Author: Simona Ranieri

OBJECTIVES

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Learning the basic elements of Electromagnetism and fundamental physical principles of quantum mechanics.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
Knowledge of the basic principles of electromagnetism and quantum mechanics useful for the own field of study. Understanding of advanced books on the arguments treated during the course.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
Capacity to develop autonomously basic conceptual ideas using arguments treated during the course.

MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
Capacity to evaluate autonomously ideas or project using the knowledge acquired in the course.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
Capacity to share informations and ideas on the basis of knwoledge acquired in the course.
Comprehension of specific problems and relative solutions proposed.

LEARNING SKILLS:
The knowledge acquired in the course must be of help for the student in future courses, improving the capacity of autonomous learning.

COURSE SYLLABUS

1) Electric Charge and Electric Field : Conductors, Insulators, and Induced Charges.
Coulomb’s Law. Electric Field and Electric Forces. Electric Field Lines. Charge and Electric Flux, Gauss’’ s Law. Charges on Conductors.
2) Electric Potential: Electric Potential Energy, Electric Potential, Equipotential Surfaces, Potential Gradient. Definition of electric dipole. Approximated formula for the electric potential of a dipole at large distances.
3) Capacitors and Capacitance. Capacitors in series and parallel configuration. Electrostatic Potential Energy of a Capacitor. Polarization in Dielectrics. Induced Dipoles. Alignment of Polar Molecules. Electric Field inside a dielectric material. Relative dielectric constant. Capacitors with dielectric materials.
4) Electric current, Vector current density J, Resistivity (ρ) and conductivity ( σ) of materials, Ohm’s law in vector and scalar form, Resistors and resistance, Microscopic theory of electric transport in metals (Drude model). Differences between thermal velocity and drift velocity of charge carriers. Thermal coefficient of resistivity for metal and semiconductors. Resistors in parallel. Kirchhoff current law and the conservation of charge. Resistors in series. Kirchhoff voltage law ( KVL) and the conservative nature of electric field. Resistor and capacitor in series. Charging a capacitor. Solving the equation for current and voltage in RC circuits, time constant.
5) Introduction to magnetism, historical notes. Magnetic Force on a moving charged particle in a Magnetic Field. Definition of the vector ( cross ) product. Vector product expressed by the formal determinant and calculated by Sarrus Rule. Thomson’s q/m experiment and the discovery of the electron. Magnetic force on a current carrying conductor. Local equation for the magnetic force, the second formula of Laplace. Introduction to current loops, the torque. Force and Torque on a current loop in presence of a constant magnetic field. The magnetic dipole moment. Torque in vector form. Stable and unstable equilibrium states. Equivalence between a magnetic dipole of a current loop and the dipole of a magnet. Potential energy of a dipole moment in a magnetic field. Force exerted on a magnetic dipole in a non-uniform magnetic field. Working principle of a dc motor. Generalization of a magnetic dipole to current loops with irregular area. Magnetic dipole of a coil consisting of n loops in series. The Hall effect.
6) Historical introduction to the Biot Savart Laplace equation. Electric current as sources of magnetic field, the current element. The Biot Savat Laplace (BSL) equation. BSL equation for an infinitely long wire with an electric current flow. The flux of the magnetic field B. The Gauss Law for the magnetic field. Forces acting on wires with electric current flow. Magnetic field on the axis of a current loop and a coil. Ampere Circuital Law. Definition of a Solenoid. Magnetic field from a long cylindrical conductor. Magnetic field from a toroidal coil. The Bohr magneton. Magnetic materials. Paramagnetism, Diamagnetism, Ferromagnetism.
7) Magnetic induction experiments. Faraday Law. Lenz Law. Flux swept by a coil and Motional Electromotive Force. Induced Electric Field. Displacement current. The four Maxwell equations in integral form. Symmetry of the Maxwell equation. Self induction. Inductors. Inductor as circuit element.Self inductance of a coil. Magnetic Field Energy. The R-L circuit. The LC circuit. The RLC series circuit.
8) The electromagnetic waves. Derivation of EM waves from Maxwell Equation. The electromagnetic spectrum. Electromagnetic energy flow and the Poynting vector. Energy in a sinusoidal wave. Electromagnetic momentum flow. Standing Electromagnetic waves.
9) Light waves behaving as particles. The photocurrent experiment. Threshold frequency and Stopping Potential. Einstein’s explanation of Light absorbed as “Photons”. Light Emitted as Photons: X-Ray Production. Light Scattered as Photons: Compton Scattering.
10) Interference and diffraction of waves. The Wave Particle Duality. De Broglie wavelength. The x-ray diffraction from a crystal lattice, the Bragg’s Law. The electron diffraction experiment of Davisson and Germer. The double slit experiment with electrons. Waves in one dimension: Particle Waves, the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation. Physical interpretation of the Wave Function. Wave Packets. Uncertainty principle. Particle in a box. Energy-levels and wave functions for a particle in a box. The tunneling effect.

OBJECTIVES

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
One learns power series, differential calculus of several variables, line integral, multiple integral and surface and volume integral. One obtains the ability to calculate partial derivatives of elementary and composed functions, calculate various integrals and apply theorems of Green, Gauss and Stokes to facilitate the computations.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
To know the definitions of basic conepts (convergence of series, partial derivatives, extremal points, multiple integral, line integal, surface integral and volume integral) and apply various theorems to execute concrete computations.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING:
To identify the theorems and techniques to apply to the given problems and execute computations correctly.

MAKING JUDGEMENTS:
To understand mathematical concepts for the given problems and to divide them into smaller problems that can be solved with the knowledge obtained during the course.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
To frame the problems in the obtained concepts, express the logic and general facts that are used during the computations.LEARNING SKILLS:

To know precisely basic mathematical concepts and apply them to some simple examples in physics.

COURSE SYLLABUS

• Sequences and series of functions, Taylor series
• Differential calculus of scalar and vector fields
• Applications of differential calculus, extremal points
• Basic differential equations
• Line integrals
• Multiple integrals
• Surface integrals, Gauss and Stokes theorems

Electrical quantities and SI units. Electrical energy and electrical power. Passive and active sign convention. Passive and active elements. Ideal voltage and current sources. Basic ideal electric components: resistance, inductance, capacitance. Models of real components. Ohm-s law. Series and Parallel connection of components. Topological circuital laws: Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL) and Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL). Mesh Current Method, Node Voltage Method. Sinusoidal functions: average and RMS (Root Mean Square) values.

Sinusoidal steady state circuit analysis. Phasors. Impedance and admittance. Analysis of circuits in AC steady state. Electrical power in the time domain and in sinusoidal steady state: active power, reactive power, complex power. Power factor correction. Maximum power transfer in AC. Application of superposition theorem in circuit analysis. Thevenin’s and Norton’s theorems.

Frequency response: first order electrical filters. Resonance: series and parallel resonant circuits.

Mutual inductance and ideal transformer. Three-Phase systems. Introduction to the power distribution and transportation grid. Time response and transient analysis. The unit step function, unit impulse function, exponential function, first-order circuits. Laplace transform method, Laplace transform of some typical functions, initial-value and final-value theorems, partial-fractions expansions, analysis of circuits in the s-domain. Network functions and circuit stability.

Electrical measurement bridges. Introductions to the electrical safety and electricity distribution system: description and prospects. Basics of designing a power plant. Effects of electricity on the human body and relative protection systems. Introduction to electrical machines: Tranformer and DC motor.