| Date | Text to be read BEFORE class | Topics Covered | Notes |
| Aug. 27 | None | Temperature scales, specific heat | Lecture on the 29th, but Section recitations begin on Tuesday, Sept. 2 |
| Aug. 29 | All of Chapter 19 | Specific heat ( continued), phase transformations | Remember to read the assignment before coming to class |
| Sep. 3 | Chapter 20 | Work, First law of thermodynamics, internal energy of an ideal gas, isothermal expansions | |
| Sep. 5 | Chapter 20 and 21 ( Sec. 4) | adiabatic expansions, Second law of thermodynamics, Carnot cycle | HW#1 Due Monday at 11:06am sharp |
| Sep. 8 | Chapter 21 | Non-Carnot cycles, Entropy | HW#2 Due Monday Sep. 15 |
| Sep. 10 | More on entropy | HW#2 due on Monday Sep.15 at 11:06am | |
| Sep. 12 | Electric charges and Coulomb's law; Definition of electric field | HW#2 due Monday at 11:06am sharp | |
| Sep. 15 | Chapter 23 | Charge conservation: positron annihilation; E as vector sum of E's for several point charges | |
| Sep. 17 | Field away from an infinite line of charge and a ring of charge( by direct integration ): Gauss's Law | HW#3 Due next Wednesday | |
| Sep. 19 | Class cancelled due to Hurricane | ||
| Sep. 22 | Field due to infinite sheet, uniformly charged sphere, concentric spheres; conductors vs. insulatiors | ||
| Sep. 24 | E(r) for concentric spheres, both insulators and conductors: Use of Gauss's Law: Define electric potential | HW#4 assigned, Exam reminder: Exam I is on Friday Oct. 3 | |
| Sep. 26 | Electric potential calculations: parallel plates, dipole, concentric cylinders; Operation of a Geiger Counter, Lightning Rods | HW#4 due next Wednesday: KEEP A COPY OF THIS ASSIGNMENT AS YOU WILL NOT HAVE IT GRADED BEFORE EXAM I | |
| Sep. 29 | Potential of a diploe, computation of V(r) from E(r) | Exam reminder: Exam I is on Friday Oct. 3 | |
| Oct. 1 | Millikan oil drop experiment, Rutherford model of atom, Definition of capacitance | Exam reminder: Exam I is on Friday Oct. 3 | |
| Oct. 3 | EXAM I | ||
| Oct. 6 | Multiple-plate capacitors, capacitance of coaxial cable, effect of dielectric, energy stored in a capacitor | HW#5 assigned | |
| Oct. 8 | Forces on capacitor plates, application: personal radiation monitor; series and parallel combinations of capacitors | HW#5 is due on Wednesday Oct. 15 | |
| Oct. 10 | Capacitance wrap-up: several examples; Current, Ohm's law;Exam questions: solutions part 1 | HW#5 is due on Wednesday Oct. 15 | |
| Oct. 13 | Exam questions: solutions part 2; resistivity; Power generation and loss in circuits | HW#5 is due on Wednesday Oct. 15 | |
| Oct. 15 | Series and parallel resistors; Drift velocity; Kirchoff's laws and multi-loop circuits | HW#6 is due on Wednesday Oct. 22 | |
| Oct. 17 | Determinants as one way of solving linear simultaneous equations; charge transported in a pulse; series and parallel resistors in a circuit: an example | HW#6 is due on Wednesday Oct. 22 | |
| Oct. 20 | Temperature dependence of resistivity; resistance thermometers; Real batteries and terminal potential; RC time constants in capacitor discharge; Magnetic fields | HW#6 is due on Wednesday Oct. 22 | |
| Oct. 22 | Charged paticles in a constant magnetic field; cyclotron frequency; isotope separators; the measurement of q/m for the electron | HW#7 is due on Friday Oct. 31 | |
| Oct. 24 | The Hall effect and the measurement of the sign and density of charge in conductors; cyclotrons and the production of high energy charged particles; magnetic forces on current-carrying wires; torque on a current loop | HW#7 is due on Friday Oct. 31 | |
| Oct. 27 | Magnetic dipole moments; Production of magnetic fields; Biot-Savart law | HW#7 is due on Friday Oct. 31 | |
| Oct. 29 | Biot-Savart law; finite and infinite straight wire segments carrying current; square and circular loops; Helmholtz coils | HW#7 is due on Friday Oct. 31 | |
| Oct. 31 | Helmholtz coils - uniformity of field at center; Ampere's law; Application of Ampere's law to infinite wire, solid cylindrical conductor, solenoid; B for finite-length soleniod: integration method; power vs. field strength in solenoids | HW#8 is due on Friday Nov. 7 | |
| Nov. 3 | Ampere's law; application to solenoids | HW#8 is due on Friday Nov. 7 | |
| Nov. 5 | Real-life finite solenoids; power dissipation; maximum fields attainable | ||
| Nov. 7 | Magnetic flux; several geometries; change in flux by: motion, orientation, current change; Induced potential; Faraday's and Lenz's laws | ||
| Nov. 10 | Exam II | ||
| Nov. 12 | Chapter 31 | Mutual inductance; motional EMF's | HW#9 due Nov. 21 |
| Nov. 14 | Chapter 31 | Self Inductance | |
| Nov. 17 | Chap. 32 and Handout on Magnetic Properties | Atomic magnetic moments; diamagnetic behavior | |
| Nov. 19 | Chap. 32 and Handout on Magnetic Properties | Paramagnetism and Ferromagnetism | HW#9 Due on Friday Nov. 21 |
| Nov. 21 | Chap. 31 and Chap. 33 | Movie: A magnet laboratory; Time constants in RL circuits | |
| Nov. 24 | Chap. 31 and Chap. 33 | Energy stored in an inductor; LC oscillations; Phase relationships between V(t) and I(t) | HW#10 Due on Friday Dec. 5 |
| Nov. 26 | Chap. 33 | Reactances: resistive, inductive and capacitive; total impedance in an RLC series circuit; AC resonance | HW#10 Due on Friday Dec. 5 |
| Dec. 1 | Chap. 33 | Imax as a function of external frequency; Q of a circuit; on and off-resonance behavior; applications to radio tuning and measurement of small forces | HW#10 Due on Friday Dec. 5 |
| Dec. 3 | Chap. 33 | Average power; rms voltage for an AC signal; Displacement current | HW#10 Due on Friday Dec. 5 HW#11 assigned and solutions posted |
| Dec. 5 | Maxwell's equations and the spped of light; Begin course review | HW#11 assigned and solutions posted | |
| Dec. 8 | Complete course review | HW#11 assigned and solutions posted |