PHYSICS 405

Spring 2005     Daniel Finley

Notes on    Introduction to Electrodynamics,   by David J. Griffiths

Chapter 5: Magnetostatics

Again, first, some review from freshman physics.
  1. velocity-dependent forces and relationship to magnetic fields and electric currents;
  2. magnetic forces do no work!
  3. currents and the notions of volume current density, and also
  4. surface current density, which generates discontinuities in the fields
  5. The divergence of the current density, and the Biot-Savart law for the magnetic field of a steady current.
  6. Introduce the units of the Tesla and also the gauss = 10-4 Tesla.
  7. [Section 5.3]The divergence and curl of the magnetic field: Ampere's Law.
  8. the Magnetic Vector Potential, [Section 5.4, p. 234] satisfies a vector version of Poisson's equation: both the differential and the integral form.
  9. Magnetostatic Boundary Conditions: quite important, and rather different from the electrostatic version!
  10. (corresponding) Multipole Expansion of the Vector Potential: no monopole moments, of course!

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  Last updated/modified: 16 January, 2005