2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Science Undergraduate major in Earth and Planetary Sciences
Electromagnetism (EPS course)
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Instructor(s)
- Satoshi Okuzumi / Kei Tanaka
- Class Format
- Lecture/Exercise
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Class
- -
- Course Code
- EPS.B212
- Number of credits
- 220
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 19, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course will provides the fundamentals of electrostatics, magnetostatics, electromagnetic waves, and special relativity.
The concepts of electromagnetism is essential to study earth and planetary sciences. The aim of this course is to understand various electromagnetic phenomena using Maxwell's Equations.
Course description and aims
Upon completion, students will be able to
1) explain the physical meaning of the equations for electromagnetic fields written in differential forms
2) derive the distribution of electric and magnetic fields under given distributions of the charge and electric current
3) explain the concepts of macroscopic electromagnetics and apply them to specific problems
4) calculate the propagation and radiation of electromagnetic waves using Maxwell's equations
5) explain how the electromagnetic fields in two different inertial frames are related to each other using the concept of the Lorentz transformation
Keywords
electric field, electrostatic potential, Gauss's law, Poisson's equation, electric dipole, magnetic field, vector potential, Ampere's law, magnetic dipole, electromagnetic induction, displacement current, electromagnetic energy, Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic wave, dielectric and magnetic materials, Lorentz transformation
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Each class consists of lectures and exercises.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Mathematical methods for electromagnetism (vector calculus etc.) | Understand the divergence and rotation of a vector field, and conservation laws in differential forms |
| Class 2 | Electrostatics (1): basic equations | Understand the concepts of electric field and electrostatic potential, and Gauss's law |
| Class 3 | Electrostatics (2): electric dipole, electrostatic energy | Understand the electrostatic energy of a collection of charged particles. |
| Class 4 | Electrostatics (3): dielectrics | Understand the concepts of polarization and dielectric permittivity |
| Class 5 | Magnetostatics (1): basic equations | Understand the concepts of magnetic field, Ampere's law, and vector potential |
| Class 6 | Magnetostatics (2): magnetic dipole, Lorentz force | Understand the correspondence between a magnetic dipole and a closed current |
| Class 7 | Magnetostatics (3): magnetism | Understand the concepts of magnetization and magnetic permeability |
| Class 8 | Time-varying electromagnetic fields (1): electromagnetic induction | Understand the concepts of electromagnetic induction and Faraday's law |
| Class 9 | Time-varying electromagnetic fields (2): displacement current, electromagnetic energy | Understand Maxwell-Ampere's law and the concept of electromagnetic energy |
| Class 10 | Electromagnetic waves (1): propagation in vacuum | Understand how electromagnetic waves are derived from Maxwell's equations |
| Class 11 | Electromagnetic waves (2): radiation | Understand electromagnetic potentials and retarded potentials |
| Class 12 | Electromagnetic waves (3): electromagnetic waves in matter | Understand the propagation, reflection, and transmission of electromagnetic waves in matter |
| Class 13 | Special relativity (1): Lorentz transformation | Understand the relativity of simultaneity, time dilation, and Lorentz contraction |
| Class 14 | Special relativity (2): Application to electromagnetics | Understand the Lorentz transformation of the charge density, current density, and electromagnetic fields |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend a certain length of time outside of class on preparation and review (including for assignments), as specified by the Tokyo Institute of Technology Rules on Undergraduate Learning (東京工業大学学修規程) and the Tokyo Institute of Technology Rules on Graduate Learning (東京工業大学大学院学修規程), for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Lecture notes will be provided.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol. 2, ISBN 0-8053-9045-6
Evaluation methods and criteria
Based on weekly quizzes, in-class problem solutions, and the interim and final reports (or exams).
Related courses
- LAS.P103 ： Fundamentals of Electromagnetism 1
- LAS.P104 ： Fundamentals of Electromagnetism 2
- EPS.B201 ： Mathematics for Physics A (EPS course)
- EPS.B203 ： Mechanics (EPS course)
- EPS.B210 ： Mathematics for Physics B (EPS course)
- EPS.B331 ： Quantum Mechanics (EPS course)
- EPS.A333 ： Planetary Astronomy
Prerequisites
Students are assumed to have completed Fundamentals of Electromagnetism 1 and 2, and Mathematics for Physics A (EPS course).