Textbooks:
Mazzoldi,Nigro,Voci: Elementi di fisica-Elettromagnetismo. EdiSES
Note: Other university level books can be used. It is appropriate consult the teacher on the adequacy of the text.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: foundation of electromagnetism and electromagnetic wave
Competence acquired: knowledge of the foundations of electromagnetism for the under standing of optics
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Exploitation of the foundation of electromagnetism and electromagnetic waves for optics
Prerequisites
Courses recommmended
Mathematic, Physics I
Teaching Methods
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 150
Hours reserved to private study and other indivual formative activities:
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and lab
4 each week
Teaching tools
Type of Assessment
Exam modality: Oral examination ( ≈45 minutes) to assess the ability of solving simple exercises of Electromagnetism on the basis of the acquired knowledge.
Course program
Vacuum electrostatics. Electric forces, electric charge, Coulomb law, the electric field, the electric field for a charge distribution. Gauss theorem, the first equation of Maxwell, the electric potential, the electric dipole, conservative electric field, Conductors in the electrostatic field. Capacity, systems of conductors, electrostatic field energy.
Electrostatics in dielectric materials. The dielectric constant, microscopic interpretation, the electric polarization as a vector, the electrostatic equations in dielectrics, boundary conditions across the dielectric separation surfaces, energy in the presence of dielectric materials. Stationary current. Current density and the equation of continuity, electric resistance and Ohm law, electric force and generators, parallel and series resistors, charge and discharge of a condenser, field energy in a condenser. Stationary magnetic phenomena in vacuum. Lorentz force and magnetic induction, mechanical actions on electric circuits in a magnetic field, the field B generated by currents, properties of B and the third Maxwell equation, Ampere theorem, definition of the unity of current. Magnetic materials. Introduction, magnetic polarization and microscopic currents, the magnetostatic equations in magnetic materials. Time dependent electric and magnetic fields. Electromagnetic induction and the Faraday-Newmann law, the third Maxwell equation in the presence of electromagnetic induction, self-induction and the coefficient of self-induction, energy of the field in the RL circuit, the fourth Maxwell equation. Electromagnetic waves. Introduction, wave equation, plane electromagnetic waves, spherical waves, the spectrum of electromagnetic waves, conservation of energy and the Poynting vector, Classical phenomena of interaction matter-radiation. Refraction and reflection of waves, interference phenomena, diffraction phenomena.