Lecture 1 - E&M Motivation, Significant figures, Powers of Ten, Order of Magnitude, Vectors, Forces

E&M Motivation

Cars, computers, cell phones, XBOXs, iPads, T.V.s, clocks, horses, muscles, thoughts in your mind, all depend on electricity.

Significant Figures

The number of significant figures is equal to all of the successive numbers after the first non-zero, to the left and to the right of the (.)

1,063,000 has 4 significant figures

1,063,000.0 has 7 significant figures
1,000,000 has 1 significant figure
1,000,003 has 7 significant figures

0.00012 has 2 significant figures

0.0001200 has 4 significant figures
0.00012010 has 5 significant figures

Always use a number of sig figs = the least significant figure among all the different variables with your final calculation answer :

(36.055 kg) x (16 m/s2) = 576.88 N ≅ 580 N

(5 sig fig) x (2 sig fig) = (calculated ) ≅ (2 sig fig)

We do this since we don‘t know how accurate ‘16’ is. It could be either 16.49 rounded down or 15.51 rounded up which gives :

(36.055 kg) x (15.50 m/s2) ≅ 558.8525 N

(36.055 kg) x (16.49 m/s2) ≅ 594.54695 N

Notice that the average of these two answers = 1153.39945/2 = 576.699725 N ≅ 580 N which is equal to our 2 sig fig answer above!

Another example:
(8987551787 N m2/C2) x (-0.00000000500 C) x (0.000000003000 C) / (0.036 m)2 = -0.0001.0402259 Newtons ≅ -0.000104 Newtons
( 9 sig fig ) x ( 3 sig fig ) x ( 4 sig fig ) / (3 sig fig) = ( calculator answer ) ≅ (3 sig fig)

Powers of Ten

quadrillionth septillionth yocto- y 0.000000000000000000000001 10−24 E−24

trilliardth sextillionth zepto- z 0.000000000000000000001 10−21 E−21
trillionth quintillionth atto- a 0.000000000000000001 10−18 E−18
billiardth quadrillionth femto- f 0.000000000000001 10−15 E−15
billionth trillionth pico- p 0.000000000001 10−12 E−12
milliardth billionth nano- n 0.000000001 10−9 E−9
millionth millionth micro- µ 0.000001 10−6 E−6
thousandth thousandth milli- m 0.001 10−3 E−3
hundredth hundredth centi- c 0.01 10−2 E−2
tenth tenth deci- d 0.1 10−1 E−1
one one - - 1 100 E0
ten ten deca- da 10 101 E1
hundred hundred hecto- h 100 102 E2
thousand thousand kilo- k 1,000 103 E3
million million mega- M 1,000,000 106 E6
milliard billion giga- G 1,000,000,000 109 E9
billion trillion tera- T 1,000,000,000,000 1012 E12
billiard quadrillion peta- P 1,000,000,000,000,000 1015 E15
trillion quintillion exa- E 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 1018 E18
trilliard sextillion zetta- Z 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 1021 E21
quadrillion septillion yotta- Y 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 1024 E24
Scientific Notation

Width of Helium atom ≅ 0.0000000000062 meters

Charge of an electron ≅ 0.0000000000000000001602 Coulombs
Mass of an electron ≅ 0.0000000000000000000000000000009109 kg

Scientific Notation:
Width of Helium atom ≅ 6.2 x 10-12 meters
Charge of an electron ≅ 1.602 x 10-19 Coulombs
Mass of an electron ≅ 9.109 x 10-31 kg

Width of Helium atom ≅ 6.2 E-12 meters

Charge of an electron ≅ 1.602 E-19 Coulombs
Mass of an electron ≅ 9.109 E-31 kg

(although some calculators display it, avoid using 9.109 e-31 so that you don’t confuse E with Euler’s number e = 2.71828...)

Vector - a quantity that has a magnitude and a direction, typically represented by an arrow.

All forces are vectors, since they act in a certain direction. Force of gravity acts toward the ground, buoyant force acts electric force
either repels like charged objects, or attracts oppositely charged objects.

Vectors will often have a direction perpendicular to the plane of the diagram we are using. These vectors are commonly shown as
small circles. A circle with a dot at its center indicates a vector pointing out of the front of the diagram, toward the viewer. A circle
with a cross inscribed in it indicates a vector pointing into and behind the diagram. These can be thought of as viewing the tip of an
arrow head on and viewing the vanes of an arrow from the back.

Out of the page Into the page

Units

Units are as important as the numerical answer for a problem. See how different the below statements can be.

I bought 12 () on sale yesterday, they cost 5 ().

I bought 12 Ponies on sale yesterday, they cost 5 diamond rings.
I bought 12 slices of pizza on sale yesterday, they cost 5 $.

I ran 100 () yesterday, it took 15 ().

I ran 100 m yesterday, it took 15 seconds.
I ran 100 km yesterday, it took 15 hours.

Newton’s laws
__________________________________________________________________________________________
First law: The center of mass of a body remains in a state of rest or uniform motion (constant velocity) unless it is acted upon by an
external unbalanced force.

Second law: A body of mass m subject to a force F undergoes an acceleration a that has the same direction as the force. F = ma.

Alternatively, the total force applied on a body is equal to the time derivative of linear momentum of the body.
F = d/dt (mv)

Third law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear. This means that whenever a
first body exerts a force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force −F on the first body. F and −F are equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction.

Calculus

http://integral-table.com/

Function (f(x)) Integral of the function f(x) Derivative of the function f(x)
n n+1
x 1/(n+1) * x n * xn-1
1/x ln (x) - 1/x2
1/xn = x-n 1/(-n+1) * x-n+1 -n * x-n-1
Sin (x) - Cos (x) Cos (x)
Cos (x) Sin (x) - Sin (x)
Tan (x) - ln (Cos (x)) Sec2 (x)
ln (x) x ln (x) - x 1/x
(f(x))
e dependent on the form of f(x) d/dx (f(x)) * e(f(x))

Dot Product

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_product
Cross Product

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_product

Natural Log and e(x)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_logarithm

e = Euler’s number = 2.718281828459... Think of e just like any other number raised to a power :

5(2) = 25 3(3) = 27 e(3.8) = 2.718281828459(3.8) = 44.70118449

Natural Log is represented by [ln] and is the inverse function of e(x) :

ln (44.70118449) = 3.8 ln (e(2x)) = 2x e(ln(10x)) = 10x

Some identities you will need in this course involving Natural Log :

ln(a*b) = ln(a) + ln(b)

ln (15) = 2.708050201 ln (5) = 1.098612289 ln (3) = 1.609437912 ln (5) + ln (3) = 2.708050201 = ln (15)

ln(a/b) = ln(a) - ln(b)

ln (2) = 0.6931471806 ln (8) = 2.079441542 ln (4) = 1.386294361 ln (8) - ln (4) = 0.6931471806 = ln (2)

Law of Cosines:

Very similar to the Pythagorean theorem, but for an obtuse triangle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_cosines