AP PHYSICS C: ELECTRICITY +

MAGNETISM
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Table of Contents:

1. Electricity
1. Chapter 21 - The Electric Field I: Discrete Charge Distributions
2. Chapter 22 - The Electric Field II: Continuous Charge Distributions
3. Chapter 23 - Electric Potential
4. Chapter 24 - Electrostatic Energy and Capacitance
5. Chapter 25 - Electric Current and Direct-Current Circuits
2. Magnetism
1. Chapter 26 - The Magnetic Field
2. Chapter 27 - Sources of the Magnetic Field
3. Chapter 28 - Magnetic Induction
4. Chapter 29 - Alternating Current Circuits
5. Chapter 30 - Maxwell's Equations and Electromagnetic Waves
3. Appendix
 Electricity

Chapter 21 - The Electric Field I: Discrete Charge

Distributions

● Coulomb ( ) - SI unit of charge [elemental charge, , is the

smallest unit of charge (i.e. - proton or electron) and it indicates that CHARGE IS
QUANTIZED]. More commonly used units are the microcoulomb

( ) or nanocoulomb ( )
● Law of Charges: opposite charges attract & like charges repel

● = electric force (electromagnetic analog of gravity - force exerted from one

charged particle on another)

● = electrostatic constant ( ). Alternate form:

o = The permittivity of vacuum. How easily the electric force can go

through a certain substance. in a vacuum.

● Coulomb's Law - (i.e.- the electric force is the electrostatic

constant ( ) times the product of charge 1 ( ) and charge 2 ( ) divided by the
distance ( ) between the two charges). Same form as the Gravity formula.

( ). Expanded form: .
o Applies to POINT CHARGES. Uniformly charged spherical objects
behave like point charges from their surface.

● Field Strength ( ) - electromagnetic analog of in

. Measured in . Thus, . For point masses. Thus:

 ● Electric field diagrams - Lines representing the direction of the electric
force acting on a positively charged particle are placed at that
location. Near the source, the field lines are closer, meaning that the force

is stronger. Since , then (where is the

charge of the source of the field, not of the positively charged particle at
that location). This is the electric field around a point charge with charge
. Generally, field lines point from positive to negative. Field lines can
never cross; they only interact to create new, averaged, field lines.

o Dipoles - A dipole is the force tangent to the curved

lines. Remember, it's the direction of the force, not necessarily
where it will spread out. Uneven charges will cause the arrows to
lean towards the larger charge.

o Two like charges - an uncharged spot exists in the center: any test
charge will remain stationary if placed in the direct center as the
forces exerted by the two charges are equal and opposite.

o Uniform Field Strength - This occurs between two parallel and

oppositely charged plates. Field lines are parallel so thus the field
strength stays constant. For a sample problem, click here.

● Electric Dipole Moment -charges & separated by distance . In

an field, dipole experiences torque:

o Dipole Moment - where points from to . Thus

torque:

Chapter 22 - The Electric Field II: Continuous Charge

Distributions
 ● Point charges:

● By analogy for a charged solid,

● Consider the solid as a collection of an infinite number of point
charges, .

● Charge Density - a charge distributed across an object

o Linear Charge Density -

o Area Charge Density -

o Volume Charge Density -

● Two major cases for use of Linear Charge Density ( ) IMPORTANT STUFF -
know these two proofs!!!

CASE 1 - Electric field at the center of a CASE 2 - Electric field along the central
charged arc axis of a charged ring

Given radius and ring of charge ,

A charged rod has charge and has been find so that point has maximum
bent into a circular arc of radius electric field from the ring.
. Find electric field at center of curve P.
In order to solve this problem, we must
Note that due to the symmetry, all of figure out an expression that expresses in

the values cancel out. We only need terms of , then find the maximum on the
resulting graph. The x components
to sum up of will cancel out, due to the symmetry
the values. of the setup. We only want . We don't
want to integrate around , we want to
integrate around the plane of the
circle. We'll name this angle .

As stated by the equation , we

As we go around the circle, will go
must integrate over , or charge. It is from to . It is important to note
more favorable to integrate over angle , so that is a constant in this situation. As
we will use linear charge density to
put in terms of . stated by the equation , we
Electric Field must integrate over , or charge. It is
in
more favorable to integrate over angle , so
we will use linear charge density to
put in terms of .
(note: we must use
Electric Field
radians for this to be in terms of
true)

Only in the x direction

As we stated before:

Only in the y Length

Mushing all of these three results together
direction
yields:
 As we stated before: Pythagorean
theorem:

Combine everything!
In order to take advantage of the symmetry,
we must set the horizontal as and the top
end as and then double the resulting
force.

As complicated as this integral may appear

Because of the nature by which we derived to be at first glance, one must note that
the above equation, we must start using every variable presented here is a constant,

radians. Also, since , , of course except for , so we can take

and are all constants, we can move them out of the integral, which leaves us
with:
the in order to simplify the integral.

It's a bit of a waste of calculus, but hey.

Ah...much simpler! Now we simplify, plug,

Remember ? Well, now
and chug.

equals so we can plug in for .

