PHYS 513
Applied Electromagnetic Theory
Fall, 2024
Day and Time: Thursday from 4:30 – 7:10 pm
Location: 1004 Exploratory Hall
Instructor: Bob Weigel
Email: rweigel@gmu.edu
Office Hour: Thursday from 3:30 – 4:30 pm
Office: 259 Planetary Hall
Course URL: https://rweigel.github.io/phys513
In-class final exam: Thursday, December 12th from 4:30–7:15 pm.
The exam will have two problems:
One problem based on homework problems covered after mid–term (HWs 8–12)
One problem based on symmetry arguments needed to justify the use of
Gauss’s law to find the field due to a charge distribution or
Ampere’s law to find the field due to a current distribution
Before writing the exam, I will look at the homework problems, identify the concepts, and write questions that can be solved in the allotted time. You are encouraged to find problems related to the homework problems in other resources and attempt them. Equations for divergence and laplacian in non–cartesian coordinates will be given. Other equations used in the homework problems will not be given.
No class
Discuss final exam
Discuss HW #11
Discuss visualization of travelling waves
Find reflection coefficient for coaxial cable terminated by
(short at end)
(end is open)
(that is, the load has no resistive component, and the reactive component has a magnitude of ; this requires the assumption that is real, which is equivalent to the coaxial cable being “ideal” in the sense that it has no resistance, either ohmic or radiative.)
Discuss HW #10
Review continuous transmission line (continuous version of AC ladder circuit)
Cover solutions to continuous transmission line
Handling boundary conditions
Discuss
response video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iph500cPK28 and
response to response https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI_X2cMHNe0
Discuss HW #9
Solving general AC circuit problems
Numerical solution of AC ladder circuit
Continuous transmission line (continuous version of AC ladder circuit)
Discuss HW #8
Additional review of use of Euler’s identity
Finding solution to series AC circuit problem using two methods
Discuss midterm
Discuss HW #7
Faraday’s law and Lenz’s law
Inductance
Discuss midterm
Discuss HW #7
Faraday’s law
Inductance
In-class mid-term exam: Thursday, October 17th from 4:30–6:00 pm.
The problems will be based on concepts covered in homework problems.
I will look at the homework problems, identify the concepts, and write questions that can be solved in the allotted time.
You are encouraged to find problems related to the homework problems in other resources and attempt them.
Equations for divergence and laplacian in non–cartesian coordinates will be given. Other equations used in the homework problems will not be given.
Ampere’s law
Faraday’s law
Discuss HW #2
Computing capacitance using
Gauss’s law (put on one conductor on another, compute potential difference)
Laplace’s equation (put one conductor at a potential of and the other at ; compute and use it to find ; from , compute )
GitHub and Discord
Discuss HW #1
Field lines
Gauss’s law
Introductions
Syllabus
Overview of Electrostatics
Line of charge along , field at
Set-up
Two limits
Exact solution
Line offset by , find field at origin.
Solution using same set-up method as before
Solution using answer to non–offset problem
Ring of charge centered on origin and in – plane.
Solution using formal set-up approach
Solution similified by noting features
(Not covered) Continuous Charge Distributions, Limits, and Dimensional Analysis
Dimensional Analysis References:
Gauss’s law (if time)
Classical electromagnetic theory with applications. Topics include electrostatics, magnetic fields and materials, electromagnetic wave propagation, waveguides, transmission lines, radiation, and antennas.
My primary objective for this course is for students to be able to solve and present advanced electricity and magnetism problems related to the topics given in the catalog description. I will cover topics in chapters 1-6 of Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics, third edition by Simon Ramo, John R. Whinnery, Theodore Van Duzer, Wiley, 1994.
Many of the students in this class have had only E&M at the freshman undergraduate level. As a result, not all of the topics in the texbook are covered, and the focus is on a basic understanding of the fundamentals using theoretical and computation problems. In addition, I emphasize problem solving skills: Determining expected features of the solution to a given problem using analogies, limits, or similar problems, using non–dimensionalization to better understand the dependence of solutions on problem parameters, and building computational solutions in small steps with many intermediate checks.
Approximately 1/2 of class time will be a lecture. The rest of the time will be spent with students working on problems or presenting problems using the whiteboard.
The homework assignments will have two parts:
Basic problems that cover topics that have not been discussed in class. These problems are intended to prepare the students for the lecture on the topic.
Advanced problems that cover topics on the previous HWs basic problems and the lecture.
Homework assignments are due at 11:59 pm on Thursday so you have 3 hours to revise them after class is finished.
Homework: 30%
Mid-term (part in-class, part take-home): 35%
Final (part in-class, part take-home): 35%
The course letter grade is nominally determined using > 97: A+, 93 to 96.999: A, 90 to 92.999: A-, 87 to 89.999: B+, 83 to 86.999: B, 80 to 82.999: B-, 70 to 70.999, 60, to 69.999: D, < 60: F. It is quite likely that these grade cut-offs will change downwards.
The textbook for this course is Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics, 3rd edition by Simon Ramo, John R. Whinnery, Theodore Van Duzer, Wiley, 1994.
You will likely need to reference other textbooks in this course. The following is a partial list of books that you may find useful.
An Introduction to Fourier Methods and the Laplace Transformation but Philip Franklin. This short book has many examples related to Maxwell’s equations and transmission lines.
Fourier Analysis class notes by Peakcock; the Chapter 12 lecture notes provides a review of the mathematical background and justification for solving ODEs using what Ramo calls “the phasor method”.
Applied Electromagnetics by Ulaby and Ravaioli - Introductory textbook that begins with waves, transmission lines, phasors, and the Smith chart.
Introduction to Electrodynamics by David J. Griffiths - the most commonly used junior-level undergraduate textbook for physics majors.
Field and Wave Electromagnetics by David K. Cheng - a commonly used junior-level undergraduate textbook for engineering majors.
Elements of Electromagnetics by Matthew N. O. Sadiku - a commonly used junior-level undergraduate textbook for engineering majors.
Electricity and Magnetism (3rd Edition) by Edward M. Purcell and David J. Morin covers the same topics as Griffiths at the same level. If you are looking for an alternative explanation, this textbook will be helpful. The book contains far more examples, discussion, and content than Griffiths. It also includes solutions.
Schaum’s outline of theory and problems of electromagnetics by Joseph A. Edminister is a useful reference for problems with full solutions and summaries of topics. The 4th edition contains chapters on transmission lines and waveguides.
Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus (4th Edition) by H. M. Schey is an excellent reference for the mathematical background that you need to understand for this course. The book contains a concise and clear review of topics that are covered in a vector calculus course (usually “Calculus III”).
The Feynman Lectures on Physics: Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter, Volume 2, 1977 contains excellent lecture-style expositions on Electricity and Magnetism. The full volume is available online.
Two textbooks that cover applied E&M topics in detail are
Microwave Engineering by David M. Pozar.
Electromagnetic Waves and Antennas by Sophocles J. Orfanidis. This book is dense and comprehensive, but a supplement such as the course textbook and Microwave Engineering by Pozar is probably needed as a primary reference initially.
Textbooks that cover advanced E&M theory are
Classical Electrodynamics by David J. Jackson - the most commonly used graduate-level textbook for physics students
Classical Electricity and Magnetism: Second Edition (Dover Books on Physics) by Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky and Melba Phillips, 2005
Classical Electromagnetism by Richard Fitzpatrick
Last class Thursday, December 5th
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