PHYS 436 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Schedule
All problems are from the 4th edition of Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics. Topics subject to change depending on lecture speed.
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Week |
Date |
Topic |
Reading (Griffiths Sections) |
Homework |
Discussion |
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1 |
Wednesday 1/21/2026 |
Introduction, Conservation Laws, Poynting's Theorem |
8.1.1, 8.1.2 |
Homework #1 (pdf) |
No discussion |
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Friday 1/23/2026 |
Conservation laws, cont. |
8.2.1, 8.2.2 |
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2 |
Monday 1/26/2026 |
Maxwell Stress Tensor, cont. No in-person lecture, recorded lecture here |
8.2.2 continued |
Homework #2 (pdf) |
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Wednesday 1/28/2026 |
Conservation of Momentum |
8.2.3 |
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Friday 1/30/2026 |
Angular Momentum in E&M |
8.2.4 |
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3 |
Monday 2/2/2026 |
Classical Wave Equation |
9.1.1-9.1.4 (selected topics) |
Homework #3 (pdf) |
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Wednesday 2/4/2026 |
Electromagnetic waves |
9.2.1, 9.2.2 |
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Friday 2/6/2026 |
Energy and Momentum of EM Waves/EM Waves in Linear Media |
9.2.3,9.3.1 |
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4 |
Monday 2/9/2026 |
EM Waves in Linear Media/Reflection and Transmission at an Interface (Normal) |
9.3.1,9.3.2 |
Due Friday, Feb 20 @ 5pm |
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Wednesday 2/11/2026 |
Reflection and Transmission at an Interface (Oblique) |
9.3.2,9.3.3 |
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Friday 2/13/2026 |
Fresnel Formulas, EM Waves in Conductors |
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5 |
Monday 2/16/2026 |
No Lecture (Prof. Kou traveling) |
9.4.1 |
Due Friday, Feb 27 @ 5pm |
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Wednesday 2/18/2026 |
EM waves in Conductors, Absorption |
9.4.2 |
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Friday |
Optical Dispersion |
9.4.3 |
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6 |
Monday 2/23/2026 |
Waveguides |
9.5.1 |
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Wednesday 2/25/2026 |
Rectangular waveguides |
9.5.2 |
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Friday 2/27/2026 |
Resonant Cavities |
9.5.3, Problem 9.38 |
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7 |
Monday 3/2/2026 |
No class |
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Due Friday, Mar 13 @ 5pm |
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Wednesday 3/4/2026 |
Hour Exam I Lectures 1-13 Chapters 8-9.4.3 (inclusive)
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Friday 3/6/2026 |
Lecture 17 |
10.1.1, 10.1.2 |
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8 |
Monday 3/9/2026 |
Gauge Transformations |
10.1.2 cont., 10.1.3 |
Due Friday, Mar 27 @ 5pm |
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Wednesday 3/11/2026 |
Lecture 19 |
10.2.1, 10.2.2 |
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Friday 3/13/2026 |
Liénard-Wiechert Potentials |
10.3.1 |
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9 |
Monday 3/16/2026 |
No Lecture (Spring Break) |
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Wednesday 3/18/2026 |
No Lecture (Spring Break) |
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Friday 3/20/2026 |
No Lecture (Spring Break) |
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10 |
Monday 3/23/2026 |
Liénard-Wiechert Potentials, cont. |
10.3.1 continued |
Due Friday, Apr 3 @ 5pm |
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Wednesday 3/25/2026 |
Fields from a Moving Point Charge |
10.3.2 |
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Friday 3/27/2026 |
Electric Dipole Radiation |
11.1.1, 11.1.2 |
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11 |
Monday 3/30/2026 |
Electric Dipole Radiation (cont) |
11.1.2 cont |
Due Friday, Apr 10 @ 5pm |
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Wednesday 4/1/2026 |
Magnetic dipole radiation |
11.1.3 |
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Friday 4/3/2026 |
Radiation from an arbitrary source |
11.1.4 |
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12 |
Monday 4/6/2026 |
Larmor Formula |
11.2.1 | ||
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Wednesday 4/8/2026 |
Review of Special Relativity |
12.1.1, 12.1.2 |
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Friday 4/10/2026 |
Lorentz Transformations | 12.1.3, 12.1.4 | |||
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13 |
Monday 4/13/2026 |
No Class |
Due Friday, Apr 24 @ 5pm
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Presentation topics and date sign-ups filled in at this link. Due Friday, Apr 17 @5pm |
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Wednesday 4/15/2026 |
Hour Exam II Lecture 14-27 Chapters 9.5.1-11.2.1 (inclusive)
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Friday 4/17/2026 |
Relativistic Dynamics |
12.2.1, 12.2.2 |
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14 |
Monday 4/20/2026 |
Hidden Momentum |
12.2.3, 12.2.4 |
Due Friday, May 1 @ 5pm
Late deadline is May 6th! |
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Wednesday 4/22/2026 |
Lecture 32 Magnetism as a Relativistic Phenomenon |
12.3.1, 12.3.2 |
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Friday 4/24/2026 |
Lorentz Transformation of E and B |
12.3.3, 12.3.4 |
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15 |
Monday 4/27/2026 |
Electromagnetic Field Tensor |
12.3.4, 12.3.5 |
Final Presentations during Discussion |
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Wednesday 4/29/2026 |
Potentials in Covariant Form |
12.3.4, 12.3.5 |
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Friday 5/1/2026 |
Final Presentations |
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16 |
Monday |
Final Presentations |
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| Final Presentations during Discussion | |||||
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Wednesday 5/6/2026 |
Final Presentations |
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Final Exam
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