 Thus:

, up

From this, there are a few things that we can

say just by looking at the nature of the
equation. When , there is no electric

field. also yields no

electric force. When , (i.e. - the hoop
Now we substitute in (previously appears like a point mass), , which indicates
derived in table above) that it will act like a point charge!

Here's a graph of what the

function would roughly

look like:

How do we find that little maximum

point? More calculus of course! We must
take the derivative of with respect
to , set it to zero, and then solve for .
, right
Rearrange:

Product & chain rules:

Rearrange:

Common denominator:

The part doesn't really matter so we can

eliminate it:
 Simplify

Solve for :

● Electric Flux ( ) - number of field lines intersecting a unit

area. (dot product)
o This product is a minimum at and a maximum at
o is like the density of field lines intercepting an area, so when you
multiply it by the amount of area you have, you get the # of field

lines in that area.

o The dot product accounts for the decrease in the amount of flux
attained when the area is angled with respect to the electric
field. Vector of points perpendicular to the surface.
o It's an abstract number.

● Gauss' Law is used to calculate for an extended charge given certain

symmetries.
o Flux through a closed surface (box)

▪ If a closed surface contains no charge, the net flux ( )

through it is zero. The flux entering the surface equals the
flux exiting the surface so the net flux is zero.
 ▪ If surface contains a dipole, the net flux ( ) is also zero since
all of the field lines eventually loop around and connect
again.

▪ A net enclosed charge will create a certain net flux

. When charge inside is positive, the flux is positive ( )
and when the charge inside is negative, the flux is negative
( ).

o To calculate net flux:

o Note that for a cube, this is very hard to integrate. Thus, for our purposes,
we only actually use this when the symmetries of the problem let us

get constant all over the surface so , where is

nice and symmetric (thus, this means using the surface area of sphere or a
cylinder).

Example Consider the point charge q wrapped in the Gaussian surface (the surface
1: Taking
point you integrate across). , the dot product goes away since
charge vectors are always parallel.
 o This is valid for any enclosed charge in any surface. Using this, we get
the definition of Gauss' law (shown below). Thus, if you know , and the
charge is arranged symmetrically, you can calculate .

GAUSS' LAW:

However, there are 7 special cases: (note: signifies charge enclosed by Gaussian
surface)
Case 1: Infinite line charge Find as a function of distance from wire. Consider
density segment wrapped in cylinder of length and radius
. Note: no flux is created through ends caps as the area
and electric field vectors are perpendicular, thus it is
ignored.

& , thus

, so

, thus

Note how is proportional to and not since we are

now dealing with the electric field that originates from a
line charge and not a point charge. The strength doesn't
decrease over time as quickly.

Poke a cylinder through it! (Gaussian cylinder). We only

obtain the fluxes through the end caps. The vectors of the
*Case 2: infinitely thin sides are perpendicular to the vectors of the electric field,
infinitely large charged so we can ignore them.
sheet, charge density

It is similar to case 2, but we only get flux through top cap

*Case 3: above infinite area .

conducting surface, charge
density

We must find at . To solve, we must wrap the

**Case 4: Uniform spherical object in a Gaussian sphere.
charge: outside. Sphere
radius and
charge evenly distributed
across the surface.
 This should look familiar.

Case 5: If the sphere is The Gaussian sphere is placed inside the charged
conducting, inside is zero. conducting sphere.

The excess charge inside the object is zero! As it is a

conducting surface, all of the extra charges repel each
other and move to the surface of the sphere.

, since

**Case 6: inside non-

conducting sphere radius ,
with evenly distributed
We must use density! (charge density that is). Note
charge
that (volume charge density) is the same for and .

Thus...
 And plugging our findings back into the original
equation...

And since

Case 7: inside non- (given charge density - is not constant)

conducting sphere radius ,
non uniform charge density.

Solve for in sphere radius . ( and are

functions of , so we must use calculus)
What this means: We take an infinite number of
concentric spherical shells (all parts of one particular shell
have the same since they all have the same r value),
find for all of them, and then add all of the s together.

Also, we want to change to since it's a more

convenient variable for integration.

( This is now the surface area formula since we are taking

infinitely thin shell slices, which effectively have a
volume equivalent to a surface area)

Now...
 Combining with original equation ...

*notes on cases 2 and 3

Look at the difference: sheet - ; conducting surface - . If we zoom out

of the sheet by a lot, it begins to look like the conducting surface (remember that
it does have a third dimension) BUT is different! It is double the amount (both sides of
the sheet). In reality, is the same for both, but the way is obtained for both is slightly
different, thus resulting in different equations.
for sheet - total charge on whole disk

for conducting surface - based on charge on only one surface of a larger object
**implications from the resulting equations from case 4 and case

6, and . (note: indicates "proportional to")

And now a summary...

Gauss' Law 7 Cases General Problem Solving Steps:

1. Find through charge density ( , , or )*

*way to find for case 7 only:

1. Know and thus you must use instead

 2. Put in terms of
3. Substitute given equation for into equation from steps 1 & 2
4. Integrate
2. Find area of part(s) of Gaussian surface where flux is present.

