Edward Purcell
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course is intended to bring students from the level of introductory, calculus-based physics courses, like the 2210-2220 sequence, to a level of facility and understanding that prepares them for junior/senior level physics courses, especially the 4410-4420 sequence. Approximately the second half of the course will be based on the text by Purcell, but the emphasis will be especially directed towards vector calculus. The first half of the course will include a study of special relativity, including the mathematics of four vectors. The first half of the course will also cover topics that will be helpful in subsequent courses, such as approximations, dimensional analysis, non-Cartesian basis systems.

Due to the nature of the course, the curriculum coverage is more flexible than in many other courses at the 3000 level. Of the subjects below, those that are truly mandatory are vector calculus applied to physical problems and a solid grounding in special relativity. The detailed course description below describes how the course was taught during spring 1999, the first time the course was given. The flexibility of coverage also allows for brief coverage of a few special topics that may be of interest to the class.
 

PRE-, CO-REQUISITE

Facility with calculus is an absolute prerequisite. A student must be comfortable with differential and integral calculus, and have had at least an introduction to multivariable calculus.
 

OTHER COMMENTS

For most students an introductory course in electromagnetism, like that in PHYCS 2220, should be considered a prerequisite. But 3310 includes an introduction to this material. The pace and level at which that introduction is followed in 3310 assumes that students have seen the material already, although at a less sophisticated level. In principle, a sufficiently confident student could enter 3310 without having formally taken a 2220-level course.