Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This is a calculus-based physics course required for students majoring in engineering, physics and chemistry.  The course is transferable to other baccalaureate engineering programs.  Students should be aware of the program requirements of the institutions to which they wish to transfer.  This course conforms with the Oregon Block Transfer program.

After completion of this course, students will
1) Apply knowledge of electricity and magnetism to explain natural physical processes and related technological advances.
2) Use an understanding of calculus along with physical principles to effectively solve problems encountered in everyday life, further study in science, and in the professional world.
3) Design experiments and acquire data in order to explore physical principles, effectively communicate results, and critically evaluate related scientific studies.
4) Assess the contributions of physics to our evolving understanding of global change and sustainability while placing the development of physics in its historical and cultural context.
 

Principles and techniques are presented through lectures and class demonstrations.  Students must register for lecture, one recitation, and one lab.  Laboratory work will be performed in order to clarify certain facts in the lecture materials.

At the beginning of the course, the instructor will detail the methods used to evaluate student progress and the criteria for assigning a course grade.  The methods may include one or more of the following tools:  examinations, quizzes, homework assignments, laboratory reports, research papers, small group problem solving of questions arising from application of course concepts and concerns to actual experience, oral presentations, or maintenance of a personal lab manual.
Specific evaluation procedures will be given in class.  In general, grading will be based on accumulated points from homework assignments, tests, final exam, and labs.

COURSE CONTENT:
1.0  CHARGE AND MATTER
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop skills in the basic concept
of electric forces.
Objectives:
     1.1  To learn the concepts of charge and current.
     1.2  To learn and understand how to use Coulomb's law, the
     force law which gives the electrostatic force between point
     charges.
2.0  THE ELECTRIC FIELD
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop skills in the concept
of electric fields.
Objectives:
     2.1  To learn the definition of the electric field, E.
     2.2  To learn the formula for the electric field due to a
     single point charge.  The student should be able to quickly
     derive this using Coulomb's law and the definition E.
     2.3  To learn to calculate E due to any given distribution of
     charge.  This involves dividing the distribution of charge
     into point charges and then applying the equation to each such
     point charge.
3.0  GAUSS'S LAW
Goal:  The goal is to gain an understanding of Gauss° law, and to use it
to calculate electric fields due to various charge distributions.
Objectives:
     3.1  To understand the definitions: (a) vectorial surface area
     element; (b) flux of a vector field (the flux of fields other
     than E will be involved); (c) open and closed surfaces.
     3.2  To learn the formula for Gauss's law and very clearly
     understand the meaning of the symbols in it.
     3.3  To learn how to apply Gauss's law to problems.  This is
     probably more difficult than "applying" most of the previous
     physical laws to problems.  The student will find that the
     problems are usually one of the following two types.
          a.   Calculate E due to a given distribution of charge.
          The charge distribution must have sufficient symmetry.
          b.   Calculate something about the distribution of charge
          on a conductor.  Use is made of the fact that E = O
          within a conductor in electrostatic equilibrium.
4.0  ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop an understanding of what is
meant by electric potential.
Objectives:
     4.1  To learn the definition of potential difference and its
     relation to the potential energy difference.
     4.2  To learn the formula for the potential due to a single
     point charge.
     4.3  To learn how to apply the above formula in order to
     calculate V due to any distribution of charge.
     4.4  To learn the relation between power, current, and
     potential difference.  This will be used in later applications
     to electric circuits.
5.0  CAPACITORS AND DIELECTRICS
Goal:  The goal is to gain knowledge of how a capacitor works, and to
understand how capacitance is affected by the presence of a dielectric.
Objectives:
     5.1  To learn and understand the definition of the capacitance
     C of a capacitor.  Using this definition the student should be
     able to calculate C for a given capacitor.
     5.2  To learn the formulas for the case of several capacitors
     connected in series and for the case of several capacitors
     connected in parallel.  The student should be able to apply
     these formulas to find the equivalent capacitance of more
     complicated circuits consisting of capacitors.
     5.3  To learn the formulas for the energy U stored in a
     capacitor and for the energy density u associated with the
     electric field in the capacitor.  The student should be able
     to calculate C for a given capacitor using energy
     considerations.
     5.4  To understand the effect of inserting a dielectric
     material between the plates of a capacitor.
6.0  CURRENT AND RESISTANCE
Goal:  The goal is to understand the concept of resistance, and how it
affects current.
Objectives:
     6.1  To learn the definition of resistance R and Ohm's law.
     6.2  To learn the formulas for the equivalent resistance for
     resistors in series and for resistors in parallel.
     6.3  To learn how to apply these to simplify more complicated
     circuits involving resistors.
     6.4  To learn how to calculate the power dissipated by a
     resistor.
     6.5  To learn the definitions of, and relations between, the
     following quantities: the current density J, the electric
     field E within the conductor, the resistivity, and the drift
     velocity of the electrons in the conductor.
7.0  ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE AND CIRCUITS
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop skills in the safe use
of direct electrical current circuits.
Objectives:
     7.1  To understand what is meant by  electromotive
     force (emf).  To learn how to include the effect of the
     internal resistance of an emf source.
     7.2  To learn how to handle more complicated circuits
     consisting of multiple emf sources and resistors.
     7.3  To understand the properties of simple circuits
     containing a resistor and a capacitor.
8.0  THE MAGNETIC FIELD
Goal:  The goal is to gain an understanding of magnetic fields and their
relationship to electrical fields.
Objectives:
     8.1  To understand the nature of the magnetic force and learn
     the formula for this force in terms of q, v, and B. The
     student should be able to calculate the resultant force due to
     simultaneous E and B fields.
     8.2  To understand, as an important application of the
     magnetic force, the motion of a charged particle in a uniform
     B field.
     8.3  The student should be able to calculate the force exerted
     on a current carrying wire in a B field. 
9.0  AMPERE'S LAW
Goal: The goal is to gain an understanding of Ampere°s law, and to use
it to calculate magnetic fields due to various current distributions.
Objectives:
     9.1  To learn the formula for the Biot-Savart law and clearly
     understand the meaning of the symbols in it.
     9.2  To learn how to apply the Biot-Savart law to problems.
     9.3  To understand the sign convention relating an integral
     around a closed path to an integral over the surface bounded
     by the path.
     9.4  To learn the formula for Ampere's law and clearly
     understand the meaning of the symbols in it.
     9.5  To learn how to apply Ampere's law to problems.
   
10.0  FARADAY'S LAW
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop skills in the use of Faraday°s law.
Objectives:
     10.1 To understand motional emf.  This arises when a conductor
     is moved through a B field.
     10.2 To learn the formula for induced emf.
10.3  To learn and understand Lenz's law.
     10.4 To learn Faraday's law in its integral form.
11.0  INDUCTANCE
Goal:  The goal is to understand how an inductor works, and its behavior
in a circuit.
Objectives:
     11.1 To learn and understand the definition of the inductance
     L of a given inductor.
     11.2 To learn the formula for the energy U stored in an
     inductor and for the energy density u associated with the B
     field in an inductor.
     11.3 To understand the properties of a simple circuit
     containing both a resistor and an inductor.
     11.4 To learn and understand the definition of mutual
     inductance M.
EACH WEEK, LABS WILL BE PERFORMED THAT CORRESPOND TO THE MATERIAL
COVERED IN THE LECTURE SESSIONS.