Physics 842 – Fall 2010
Classical Electrodynamics II
Tuesday, Thursday 1:00 – 2:40 pm, BPS 1308
Instructor: Norman Birge, BPS 4224, 884-5653, birge@pa.msu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, 3:00 – 5:00pm and by appointment
Textbook: Landau & Lifshitz, Electrodynamics of Continuous Media,
2nd Edition (Volume 8 of Landau & Lifshitz Course of Theoretical Physics)
(Elsevier
Butterworth-Heinemann,
Other books: J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd Edition
(Wiley, New York, 1999)
H.C. Ohanian, Classical Electrodynamics, 2nd Edition
(Infinity
Science Press,
Grading: weekly quizzes 50%
student-given mini-lecture 10%
final exam 40%
Due to budget cuts, there is no grader for this course. Problem sets will be assigned, but students will be responsible for making sure that their solutions are correct. Students are encouraged to consult with each other after they have worked out the problems independently.
20-minute quizzes will be given at the beginning of Thursday’s class each week, based on the homework due the previous Tuesday and on the worked-out problems in Landau & Lifshitz.
Each student will give one 20-minute mini-lecture during the course of the semester. A sign-up sheet will be passed around at the first lecture. The material to be covered will be assigned by the instructor the previous week.
Schedule: There will be no class the weeks of September 6, September 13, and December 6. To make up the lost time, class will go until 2:40pm rather than 2:20pm the rest of the semester. (We will take a short break in the middle of each class.)
Final exam: Monday, December 13, 12:45-2:45 pm, in a location to be announced later.
Content: The course will cover some, but not all, of the material in Landau & Lifshitz chapters 1-7, plus chapters 9 and 10.