Classical Electrodynamics is an upper-division course for Physics students. In a perfect world it would be a single year-long class, but for administrative reasons it is split into two separate classes taught by different professors:
This document is the syllabus of the Classical Electrodynamics (I) class as taught by Dr. Vadim Kaplunovsky in the Fall of 2017, unique number 56365.
The textbook for the 352 K class is Introduction to Electrodynamics by David J. Griffith, 4th edition. This textbook is required — I shall use the problems in the book as homeworks.
The 352 K class will focus on textbook chapters 1 through 7. The remaining chapters 8 through 12 will be covered in the 352 L class.
Besides the Griffith's textbook, I shall not use any supplementary textbooks in my class. Instead, I shall sometimes write my own supplementary notes or use some material on the Internet. The links to all such supplementary notes will be posted to this web page.
The Classical Electrodynamics classes are intended for the upper-division Physics students who have already completed the lower-division Physics class sequence 301–316–315–319 (plus the corresponding labs) as well as Mathematics class sequence 408 C+D and 427 K+L (or any of the equivalent math classes). These are not just the formal prerequisites — you would really need that knowledge to follow the upper-division Physics classes.
The formal prerequisites — checked by the registrar computer — for the 352 K class are Math 427 L or 364 K and Physics 315 and 115, all with grades no worse than C−. Please note that I have no authority to waive these prerequisites!
If you have taken the prerequisite classes outside the UT, or if you have any other kind of prerequisite or registration problem, please go to the undergraduate coordinator at the Physics departement:
The grades for this class will be bases on the homeworks, 2 midterm exams, and the final exam.
The brackets for converting the combined HW+MT+FIN scores into letter grades will be set after the final exam.
Homework is essential for learning any difficult material. Often after listening to a lecture and/or reading the textbook you may feel like you know the material, but to make this knowledge useful you must learn how to actualy apply it to solving problems, and that's what the homework is for. Without doing the homework, you will never master any Physics or Math; at best, you might «have heard something about it».
To encorage you to do your homework for this class, it will comprise 20% of your grade. There will be 12 largish homework sets over the semester; 10 best sets will count towards your grade. To allow for illness or emergencies, you get to drop two worst (or missing) sets.
The homework assignments will be posted at this web page. Most of the problems will be taken from the Griffith's textbook, but sometimes I'll add a few problems of my own.
I shall collect the homeworks in class and give them to the TA to grade. If you cannot come to the class for any reason, please scan your homework (or take a clear picture with your digital camera or phone) and email it to me and to the TA before 5 PM on the day the homework is due. Please do not waste time asking my permission to submit your homework electronically, just scan it and email it.
Your homework should make clear what are you trying to do and why. Please comment your formulae (unless they are obvious). This way, if you make mistakes you would still get partial credit for trying to do the right thing.
Once the homeworks are collected I shall post the solutions and link them to the homework web page.
This class has two midterm exams and one final exam at the end of the semester. Each midterm contributes 20% to your grade, and the final exam is worth 40% of the grade.
The midterm exams are taken in class — at the regular class time in the usual classroom.
The final exam is on December 16 (Saturday), 2–5 PM, in room CPE 2.206. The final exam is comprehensive and covers the whole course, from the first lecture to the last.
All the exams are open-books and open-notes. You may bring any paper books you like, but mind the limited space on your seat's armrest. The electronic books must be on a reader without an interactive web browser.
To prevent cheating, no communication devices are allowed during the exams. This means: no cellphones, no computers, no tablets, etc., etc. If you need to use a calculator or an e-book reader, make sure it's a separate device without a web browser or any other ways to communicate with other people.
Unlike the homeworks, you do not get to drop any midterm or final exams. If you miss an exam because of a documented illness or emergency, please let me know as soon as possible, and I'll work out an appropriate remedy. But if you miss an exam for any other reason, you would be SOL and your grade would suffer.
However, I shall allow students to take their exams ahead of the regular exam date in case of schedule conflicts. If you know ahead of time that the exam date and time conflicts with another exam, a pre-scheduled UT event you must participate in, a religious holiday you observe, a job interview, or with any other commitment, — please contact me two weeks ahead of time so I can reschedule your exam to a mutually convenient date and time.
Likewise, the students who need extra time to complete their exams due to a disability, please contact me two weeks before the exam to set up the time and the place for your test.