3. Plug into Gauss' Law: and solve for (note: for all 7 cases, you

can drop the and parts and change the differential to thus just making

it )
Enclosed Charges - if you put a charge in a conducting box, you cause a separation of
charge in the container. For following examples, assume the shell is neutral.

at center off center

inner surface charge: Charge density on inner surface is greater

outer surface charge: closer to enclosed .

Inside the conductor, , everywhere Electric field lines are always perpendicular
to the conducting surface at equilibrium
else, (the conducting shell (otherwise, the charges would move).
effectively causes a gap in the field of the Inside conducting shell,
conductor) On outer surface, charge is arranged
Negative charge is distributed uniformly on uniformly. There is no information about
the inner surface and positive charge is
distributed uniformly on the outer surface. position of inner .
In order to obtain the outside charge, just add the charge of the enclosed charge and the
charge of the shell. Note that if you have a charge of value and you have a shell of
charge , outside the shell.

● Conductor in an field. - Similar to how sun rays hit the equator with higher
intensity, the field lines will hit the equator of the conducting sphere with a
higher flux, causing more charge to accumulate there.
● Conducting Sheets

o 1 thin conducting sheet of area , charge , , so

thus

o 2 parallel plates - It is essentially the same as adding the electric field of

both plates in isolation. The field on the right is really a combination of
the rigtwardly headed field lines of the left plate and the right plate, and
the field on the left is really a combination of the leftwardly headed field
lines of the left plate and the right plate. The field lines in the middle are
heading opposite directions with the same magnitude and thus cancel out.

Thus the field on the outside is , which is twice as much

as the field on one side of the plate if it was isolated.
Chapter 23 - Electric Potential

● Gravitational Potential
o Gravitational Potential energy:
▪ Technically, it is only defined as a difference in energy, since is
a relative measurement.

▪ (there's a negative sign in order to

make the and vectors point in the same direction)
▪ Energy is stored in the relationship between objects and the electric
field.
▪ Increases when an outside force moves an object against the field
(up).
▪ No energy change if you move perpendicular to field lines as per
dot product rules.
o Gravitational potential (GP) - potential energy per

mass (defined at a point in the field)

▪ Describes how much energy can be stored at that point in the field.
▪ Objects spontaneously move to lower gp.
● Electric Potential - we will generate our equations and terms relating to Electric
Potential by creating analogies to Gravitational Potential

o Electric Potential energy: a difference between two points in a field.

▪ By comparing it to , we can say

▪ Similar to in the sense that charge is a replacement for mass
in the formula.
▪ It is a . There is no absolute point for energy.
▪ For a positive test charge, you increase electric potential energy by
moving the charge against the field lines.
 ▪ For a negative charge, reverse it: increase by moving
it with the field.

o Electric Potential ( )

▪ - an energy per charge (analogous to GP)

▪ SI unit - Volt (V) - aka Joule per Coulomb
▪ Usually, we talk about a difference in potential between two

points:
▪ Scalar quantity, although signs must be used due to the signed
nature of charges.
▪ decreases in the direction the field points (doesn't depend on the
sign of ). Think of using a positive test charge as the standard.

▪ Positive charges spontaneously move towards lower .

o Alternative definition of for uniform field

since and , then

o Two charged parallel plates - - Voltage changes proportionally
to the location of a particle between the plates.

o - i.e. - Volts per meter (which is really just another way to

say Newtons per Coulomb). It can be used to solve for (magnitude

of ) between two oppositely charged plates.

o Electric potential energy often becomes kinetic. Since ,

then (kinetic). (must be negative because it's

moving to a negative change in Voltage that is from higher energy to
lower energy) (for a positive charge, that is).
o Electronvolts (eV) - It is a nonstandard energy
unit. (ELEMENTARY CHARGE! - one electron
moving through one potential difference of one volt causes a transform of
energy equivalent to one electron volt.
o Equipotential Diagrams - Essentially a topographic map - showing lines
of equal potential (V) like a topographic map shows contours of equal
height. When you walk on a contour line, your potential energy stays the
same -- when the lines are close together and you move perpendicular, the
potential energy changes the fastest. Downhill is perpendicular to the
contour line. No work is done by moving along an equipotential
line. Equipotential lines are ALWAYS perpendicular to the electric field.

▪ Points on the same equipotential line have the same voltage. Lines
closer to a positive source indicate a higher voltage. Lines further
indicate a lower voltage. (positive voltage near a positive source
charge & negative voltage near a negative source charge).

o Non-Uniform Fields
▪ Electric potential energy: Between two point charges the uniform

case . Now taking as a function of

position. Normally, we'd just use Coulomb's law to

calculate . Now:
 ▪ For two point charges...

thus, potential energy for a pair of charges...

note how . Also, because of signums of charge, is positive for like

charges and negative for opposite charges.

o Electric Potential: Pair of charges. Since , for a pair of

charges, (where is the source of the field). This is like the

situation above except we disregard the charge of the second particle. It
gets cancelled out by division, as you're getting the potential energy per
charge (i.e. - the definition of Voltage)

o Generally, is an integral. , so

thus (this is like the potential energy

formula, except with no ).
o WORK: . Work done by the field is negative. The
work that you put on the particle to put it in a location of higher voltage is
just . Satisfies conservation of energy.
 o Conductors - Since electric field is zero inside, and , then is
constant everywhere in it.

