PH1106: Electricity & Magnetism
Foundation in electricity, magnetism, and electrical circuits.
Course Description
This course develops a coherent foundation in electricity, magnetism, and electrical circuits, guiding students from fundamental principles to dynamic and oscillatory phenomena. Beginning with electrostatics, students explore Coulomb’s law, electric fields and potential, and Gauss’ law, before connecting these ideas to the microscopic model of electrical conduction, current flow, material conductivity, resistance, and capacitive energy storage.
The course then extends to magnetism, introducing magnetic fields through Biot–Savart’s and Ampere’s laws, the behavior of solenoids, the Lorentz force, the Hall effect, and electromagnetic induction via Faraday’s and Lenz’s laws, leading naturally to inductance and energy in magnetic systems.
Building on these concepts, the electrical circuits component develops practical and analytical understanding of voltage, current, resistance, and power, followed by systematic analysis using Kirchhoff’s laws. Students investigate time-dependent behavior in RC circuits, oscillatory dynamics in LC circuits, and resonance phenomena in RLC circuits, including phase relationships and energy transfer.
Through structured problem solving and conceptual reasoning, students cultivate strong physical intuition, mathematical modeling skills, and the ability to connect theory with real-world electrical and electromagnetic systems encountered in science and engineering.
Course Content
Electric Fields (EF):
- Coulomb’s Law
- Electric Field and Potential
- Gauss’ Law in Electrostatics
- Microscopic Model of Electrical Conduction
- Electrical Current
- Conductivity and Resistivity of a Material
- Ohm’s Law and Resistance
- Capacitors and Capacitance
Magnetic Fields (MF):
- Biot-Savart’s Law
- Ampere’s Law
- Solenoids
- Lorentz Force
- Hall effect
- Gauss Law in Magnetism
- Faraday’s Law and Lenz’s law
- Inductors and Inductance
Electrical Circuits (EC):
- Voltage, Current and Resistance
- Electrical Power
- Kirchhoff’s Laws and Direct Current (D.C.) Circuits
- Resistor-Capacitor (RC) Circuits
- Oscillations in Electrical Circuits
- Inductor-Capacitor (LC) Circuits and Relative Phases
- Resistor-Capacitor-Inductor (RLC) Circuits and Electrical Resonance
Reading and References
University Physics with Modern Physics, 15th Edition
Hugh Young and Roger Freedman, Pearson (2021).
ISBN-13: 978-9353949297