PHYSICS 489 - Week 24

PHYS 24.1 RL & RC Circuits with Faraday's Law
Reading: Don't Panic Vol II pp 241-250
Homework: Ch. 12: Pr 1-4;Ex 1-3
Keywords: Inductors, Signs/conventions, Time constant, Exponential decay

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session the student will be able to:
  1. determine the emf induced across an inductor in a circuit with current i(t).
  2. use Faraday's Law to develop the differential equation for i(t) for the series RL circuit and for q(t) for the series RC circuit.
  3. solve these equations for i(t) for the cases of either opening or closing the switch which completes the series connections of battery, resistor and capacitor or battery, resistor and inductor.
  4. show that the units of L/R and RC are (seconds).

PHYS 24.2 Simple Harmonic Oscillations
Reading: Don't Panic Vol I pp 337-344
Homework: Ch. 18: Pr 1-3; Ex 1-4
Keywords: SHO equation, General solution, Boundary conditions, Energy conservation

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session the student will be able to:
  1. obtain the differential equation for the position of a mass attached to a linear spring.
  2. obtain the solution for various boundary conditions.
  3. demonstrate that the same differential equation results from the analysis of similar systems with linear restoring forces.
  4. graph the total, kinetic, and potential energy of the mass-spring system and use energy conservation to solve for v(x).

LAB 24.3 The Pendulum - Oscillations
Time: Tuesday March 25 during the ENGR times
Location: Heldenfels 204 & 205