Special Cases for Voltage (4 cases)

A]Around a line
charge , radius , Since (derived from use of Gauss' law),

infinitely long.

We will simply define the surface of the curve as (frame

of reference) so . (reference at zero (i.e. - lower

limit) will make undefined)

(because )

OR

B]Above infinite thin

Previously derived: (constant)
sheet, charge
density (and
potential )
 Recall that we incorporated in case A. This time
will act like a constant of integration.

*C]V at center of charged Since all the charge is the same distance away and V isn't a
arc radius vector, the arc acts like a point charge. All infinitesimal
elements are equidistant from the center of the arc.

*D]Find along central

All charge is distance away from point P. Thus,
axis of charged ring
radius , charge

*D and C are relative to , like the point charge.

Dielectric Breakdown - in a strong enough electric field, a nonconductor (like air) can

be made to conduct. For air, such a breakdown occurs when

When two spheres of different radii are connected to each other over a large distance, as
there is no electric field at equilibrium, the voltage is constant across the surfaces of
everything. We can use this data to calculate charge, charge density, and electric field
outside the spheres.
Chapter 24 - Electrostatic Energy and Capacitance

● Electric Potential Energy - Occurs due to a collection of point charges

o Due to work done in assembling the charges - a sum of the terms

Q1 - Experiences (no work needed - comes in

for free since there are no other charges present)

Q2 - Experiences

Q3 - Experiences

Q4 - Experiences

o So, system potential is (sum of all

works)
o Note: Each new charge coming in experiences a larger than the
previous one.
o Now consider - we get a nice summation. (half of all of

the permutations). For example above, this chart represents all of

the combinations of , which when added up make , as each
combination is presented here twice:
 o Thus, the resulting summation expression:
▪ Since this is for an arbitrary collection of charges, for a continuous
charge distribution (i.e. - charges on a conductor),

then where is the total charge and is the final

potential relative to .

● CAPACITANCE ( ) -It is a property of a conducting object. .Note

capacitance is a constant for a certain surface (i.e. - whatever you do
to (double, halve, etc.), the same happens to as well).
o It measures how much charge an object can hold at a given
potential. Generally it's related to the size of the conductor.

o SI Unit - Farad (F) - huge unit

 MORE CASES!!!
A spherical capacitor

Parallel Plates Surface area of one side of one of the plates -

Cylindrical Capacitor Radii small and large

note that
Specifically for AP part II problems, be able to link the cases we've done so far using the
following equations in order:

Capacitors in Circuits - schematic symbol: .

● In a circuit, typically we use parallel plate
capacitors.
● When connecting a capacitor to a
battery: Charge will flow until potential is Note: red arrows indicate flow of
equal in both (almost instantly) . Hence, an electrons
electric field forms between the two plates until conditi
of the capacitor on is met.
● Charge will flow
until . At this
point, we can calculate on the plate (i.e.
- amount of moved around on the
circuit) using the definition of capacitance.

● Note total charge on a parallel plate capacitor is always zero ( on one plate
and on the other plate).

● When we combine capacitors in series (i.e. - end to end), the voltage across
the entire thing will be as if there were one capacitor (i.e. - the voltage of
the battery).
● Note how the inside bit is isolated and separate.
● There is the same amount of charge on each capacitor, regardless of size , as
when one electron gets bumped off of one capacitor, it goes on to the next
one, and the charges cause it to continue along the circuit.
● Energy in a capacitor - combining (we can do this because it's a

continuous charge distribution) and yields

● in various circuit setups.

● Capacitors in series "see" less voltage than the battery offers.

o The total potential across both capacitors equals the battery at

equilibrium. , but since the charge lost from

one capacitor goes on the other.

o Also, we can express , where ,

thus . s cancel. Thus: .

o i.e. - more capacitors in series yields a smaller equivalent .
o Each capacitor sees less voltage and thus stores less charge.

● Capacitors in parallel
o All capacitors see the same amount of voltage

o So total charge moved by battery gets distributed across all

capacitors. Since , and

thus since
, and
Dielectrics

● Dielectrics are materials that fill the gap in a capacitor.

● Generally, we use a better insulator than air (so you can apply a higher voltage
without capacitor plates sparking and discharging (called dielectric
breakdown)).

● Air breaks down at .

● Dielectric Constant - property of a dielectric. It's a factor by which capacitance
increases (represented by the Greek letter kappa - )
● Replace the original with in your expressions.

● Thus, and . Strengthens capacitance and weakens electric

field.

o Inside the dielectric, the sum of charges isn't too large, so within the
volume of the capacitor, the is less (so thus it is harder to get a
spark). Note that this means that the space between the dielectric and one
of the plates is going to be more. Charges on plate and dielectric (one
side) are not equal and opposite.
o Capacitor + Battery = Constant
o When an insert dielectric undergoes polarization and is attracted into the
gap, the work done decreases potential energy of the capacitor (initially at
least).
o Battery compensates - battery puts more charges on plates
o Final result - Goes back to original energy but there is more charge
(effectively increasing the capacitance).
● Isolated capacitor at potential
o is constant (because of isolation)
o If you insert a dielectric...
o System potential energy decreases so across the capacitor decreases.
● Some dielectrics
o Air -
o Oil -
o Paper -
o Glass
Chapter 25 - Electric Current and Direct-Current
Circuits

Resistor Circuit Basics

● Circuit - complete path for current to flow through and consists of :

o Energy source (battery, wall outlet, etc.)
o Load - something to do work (light, motor, resistor, etc.)
o Conducting path joining them.

