AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Understanding of the basic concepts of electromagnetism in vacuum.

At the end of the first module, the student will be able to i) understand the origin of electric and magnetic fields and know their properties; ii) solve simple exercises on DC circuits; iii) extend the concepts of mechanics to situations involving electromagnetic forces and energies; iv) understand the mechanisms of electromagnetic induction; v) describe the properties of a plane electromagnetic wave.

TEACHING METHODS

Traditional lectures; exercises solved by the lecturer with the student participation; laboratory experiments performed by the students in the presence of the teacher, with experiment tracks provided in advance.

Expected hours of individual study: 125
Classroom hours: 66
Hours employed in laboratory experiments or other activities: 6

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Lectures:

Electric charge and electric field

Electric charge. Conductors and insulators. Coulomb’s law. The electric field. Gauss’ law. Electric potential. Capacitance and capacitors. Energy stored in a charged capacitor.

Electric current

Current density. Resistance and resistivity. Ohm’s law. Electric circuits. Kirchhoff's laws. Power in electric circuits.

Magnetic field

Lorentz force. Magnetic force on a current-carrying wire. Biot-Savart law. Force between two parallel currents. Ampère’s law. Magnetic flux. Faraday-Neumann-Lenz’s law. Induced electric field. Inductance. Self-induction. RL circuits. Energy stored in a magnetic field.

Maxwell equations and electromagnetic waves

Ampère-Maxwell’s law. Displacement current. Maxwell’s equations in integral and differential form. Electromagnetic wave equation. Electromagnetic plane waves.

Laboratory experiments:

DC circuits (Series and parallel connection of resistors; measurement of ohmic and non-ohmic I-V characteristics)

RC circuits, measurement of the time constant.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

D. Halliday, R. Resnick, J. Walker - Fundamentals of Physics, 10th edition, vol.2 - Wiley

Slides and exercises uploaded in Aulaweb

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ANNALISA RELINI (President)

LUCA VATTUONE

MARINA PUTTI (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

http://www.fisica.unige.it/scienzadeimateriali/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=35

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written and oral exam

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Written test at the end of each module (or cumulative written test on the overall program), consisting in exercises and simple problems.

Partial tests consist of three exercises that must be solved in three hours, cumulative tests consist of four exercises (two exercises for each module) that must be solved in four hours.

Students who have received a grade of at least 15/30 in each of the partial tests or in the final written exam are admitted to the oral exam.

The oral exam consists in the discussion of the written test(s) and in two questions on the course topics, one for each module. The number of questions may be increased, either to achieve an excellent mark, or to reach the level required to pass the exam.

Exam schedule