Physics 110A

Physics 110A extends the lower division electromagnetism courses with more advanced mathematics.

Overview

This course is essentially an extension of the lower division electrodynamics of Physics 5B/7B. In this class, students will make a significantly deeper dive into the apparently familiar theory of electromagnetism through a higher level of vector calculus. The class explores in depth the macroscopic formulation of Maxwell’s equations which describe the laws of electrodynamics in realistic materials that respond to electromagnetic fields.

Prerequisites

Physics 5A, Physics 5B, and Physics 5C or Physics 7A, Physics 7B, and Physics 7C.

Student Comments

“There is a lot of overlap between 110A and 5B. Topics that are not covered in 5B include techniques for solving Laplace equations, auxiliary fields, Lorenz gauge and vector potential. Uniqueness theorem and symmetry arguments are sometimes useful for simplify calculations. Making comparisons between electricity and magnetism will also help understanding the concepts better (e.g., multipole expansion for the potentials, and bound charge and current, etc.). Make sure you are familiar with Stokes' theorem and divergence theorem from multivariable calculus as you will be using them quite often to derive equations in lectures. Note that although the class is called Electromagnetism and Optics, 110A doesn't deal with optics at all. 110A is known to be one of the easiest physics upper divs, so in my opinion it's good to start your upper divs with this class, any time after you're done with 5B/7B, 53, and 89.” – Youqi Song, undergraduate physics