● Current ( ) - defined as a flow of charge.

● SI Unit - Ampères/ Amps. ( )

● D.C. vs. A.C.
o Direct Current - one-way flow, caused by batteries, power bricks, etc.
o Alternating Current - charges oscillating in SHM (simple harmonic
motion) - created by generators (wall outlets, etc.)
● Conventional current - fictional but conventional view that current flows from
positive to negative - it's wrong when it comes to describing the direction that
electrons flow in a circuit, but we use it anyway because it is a standard and all
calculations yield the same results.
● Electron current - opposite of conventional current. The true picture of how
electrons flow.
● Batteries provide a potential difference to cause current flow.
o Sets up an electric field in the conducting path - causes free charges to

move ( ). Charges bang into the lattice as they move, dissipating

energy as heat.
o When length of wire experiences an field,
o Energy is dissipated along the wire as a power:

o SI unit for power: Watt ( )= (volt-amp) =

o So energy transfer:

● Resistance ( ) - for a conductor, defined by Ohm's law: or

o is a property of an object.

o SI Unit - ohm,
o resistivity ( ) - material property related to resistance, higher , lowsier

conduction. , where is the length of the wire and is the

cross sectional area of the wire.
o Higher temperature, generally greater resistance. Temperature resistance
is material dependent.
o Power dissipation in a resistor can be represented

by and

. &
● Series Circuits - devices connected end to end

o Resistors connected in series: equivalent total

resistance

o Current is same everywhere in a series circuit .

o Potential of the battery is the sum of the resistor potentials. The resistor
potentials can be thought of voltage drops that occur as current passes
through each resistor.
o More resistors causes a current decrease.

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● Parallel Circuits - a branching circuit. All the devices in parallel to each other
are really connected across the same potential.
o Any path to and from the ends of the battery are going to "see" the same
voltage. (however note that VT may
not necessarily be the voltage of the battery).
o Battery current is the sum of currents through each
branch.
o Resistance: applying Ohm's law to the currents in the equation stated
above, and cancelling out for the fact that all voltages are the same,

resistance is thus:
 o More resistors in parallel decreases total resistance, but increases the total
current. Causes power source to work harder (reason for circuit breakers).

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● The Gory Details -

o electron motion
▪ Electric effects propagate at the speed of light (3×108 km/s) due to
the electric field.
▪ Individual electron speeds are high, but
random. v ≈ 106 m/s (but net speed is zero without a battery).
▪ In a circuit with current, the drift speed (average velocity of all the
moving charges) is very low. vd ≈ 106 m/s.
▪ Consider a wire L and cross sectional area A and charge
density n (# of free charges/m3). Assuming e is the charge on an
electron and V is the volume of the wire, drift velocity can be
estimated: thus
o Real (as opposed to ideal) batteries:
▪ Generate free charge by chemical reactions that have limited rates.
▪ As more current is drawn, reactions struggle to keep up: charges
have less energy and battery voltage drops. Batteries have internal
resistance.
▪ Given a battery with an EMF (ℰ ) as its original potential (the
voltage when the circuit is off), and a terminal potential VT when
the circuit is on, then: (where r is the internal
resistance of the battery).
▪ For a real battery, EMF (ℰ ) - the voltage drop of a
battery. Batteries in series decrease the magnitude of the internal
resistance as the total of the internal resistances become
lower. When batteries are in series, add ℰs.
o KIRCHOFF'S LAWS
▪ Voltage Law - the sum of the potential changes around ANY loop
in a circuit is zero (a.k.a. - conservation of energy).
▪ Current Law - at any junction in a circuit, current in = current out
(a.k.a. - conservation of charge).
▪ Applying the law: (only necessary if you have more than one
battery).
▪ Write an expression and choose a direction and
loop to go (using conventional current is easiest). Subtract
voltages when you go through resistors in the direction of
current (add them if going in reverse) and add voltages
when you go through batteries (subtract them if you go in
reverse).
▪ Note how many currents there are and assign random
directions and variables. When solved, a negative current
will tell you if your assigned current is in the wrong
direction.
▪ Write expressions according to the current law in
accordance to the arrows on your drawing.
▪ If expression is complicated and will take a long time to do
algebraically, use the matrix function on your graphing
calculator.
 o Meters -
▪ Galvanometer - It is denoted by a circle with a G on it in a
circuit. It's a very sensitive current meter - needle deflection is
proportional to current. (delicate and can't measure big currents).
▪ Ammeter - denoted by a circle with an A in it. Must be in series
with the circuit. It's a galvanometer with a "shunt" resistor placed
in parallel so it can handle a larger current.
▪ Voltmeter - denoted by a circle with a V in it. Must be in parallel
with the circuit (tests are of two points!). A galvanometer with a
"shunt" resistor in series. The shunt resistor needs a high
resistance so it doesn't affect the current in the device that is being
measured.
o RC CIRCUITS

