Spring 2025
Welcome to graduate Classical Electrodynamics I, Physics 5330! We will cover Chs. 1-7 from the second edition of “Macroscopic Electrodynamics” (World Scientific) authored by myself and Dr. Chris Thron of Texas A&M, Central Texas (Killeen). An older, free version (originally composed in Word and converted to PDF) is still available at my OPEN TEXT PROJECT site:
http://blogs.baylor.edu/open_text/
However, note that this version is not updated in many aspects.
The class will largely have a traditional lecture format, but with a strong emphasis on the problems at the end of the chapters. This format should be helpful in preparing for the yearly Prelim Exam. Problems will be assigned on a lecture by lecture basis and presented by members of the class as assigned by me. The PHY 5330 Syllabus, the PHY 5330 Course Calendar, which includes the schedule of problems for the semester, the PHY 5330 HW Assignments, which has the individual class presentation assignments have been posted on this blog site.
I will generally assign one or two problems on each problem set. Since all the problems are posted in advance, this means you only have to do about one problem a day during the week to keep up with the material. The problems from all students will be due on Canvas before the class period. The students designated in the PHY 5330 HW Assignments list will present their solutions using the screen projector at each meeting. I will be very happy to discuss the solutions of the problems also during my office hours or extended hours, but I will not be handing out solutions. I will only be grading a selection of the assigned problems, usually one per set. Late problem sets are not allowed. However, a given homework set can be dropped if a valid excuse is offered. (A “valid excuse”, usually means a note from a Doctor.) If you can not make it to a lecture, please call me or the Physics Office or have a friend deliver your homework, especially if you are assigned to present one of the solutions. Do not expect to see graded homeworks back until one or two weeks after they have been turned in. You will do a better job and get higher grades if you do a little work each day, and not wait until just before the homework is due. All of the problems assigned will come from the problems at the end of each chapter. Since the homework at the end of the chapters is designed to parallel the manuscript material, you should try to read and understand the next lecture’s material in the manuscript before the next class meeting. If you do this, you will find that you understand the presentations better. Also, I have designed the schedule so that the reading material is always covered in class before the associated exercises are due. I suggest you keep your own notes to help your personal understanding of the material.
I will ask you to be economical in time in your HW presentations. Please aim for at most 6 minutes of classtime. If you take more time than this, I will have to ask you to summrize and finish.
The Solutions Guide for Instructors for the text will be available in my office. The Guide is just that, a guide for intelligent instructors with a background in the subject, not a solutions manual. Students will, and should, find it rather opaque. I used to ask students not to use this, but I now think there will be little harm in doing so, as long as its use is limited. In the spirit of a user’s HP on Minecraft, I will assign 10 HP (Help Points!) to each student at the beginning of the class. You may use one point if you wish to look up a problem in the Solutions Guide. If you do so, I will ask you to indicate that by writing HP at the end of your solution. I will keep track of your use of the points during the semester. Note that you use a point even if you are just checking a final result with the Guide. It will not do you any good to just copy what you find in the Guide. I am very familiar with the Guide (I wrote it!) and will not give any credit for this type of use.
I will give two midterm exams, each a hour and 15 minutes, and a two-hour long final. (See the Course Calendar for the dates.) My exams are open book, so you can bring the textbook with you during exams. Please do not write problem solutions in the margins! Also, you can not use problem solutions or other outside materials. The final will be comprehensive. (I will give hints on the types of problems to study for on each exam.)
The grade weighting will be as follows:
homework 30%
1st exam 20%
2nd exam 20%
final 30%.
I do not have a hard and fast grading scale, but for purposes of illustration the scale I used the last time I taught this class was:
“A” 100-65
“B” (65-e)-50
“C” (50-e)-35,
“D” (35-e)-25,
where e is an infinitesimally small positive quantity. A-, B+,-, C+,-, D+ grades will also be assigned at my discretion. A grade of “C” in graduate school is a very poor showing.
There will be no make-ups for missed exams. If you miss an exam without a valid excuse you get a zero. I will reweight the final if you are excused. If you miss both take-home exams without an excuse, you fail the class. If you miss both with a valid excuse, you get an incomplete. Missing the final with an excuse gives you an incomplete also; without an excuse you fail.
Note the attendance policy for the College of Arts and Sciences: To earn course credit in the College of Arts & Sciences, a student must attend at least 75 percent of all scheduled class meetings. Any student who does not meet this minimal standard will automatically receive a grade of “F” in the course. Any University-related activity necessitating an absence from class shall count as an absence when determining whether a student has attended the required 75 percent of class meetings.
