i was wondering what's the main difference between upper division courses in say electromagnetism and the electromagnetism that i have already learned about in lower division calculus based courses?
does it expand on concepts? is it the same with more derivation? is it completely different.
also, were can i watch some lecture videos on upper division courses?
thanks in advance for your help
Copyright © 2025 Q2A.ES - All rights reserved.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Upper division uses a lot of really advanced calculus and partial differential equations. In your lower division calculus based electromagnetic physics class, you only learned how to solve some real basic problems assuming that your charges and fields don't move and put out fields, and you didn't throw in calculations of electromagnetic radiation based on the fact that your charges accelerate. You also didn't study it at the level of partial differential equations -- what happens to the fields when you place charges inside of a grounded box, and what happens when you start moving those charges? Although the basic concepts are still there, what you learn will be completely different.
For one, you keep the simple F = qE + qv*B, but throw in
curl E = -dB/dt
curl B/mu = epsilon dE/dt + conductivity * E
and arbitrary boundary conditions like E(boundary position, t) = 0, contour integral E(one boundary to the other, t) = V(t). What happens to the particle if it is initially injected into this system with velocity v and position x,y,z? Much different than what you learn in lower division courses. And by the way, curl is a vector partial differential operator, making these partial differential equations.
There will be more derivations and historical information, and if it's in a non-graduate physics class then I don't think they will throw in the boundary conditions like that but they will still consider radiation and other stuff from any change in the trajectory of a charged particle. For me in electrical engineering, they consider only the fields and the boundary conditions at an upper level instead of radiation from moving particles.
I think upper division uses a lot of calculus. I don't know about the videos but here's a link to complete lecture notes:
http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/em/lectures/...