A] Discharging Capacitor Start off with Kirchoff's voltage law:

Sidenote: finding from

note, however, that Q and I have time dependencies

negative because it's decreasing
(hand-waving argument)
Since current is decreasing, we need to flip the sign
Thus, by chain rule:

rearrange so integration with respect to is possible

or: & reasonable
 also,

integrate both sides

so,

Sidenote: factor out constants

both are exponential decay to zero

carry out indefinite integration

both start at or at

Constants of integration and may be

combined

solve for

Note, how when , , so thus

B] Charging Capacitor
Kirchoff's voltage law:
Sidenote:

Since and C is a constant,

Since

u-substitution! let , thus

recall that is a constant

Exponential decay!
note that the current formula is the recall that K is our constant of integration

same!

note that when , , so

And from Ohm's law:
thus
 , where is battery
voltage

note that

RC Time Constant ( ) - a measure of how quickly the capacitor discharges.

-discharging capacitor:

-charging capacitor:
 Graphs
Discharging Capacitor Charging Capacitor

&
&

&
&

& &

Behavior of capacitors over extended periods of time:

● For a capacitor in a battery circuit, (uncharged) when you first turn the circuit on,
the capacitor acts like a wire (ignore it in the circuit) -- a long time later, it acts
like a break (take the corresponding branch out of the circuit).

A preview of magnetism: Inductors!

Inductor - wire coils in a circuit - schematic symbol is a bunch of connected loops

● Magnetic analog of a capacitor but they act the opposite

● Stores energy in a field (magnetic field).
● Exerts a "back EMF" when first turned on - stopping the current as the magnetic
field builds up.
● A long time later, once the magnetic field is full strength, it just looks like a wire.
● Inductance ( ) - a measure of strength of magnetic field set up - SI Unit - Henry
(H)
● Potential drop across inductor:

o Maximum reverse voltage when reaches max.

● In a circuit containing a battery, resistor, and inductor connected in series,

Kirchoff's voltage law yields the differential equation

● NON AP: oscillator - Capacitor and inductor connected in a series loop. Energy
goes from capacitor to inductor and back (electric potential to magnetic potential
and back). Emits radio waves (a radio transmitter).
 Magnetism

Chapter 26 - The Magnetic Field

● Magnetic Field - caused by moving charges and exerts a force on other moving
charges. A vector field, given by direction of the north pole of a compass at a
given point in space.
● 3D Vector notation - dots indicate vectors coming out of the page and crosses
indicate vectors going into the page (perpendicular to the surface).
● Magnetic Field ( ) around a wire circles the current. As viewed from above,
when the current is going into the page, the magnetic field circles clockwise
around the wire. When the current is going out of the page, the magnetic field
circles counterclockwise around the wire.
● Right hand rule for currents - thumb goes along the conventional current; fingers
wrap in the direction of the magnetic field. Dots and X’s make such diagrams
clearer by indicating 3D vectors with more specificity.

● Field Strengths - and but . The current length ( ) is

the source of the magnetic field. In the case of a wire: ,

where (called the permeability of free space -- note that is

the permittivity of free space).

● SI Unit for magnetic field strength - the Tesla (T) -->

● Bar magnets - certain solids can be magnetic in the absence of an overall current:
ferromagnetic materials (iron, nickel, cobalt, neodymium)
● Electrons appear to be little magnets (property of magnetic spin). "spin up" or
"spin down"
● Domain theory: 1. In some atoms, the electrons have an overall magnetic field, so
the atom itself "looks" like a magnet. 2. Domain - a group of atoms magnetically
aligned 3. Typically, a lump of iron has many small domains randomly aligned -
weakly magnetized overall. 4. If you put an object in a strong magnetic field, the
domains get bigger and tend to line up, increasing its magnetic field strength.
● What do magnetic fields look like?

http://www.coolmagnetman.com/maggallery.htm

● Breaking a magnet creates two smaller ones (no magnetic monopoles).

● Magnetic field lines are always closed loops. They do not begin or end anywhere
(unlike electric field lines). There are no magnetic "monopoles" like there are for
an electric charge.

● Magnetic force on a current. Since , we get the direction of the

magnetic field from (cross product between the length vector and
the magnetic field vector).
● To determine the direction of the force, use the right hand slap rule. Fingers align
up with the magnetic field and the thumb aligns along the current-
length. Perpendicular from your palm is the direction of the force.
● Since , we can substitute and get . This is the force on a
moving charge in a magnetic field.
● In all cases, if the current or charge is negative, reverse the vector effect (direction
of the magnetic field or force).
● Cyclotron effect - magnetic force is a centripetal force because it is always
perpendicular to the velocity. Magnetic forces don't do work on moving charges
as they only affect the direction of a particle's motion, not speed. If a particle
moves at an angle to the magnetic field, it will spiral along the magnetic field
line. Overall direction of motion is the component of the original velocity that
was parallel to the magnetic field.

http://new.math.uiuc.edu/math198/MA198-2015/lhansel2/index.html

● Recall the centripetal force (sum of radial forces only). For a charged

particle in a magnetic field: , thus .

