Course Details for A.Y. 2018/2019

Course Objectives

The goal of this course is to provide the basic physical elements of electromagnetism at a bachelor level. On successful completion of this module, the student should understand the fundamental concepts of electrostatics in vacuum and in the presence of matter, magnetostatics, currents and circuits, electromagnetic induction and its applications, electromagnetic waves and Maxwell’s equations. The student should also be familiar with the most common concepts of electrical and electromagnetic induction and be able to explain a simple electromagnetic phenomenon of everyday life.

Course Content

• Basic Electrostatics: notion of charge, electric force, electric field, electric potential and the principle of superposition of effects, Gauss Theorem and its application, divergence theorem and Stokes theorem.
• Electrostatics in the presence of matter: macroscopic description of metals and dielectrics. Electrostatic of conductors, Laplace and Poisson equations. Polarization and polarization charges and their contribution to the total electric field. The electric displacement vector and the boundary conditions for the electric field and the electric displacement vector.
• Currents and circuits: Capacitors and dielectrics, charge and discharge of a capacitor in a circuit. The electric currents. Conservation laws and Kirchoff’s rules for closed circuits.
• Magnetostatics: Source of the magnetic field. Lorentz force law and induction magnetic vector. Laplace’s equation. The Ampere law: applications to calculate the magnetic field for different current distributions. Magnetic properties of the matter: diamagnetism, paramagnetism and ferromagnetism. Magnetization currents and magnetization vector. Vector field H.
• Electromagnetic induction: magnetic flux, Faraday-Lenz law (phenomenology and formulation). Transient in RL circuits. (phenomenology and formulation) and its applications (alternators, motors). Self and auto-inductance phenomena and relative coefficients.
• Maxwell’s equations: the forth Maxwell’s equation and the displacement currents. Maxwell’s equations in integral and differential forms. The electromagnetic wave equations, the Poynting vector and the energy transport.

Learning Outcomes (Dublin Descriptors)

On successful completion of this course, the student should

Prerequisites and Learning Activities

The student must be familiar with the basic notions of mathematic calculus (mainly derivatives and integrals in 1, 2 and 3 dimensions, vector calculus, basics of differential equations) and the basic concepts of general mechanics (force, energy, velocity, potential, Newton’s laws, energy conservation).

Assessment Methods and Criteria

Written (possibly by means of mid-term tests) and oral exam.

Textbooks

• R. Serway, J. Jewett, Fisica per Scienze e Ingegneria , EdiSES. (vol. Volume Secondo)    
• J. Walker, Hallida-Resnick, Fondamenti di Fisica , Casa Editrice Ambrosiana. (vol. Elettromagnetismo e Ottica) 2015.    

Course page updates

• A.Y. 2015/2016
• A.Y. 2016/2017
• A.Y. 2017/2018
• A.Y. 2018/2019