Looking at the rest of the semester's schedule, I'd like to give you a (small) choice in how to proceed.
We could probably cover special relativity, quick and dirty, in two lectures. This would tie together E & B very nicely, and fill in a nagging gap in our curriculum thus far. Plus, it is just cool.
In order to squeeze this in, some things would have to be left for you to mostly read on your own, likely geometric optics. The geometric optics we cover is pretty simple, I have notes on the subject, and we would still spend a recitation period for Q&A to make sure you 'got it.'
So here's the question: would you be interested in taking a detour to cover relativity, at the expense of a bit more reading, or shall we stay the course? One argument in favor is that we can derive B from E and make things less mysterious, something you probably will not see again as an undergraduate. One argument against is that there would be (relatively easy) final exam material that we would not cover extensively in class.
Leave a comment with your preference, if you have one ... you have until the weekend to decide collectively. If you choose not to cover relativity, you will see it in PH253, though possibly without the connection to electricity and magnetism.
I vote for covering whichever we'll be less likely to see again in future courses.
ReplyDeleteI vote for anything that will make the material more coherent, which I think would be well worth a little more reading, especially concerning a material so "orthogonal" to simplicity as the interaction between E and B. It's not like it's gonna kill us.
ReplyDelete"C'mon- so you die a little. . ."
Yeah, I think I'd like to cover relativity as well.
ReplyDeleteBased on these three comments and a couple of emails, we'll cover relativity next.
ReplyDelete