● Velocity Selector - crossed electric and magnetic fields. In the image below, the
magnetic field deflects a positive charge down. The electric field deflects a
positive charge up (with parallel plates). For the charge to remain
undeflected, , and thus , and thus the velocity that will pass

through undeflected is .
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wien_filter

● You can either calculate or select out particles of a certain velocity by adjusting
the electric and magnetic fields.
● The electric field, velocity, and magnetic fields must all be mutually
perpendicular.
● Mass Spectrometer - used to calculate mass of atoms or molecules.

● Particles are often singly or doubly ionized (charge of +e or +2e). Acceleration

across some voltage will produce some final velocity. Since ,

then . If you can't calculate this, use on the velocity

selector. Fire into the magnetic field, so cyclotron effect yields mass ,

and thus solving for and combining with and then solving for ,

once can find the the mass from .

Current Loops and torques - motor

A current loop behaves like a bar magnet. It thus tends to line up with an external
field. We can wrap our right hand fingers around the loop to get the magnetic field
generated by the loop (i.e. - up). OR, you can look at it as having an upward force on the
left and a downward force on the right. In a stable state:

Close and far wires go opposite now so everything is balanced (note how they are not
parallel to the magnetic field now). There is maximum torque when the area vector is
perpendicular to the magnetic field.

Here, theta is the angle between the area vector and the magnetic field.

but there are two forces, and length here is

and generally, for a coil of number of loops.

● Hall Effect - if a current bearing conductor is placed in a magnetic field, moving

charges will be deflected to one side setting up a voltage, , across the width of
the conductor. Consider a conducting strip width , and thickness . Electrons
(assuming that they are moving) set an electric field across the width. Quickly,
the electric and magnetic forces balance out.
 http://www.coolmagnetman.com/magflux.htm

● We know from velocity selectors that in perpendicular magnetic and electric

fields, our drift velocity will be defined by . We also know the Hall
Voltage can be defined as follows: . Combining gives
. This is a simple way to find drift velocity if you know the hall voltage, the
magnetic field, and the width.
● If your material is a particular sort of semiconductor, the hall voltage reverses
across the width. These are called p-type materials. Implication: some materials
have "positive charge carriers", not electrons, transferring current.
● The Hall Effect is also used to measure weak magnetic fields. Recall for charge-

carrier density in a material: . Combining with the previous

equation, , which solved for magnetic field is .

Chapter 27 - Sources of the Magnetic Field

All our force formulas are inverse square laws ( ). With magnetic fields, additional
things need to be taken into account.

Gravitational Electric Magnetic

Or as an equality
For a point mass For a point charge (for an element of current)

For a line of current

(integration of above)
 is called the Biot-Savart Law. It is the most general expression
for calculating the electric field but is very limited in its practicality. There are only two
cases to memorize.

Biot-Savart Case 1: Magnetic field from Biot-Savart Case 2: Magnetic field from
a curved wire a current ring

Because of the geometry, the cross product

goes away. Start with the Biot-Savart law. by pythagorean theorem:

Substitute

Because of the geometry, appears twice,

thus

Resulting magnetic field is into the page.

Since we know the resultant magnetic field
is up, we can drop the cross product (since
we are accounting for components already).
 ● Gauss' Law for Magnetism: It's silly!!! Since all magnetic field lines are loops,

the flux in will equal the flux out, so thus . This can't really be
used to calculate anything. It just serves a reminder of the nature of magnetic flux
( ).
● Ampère's Law - a useful way to calculate magnetic fields, but for a current!

● Instead of integrating around a Gaussian surface, we are now integrating around a

Ampèrian loop. We integrate the magnetic field around a closed loop
surrounding a current in a plane perpendicular to the current so the magnetic field
is always parallel to the Ampèrian loop. For this equation, we have cases.

Case 1 - for a straight wire

Because of geometry, we can drop the , dot

product, and differentials.

Case 2 - inside a wire radius and

distance from the center. In order to find the portion of the current that is
Cross section: enclosed by our Ampèrian loop, we must use a
proportion.
Case 3 - Inside a solenoid

Let's assume that our solenoid has a

current and our Ampèrian loop is
enclosing number of wires.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid

Putting a rectangular loop cross

sectioning the solenoid...
doesn't matter because it's outside the coil

and don't matter because is

perpendicular to

note how is a density of wire coils

if we call this density , we can simplify this

expression to say
Case 4 - Inside a toroid
Toroid = a wire-wrapped doughnut
Current and number of loops Integrate across radius where
Inner radius and outer radius

Extra note. An old unit for magnetic field: The gauss (G). Conversion
factor:

Forces due to parallel currents. Parallel currents attract each other. Each wire lies in
the electric field caused by the other current. This creates a magnetic force that attracts
the two if they're running in the same direction and a magnetic force that repels them if
they're running in the opposite direction.

this is a force per length, which is practical if the length is unknown or is ideally infinite

and thus

which looks a ton like coulomb's law and newton's law of gravitation!
Use your knowledge of the directions of the currents to determine the direction of the
forces.
Chapter 28 - Magnetic Induction

Inducing EMF. Here, instead of V, we will use ℰ. Recall that EMF is not really a force,
but is rather a voltage. Recall that magnetic fields are created by one of two things: 1. a
current or 2. a changing electric field. When a capacitor charges, initially, an imaginary
current is created between the two plates since it acts like there is no break. Really, a
magnetic field is caused by the changing electric field between the plates.