More on the homework: The purpose of the homework is to give the instructor evidence of your individual competence on relevant physics problems. You can discuss solution ideas as well as check your final answers with others in the class, but the final homework synthesis is to be done independently. You can not copy any part of another’s homework or do your final work together. A good rule of thumb to determine independence is this: if at any time pieces of paper are shared or examined together, or common boardwork is involved, you have gone too far. Sources for your homework must be cited properly. You may also use other work in print or the internet to help you do parts of the homework without expenditure of any HP. If you find other useful solutions, integrals, or work in print (including the internet), you must reference it on your homework in such a manner that I can find it and assess it. If you use Mathematica or Matlab to do parts of the homework, please include the output sheets as part of the homework. If you use material from any source, web or library, without attribution, this is an example of plagiarism since you are leaving the impression that you are the source author. This is unacceptable in this class and is a violation of the Baylor Honor policy. Instances of plagiarism or any other act of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Honor Council and may result in failure of the course. Not understanding plagiarism is not an excuse. At a Christian university, this is certainly taken seriously. Your work in this class must show me that you are acting as a professional physicist.
Office hours: MWF 9-10
Office: Rm E.325
Office phone: 710-2510
Dept. phone: 710-2511
Students and Academic Integrity
Plagiarism or any form of cheating involves a breach of student-teacher trust. This means that any work submitted under your name is expected to be your own, neither composed by anyone else as a whole or in part, nor handed over to another person for complete or partial revision. Be sure to document all ideas that are not your own. In addition, you must not provide course materials to other students, whether individually or generally
(such as online) that would enable them to gain an unfair academic advantage. Instances of plagiarism or any other act of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Honor Council and may result in failure of the course. Not understanding plagiarism is not an excuse. I expect you, as a Baylor student, to be intimately familiar with the Honor Code.
Students are also encouraged to consider these suggestions:
- Review each class syllabus for expectations your professor may have regarding course work and class attendance that go beyond those stated in university policies and guidelines and the Honor Code.
- Be familiar with the importance of academic integrity in class. Understand how citations show respect for other scholars.
- Talk with your professor if you are confused about citation practices or other research standards.
- Make sure you understand not only what counts as plagiarism and cheating, but also how to avoid engaging in these practices. Manage your time, take notes correctly, and use the internet appropriately.
- Make sure you understand your professor’s guidelines about working with other students on assignments, receiving assistance from other students on assignments, citing sources, using notes or exams from previous or other classes, and accessing information during an examination. If in doubt –ASK YOUR PROFESSOR!
- Understand that penalties can result from dishonest conduct, ranging from failure of the assignment to immediate expulsion from the university. For more information see the Baylor University Honor Code on the Academic Integrity Web page or contact the Office of Academic Integrity at 710-8882 or Academic_Integrity@baylor.edu.
The Baylor Honor Code is listed at:
http://www.baylor.edu/honorcode/index.php?id=44060
Please note the violation section listing C(4):
(4) Submitting for course credit work prepared in collaboration with another, unless the student secures the instructor’s permission in advance of submission. Examples of collaboration that violate this aspect of the Honor Code include the following: unauthorized group work, providing unauthorized assistance to another student, allowing another student unauthorized access to completed academic work (such as examinations, answer keys, or lab reports), purchasing help or assignment completion from anyone not approved by the instructor (excluding university-provided tutoring services), conspiring with another person to commit a violation of the Honor Code, and/or collaborating in the submission of work that violates the Honor Code regardless of whether the student may be enrolled in a course involved in the violation. My note: YOU do NOT have my permission to collaborate.
I will pass out a copy of the Honor Code that I will ask you to sign and return.
Civil Rights Policy and Sexual and Interpersonal Misconduct Policy
Baylor University does not tolerate unlawful harassment or discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, race, color, disability, national origin, ancestry, age (over 40), citizenship, genetic information or the refusal to submit to a genetic test, past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, Texas, or local law (collectively referred to as Protected Characteristics).
If you or someone you know would like help related to an experience involving:
1. Sexual or gender-based harassment, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, stalking, intimate partner violence, or retaliation for reporting one of these types of prohibited conduct, please visit http://www.baylor.edu/titleix, or contact us at (254) 710-8454, or TitleIX_Coordinator@baylor.edu.
2. Harassment (excluding those issues listed in #1) or adverse action based on Protected Characteristics, please visit http://www.baylor.edu/equity, or contact us at (254) 710-7100 or Equity@baylor.edu.
Students Needing Accommodations
Any student who needs academic accommodations related to a documented disability should inform me immediately at the beginning of the semester. You are required to obtain appropriate documentation and information regarding accommodations from the Office of Access and Learning Accommodation (OALA). Contact Information: (254) 710-3605 – Paul L. Foster Success Center, 1st floor on the East Wing of Sid Richardson.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
All assignments should be your original work and should not be produced in part or in total with the assistance of artificial intelligence (for example, ChatGPT, Grammarly, or some other resource). Use of artificial intelligence without my explicit permission constitutes a violation of the Honor Code at Baylor University.