Electricity, Magnetism and Light

PHY 152/202: General Physics 2

Week 10 (Oct. 28 - Nov. 1)

Read: The Wave Theory of Light (Chap. 13) and Huygens' Principle (Chap. 14)

PHY 202 Lecture: Geometric optics, wave optics, and Fermat's principle

Quiz: Monday.

Homework:

Focal length of a spherical mirror (202 students only: Ex. 12.6)
The superposition principle and wave interference (Ex. 14.1)
Huygens principle and wave diffraction (Ex. 14.2).

Lab: Geometric optics lab. Keplerian telescope lab next week.

Chapter 13 (3 videos):

Chapter 14 (no videos yet):

Physics 2

Return to course website.

Course syllabus

What is the nature of light? In this course, we will study how early experimental work by scientists such as Franklin, Ampere, Young and Faraday led to the classical electromagnetic theory of light.

Topics include magnetism, electric charge and electric circuits, geometric and wave optics, heat and energy, electric and magnetic fields, and radiation. The required textbook is A Student's Guide Through the Great Physics Texts, Volume 3: Electricity, Magnetism and Light.

This course website is designed to lead you through Volume 3 of A Student's Guide using short videos and homework assignments. Each video has a code (in parentheses) that indicates the book volume, chapter, and lecture number. Click on the link for Week 1 to get started! Here are some course details:

PHY 152: General Physics 2 (Algebra-based) meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:30 - 11:20 a.m.

PHY 202: Physics 2 (Calculus-based) meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:30 - 11:20 a.m. and on Thursday from 11:30 - 12:20.

Laboratory sections meet from 12:30 - 3:20 on Wednesday (Dr. Kuehn), Thursday and Friday (Dr. Davis and Dr. Brown).

Laboratory Presentation Grading Sheet

Weekly Homework assignments are due at noon on Saturday. Upload a scanned copy of your homework to the PHY 152/202 Canvas portal.

Weekly Lab Reports are due by noon on the following Tuesday (for Dr. Kuehn's lab). Upload a clear scanned copy of the relevant pages in your laboratory book to the PHY 152/202 Canvass portal. No late lab reports will be accepted.

Weekly Quizzes are on (nearly) every Monday during the class period. Quizzes will cover the previous week's reading, lecture, lab, and homework material.

Final Exam: A comprehensive examination will be held during finals week.

Office Hours (S133): TBA

Email: kerry.kuehn[at]wlc.edu

Laboratory notebooks are available from Thorlabs.

Uncertainty propagation notes

Example laboratory notebook (just in case you've never kept a laboratory notebook before)

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