Faraday's Law - a changing magnetic current creates an electric field (or an

EMF). Recall .

the negative is due to lenz's law (below)

Take note that can change one of two ways:

1. Change in the magnetic field: . Examples: pushing a magnet into a

wire coil, or turning an electromagnet on or off.

2. Change in the area: . Examples: spin a wire coil in a magnetic

field, so angle between the area vector and the magnetic field vector keeps
changing.

Special case: moving a wire so that it cuts a magnetic field. This also generates an EMF.
 https://www.slideshare.net/mrmeredith/electromagnetic-induction-2

Here, we have a wire of length traveling with velocity through a magnetic field
. Note that is the distance traveled, and that is the area swept out by the wire.

(if everything is at right angles)

If not:

Lenz' Law - an induced current flows in such a way as to oppose the change that caused
it. If the flux is increasing, the induced current will create a magnetic field that goes
against the increasing magnetic field. If the flux is decreasing, the induced current will
create a magnetic field that goes with the increasing magnetic field. Examples: Pushing a
magnet into a loop will cause repulsion. Pulling it out will cause attraction. (It's pretty
much a specific application of the conservation of energy).
Eddy Currents - (bulk conductor and changing magnetic field). When inserting a
conducting block into a region with a magnetic field, charges are separated in the section
intersecting the magnetic field. The voltage causes the charges to flow around the other
part of the block (the part that doesn't have any magnetic field lines piercing it). When the
block is at a place where the magnetic field covers the entire block, no eddy current
occurs (only separation of charge occurs). These eddy currents dissipate energy as heat
and flow as to oppose the motion.

Induced Electric Field - since and , we get an alternate

form of Faraday's Law:

There is a negative because of Lenz' Law (applied to the equation after the fact)
. Integrate the electric field across a closed loop. Enclose the magnetic flux that you're
talking about. If the path of integration is a conduction loop, the electric field will do the
work to move the charges for an induced current, not the magnetic field. The electric
field is parallel to the EMF. This energy transfer is NOT conservative. The work done
by the electric field is typically dissipated as heat or transferred as kinetic energy in a way
that it is not reversible.

Inductance ( ) - How much a coil resists changes in current, due to magnetic

effects. SI Unit: Henry (H). It's an effect of Lenz' law. Causes a reverse EMF (ℰ) when
you turn the circuit on (when the current changes). Definition:
Magnetic Energy

1. Electromagnets store energy. When you turn a circuit on with an inductor, the
magnetic field starts expanding around it. Field lines expanding cut the coil,
inducing a reverse emf: this acts like a temporary resistor in the coil. Once a
magnetic field is stable, reverse emf disappears. The coil looks like a wire
again. When you switch the current off, the collapsing field induces an emf that
tries to keep the current flowing, opposes the collapse of the field.
2. Inductor - a wire coil used in a circuit. The creation/destruction of the field acts
like a break on the charges to the circuit current. It acts the opposite of a
capacitor. Inductors: first turned on/off, acts like a break in the circuit - a long
time later, it looks like a wire. (high resistance to low resistance). Capacitors:
first turned on/off, looks like a wire. Later, it becomes a break in the circuit.
3. Inductance (L) - property of a particular inductor or coil.
4. emf induced in an inductor can be obtained by the definition of inductance.

5. Power consumed by an inductor can be found by . Not very

useful...only gives power if current changes.

6. Energy stored by an inductor can be found by

7. RL Circuits - by Kirchhoff's voltage law, the differential

equation . The solution is . Note that this

indicates that the time constant is .

Chapter 29 - Maxwell's Equations and Electromagnetic
Waves

This is not a full chapter. You should know these equations already anyway:

Maxwell's Equations

1. (gauss' law)

2. (gauss' law for magnetism)

3. (variant of Faraday's law)

4. (Ampère's Law)

Note: displacement current ( ) - imaginary current from a capacitor when initially

turned on. Creates a magnetic field just as if it was a wire. (the serves
somewhat as an addendum to Ampère's law)

Appendix

Store the following values in your calculator using the "➔ sto" function

Elementary Charge

Coulomb's Constant

Permeability of free space

Remember also that you can get the permittivity of free space by coulomb's constant (

)
Reminder for Rebecca Karger:

E+M topic breakdown for the test:

1. Electrostatics (ch. 21-23) 30% - charge, coulomb's law, gauss' law, electric field
and potential
2. Capacitance (ch. 24) 14% - electric potential energy, capacitance, dielectrics
3. Circuits (ch. 26-27) 20% - current, resistance, power, steady-stable DC Currents,
transients with capacitors (changing current).
4. Magnetic fields (ch. 26-27) 20% - force on moving charges and circuits, Biot-
Savert law, Ampère's law
5. Electromagnetism (ch. 28-30) 16% - Faraday's law, Lenz's Law, induction,
Maxwell's Equations