Office Hours This Week

Instead of having my office hours on Friday, for this week only I will be available virtually all day tomorrow (Thursday). Just drop by 7044MC.

If you happen to drop by and I'm not there, I'm in the gym for a little bit. I'll try to remember to leave a note by my door with my likely return time.

I am expecting a mid-morning phone call, so perhaps that is not the best time to show up. If I happen to be on the phone, try me again in an hour.

Midterm Formula Sheet

Folks,

Please take a look at the fomula sheet you will receive for your midterm, and make sure that it is adequate to solve the problems that we have been discussing in class.

MIDTERM DATE

The midterm is on November 10th.

Stop emailing me about it!

Come to class and you will know what is going on in the world of 3105.

The test will start at 10:10am (sharp!), and will end at 11:20am (sharp!). You can bring a calculator, but no cheat sheet. We will write the midterm in the same room where we have class. There will be two proctors in the room. No questions may be asked during the midterm.

We will have a "practice midterm" on the 5th. This will be "exactly" like the real deal, except it won't be marked. The 5th is "action day", so I thought we'd do something useful that was also optional.

More Midterm Sample Problems

Folks,

Here are some more sample problems. I may have yet more tomorrow, but it's getting late!

Midterm Sample Problems

Folks,

I'm planning the midterm, and so far, this is how it is breaking down:

- one question about Coulomb's Law or Electrostatic Fields due to point charges;
- one question concerning Gauss's Law;
- one question concerning calculation of resistance or capacitance;
- one question concerning the method of images;
- one question concerning voltage potential;
- one question concerning boundary conditions.

So there will be six questions.

Generally to answer the questions you will also need to know other areas of the course. For example, there could be dielectric materials mentioned in any of the above problems, so you should understand the ramifications of dielectrics.

Here are a couple of sample problems that we will discuss tomorrow.

Practice Problems

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) I will be making up some sample problems. Please check back here tomorrow night, or early Sunday, for the goods. If I have time, I'll make up your midterm while I'm at it. Hopefully I will be in a great mood!

Enjoy your weekend.

UPDATE: Due to a time crunch Saturday, I will need to go back to campus today to complete the problems. Check back later please!

Poor Cows

You might remember when I discussed "step" and "touch" potential in class. I mentioned that cows were particularly vulnerable to step potentials, because of the distance between their legs. So if there is a large voltage gradient in the earth, and the cow is pointed the "wrong way", then the cow is in trouble.

Take a look at this story (warning: graphic picture).

Laboratory #3

Folks,

You can find your third lab right HERE.

Please give it a read before your session.

PA Problems for the week of October 20th

Folks,

Please attempt these problems before your PA session:

All problems are from Sadiku.

7.13, 7.16, 7.18, 7.31, 8.2, 8.5

Laboratory #2

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the Thanksgiving Day weekend. I know I enjoyed my big turkey dinner. Now for the leftovers :).

Your next lab is about magnetic circuits and involves the Hall Effect sensor we discussed in class. Please give it a look before coming to the lab. There is really no other preparation required. The lab is mainly about measuring a magnetic field, and then later on in class we will explain what was measured.

For purposes of marking the lab, all the required items mentioned in the lab will be weighted equally.

See you all on Wednesday!

PA Problems for Next Week

Folks,

Here are the problems you should attempt before your next PA session:

All problems are from the Sadiku text.

5.17, 5.22, 5.30, 6.25, 6.27, 6.35, 6.40, 6.50

Office Hours Today

Folks,

I'm running behind because I attended an off-campus thesis defence this morning. I hope it's ok if I start my office hours at 2pm today. I know one person wanted to come at 2:30pm anyway.

So I'll be there around 2pm. Please pass the word.