COURSE OUTLINE
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM I
PHYS 201
Course description (3 credits):
This 3 credit course required of all Physics majors exposes students to the principles governing
electric and electrostatic phenomena. The areas to be covered are Electrostatics, Electric Fields
and Forces, Capacitors, and, Direct Current Circuits . Student activity will include but not be
limited to the attendance of lectures which will be multimedia based, where feasible;
participation in laboratory exercises; research; and, group discussions involving the theoretical
application of the laws governing electric and electrostatic phenomena.
Course Objectives:
The principal objective of this course is to equip the student with a firm foundation in the
principles of Advanced Level Electromagnetism. Upon successful completion of Phys 201
students will be able to
1. solve quantitative or qualitative problems requiring the use of verbal reasoning and/or
mathematical deduction of an analytical and/or graphical nature.
2. explain electric and electrostatic phenomena using the principles studied.
3. carry out laboratory experiments related to electric and electrostatic phenomena.
4. write reports resulting from laboratory experiments and research.
5. use knowledge of initial electric and electrostatic conditions to predict future conditions.
6. deduce mathematical expressions relating various electromagnetic quantities.
7. compare and contrast electric and gravitational field models.
8. successfully engage those portions of the CAPE and Cambridge examinations dedicated to
Electrostatics and Electricity.
Grading procedure:
Participation: 10%
Quizzes: 20%
Tests: 30%
Exam: 40%
Required Textbook:
Advanced Level Physics
by Michael Nelkon and Philip Parker
Course Requirements:
1. Students taking this course are required to have completed at least two years of high school
physics.
2. Students are expected to attend all classes.
3. Students are expected to be punctual at all times.
4. All homework assignments must be done on time.
5. Students be in possession of the required textbook.
6. Students must be in possession of a scientific calculator.
7. Students must have access to the internet.
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8. All work must be neatly done. Sloppy work will not be accepted.
Detailed Outline
The following topics provide a framework for the course but are not intended as limits on content.
Electrostatics
 The Origin and Nature of Electricity
 Conductors and insulators
 Charge transfer by friction
 Charged objects and the forces they exert
 Attraction of charged body for uncharged bodies
 Gold leaf electroscope
 Charging by induction
 The Van de Graaff generator
 Faraday's ice-pail experiment
 Practical applications (lightning rods, photocopiers, dust extraction, spray painting, etc.)
Electric Force and Fields
 Fundamental Law of Force between two charges
 Permitivity, relative permitivity
 Electric Field-Strength or Intensity
 Field patterns of lines of force
 Field-strength due to point charge;
 Flux from a point charge
 Gauss's Theorem
 Field due to charged sphere and plane conductor
 Electrostatic shielding
 Electric potential
 Potential difference due to a point charge
 Potential due to point charge and to charged sphere
 Potential Gradient and Field-Strength Intensity
 Equipotentials
 Potential due to a system of charges
 Comparison between Electrostatic and Gravitational Fields.
Capacitors
 Capacitance:-definition and units
 Comparison of capacitances (vibrating reed and ballistic methods)
 Factors determining capacitance
 Parallel plate capacitor
 Capacitance of isolated sphere and concentric spheres
 Action of dielectric
 εo and its measurement
 Arrangements of Capacitors
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Measuring charge and capacitance
Energy of a charged capacitor
Charge and Discharge in R-C circuit
Time constant
Rectangular pulse voltage and R-C circuit.
Direct Electric Currents
 Ohm's law
 Joule's law
 Resistance
 Resistors in series and in parallel
 The potential divider
 Conversion of a galvanometer into a voltmeter
 Conversion of a galvanometer into an ammeter
 multimeters
 Use of voltmeter and ammeter
 Ohmic and non-ohmic conductors
 Resistivity
 Potential difference and Energy
 Electromotive Force and internal resistance
 Terminal p.d.
 Output power and efficiency
 Kirchoff's laws.
Potentiometer and Wheatstone Bridge Measurements
 The potentiometer
 The Wheatstone Bridge
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