Synopsis

Gravitation:  Newton’s law, measurement of G. Action at a distance and concept of a local force field. Properties of conservative fields, including potential energy as a path integral. Superposition of fields. Gauss’ law for gravity with simple quantitative applications.

Orbits:  Kepler’s laws. Derivation of elliptical orbits for planetary motion from Newton’s law. Simple orbital calculations. Qualitative examples of gravity at work including tidal effects.

Electrostatic Fields:  Static electricity, Coulomb’s Law for point charges, the electric field E and the corresponding potential for point charges and electric dipoles. Gauss’ law for electrostatic fields. Properties of ideal conductors. Capacitance including calculation for simple geometries. Mention effects of dielectric materials on capacitance and dipole moment of water molecule.

Magnetic Fields: Properties of bar magnets. Magnetic flux density B. Magnetic dipoles and currents as sources of B.  Lorentz force and motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic fields; J.J. Thomson’s experiment. Ampère and Biot-Savart laws, calculation of B field in simple cases. Faraday’s law of induction; self and mutual inductance, energy stored in B field.

Maxwell’s Equations: Displacement current term. Integral and differential statements. Example of plane wave solutions.