8.02x: Electricity and Magnetism

*Note - This is an Archived course* This is a past/archived course. At this time, you can only explore this course in a self-paced fashion. Certain features of this course may not be active, but many people enjoy watching the videos and working with the materials. Make sure to check for reruns of this course. 8.02 is the second semester of the MIT introductory physics sequence. Passing the online version of this course will guarantee you an MITx certificate of achievement The course is on electricity and magnetism which are at the heart of Maxwell's equations. We will study electric fields, magnetic fields, electromagnetic forces, conductors and dielectrics, electromagnetic waves, and the nature of light. This online version follows the MIT on-campus class as it was given by the renowned Professor Walter Lewin in the spring of 2002, and includes his video lectures and problem solving sessions. Professor Lewin, proclaimed "a Web Star" by The New York Times, has supplemented his lectures specifically for 8.02x by including interactive questions to help students check their understanding during the lectures themselves. Also, the course uses prize-winning animations and interactive simulations developed under the leadership of Professor John Belcher for MIT's Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) classroom. In addition to the basic concepts of Electromagnetism, a vast variety of interesting topics are covered in this course including: Lightning, Electric Shock Treatment, Electrocardiograms, Metal Detectors, Musical Instruments, Magnetic Levitation, Bullet Trains, Electric Motors, Radios, TV, Car Coils, Superconductivity, Aurora Borealis, Rainbows, Radio Telescopes, Interferometers, Particle Accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider, Mass Spectrometers, Red Sunsets, Blue Skies, Haloes around Sun and Moon, Color Perception, Doppler Effect, Big-Bang Cosmology. You will complete automatically graded weekly homework problems and a series of exams using multiple choice, numerical and symbolic questions to test your understanding and to help you master the material. Lectures are interspersed with questions that must be answered before advancing to the next lecture segment. There is a moderated forum for student-to-student threaded discussions. While homework deadlines will be strictly enforced, the lowest homework grade will be dropped. Your grade will be based on interactive questions during the lectures (5%), homework problems and simulations (20%), three midterm exams (15% each), and the final exam (30%). Depending on what percentage of all the points you get, your grade will be as follows: A (more than 85%), B (70-85%), C (60-70%). At least 60% of the points must be obtained to qualify for a certificate of mastery. ABOUT THE LECTURES Lewin's lectures at MIT are legendary. Many have been shown for over six years (starting in 1995) on UWTV in Seattle, reaching an audience of about four million people. For fifteen years (starting in 1983) he was on MIT Cable TV helping freshmen with their weekly homework assignments. His programs, which were aired 24 hours per day, were also frequently watched by upper-class students. Additionally, his 35 lectures on Newtonian Mechanics, 36 lectures on Electricity and Magnetism and 23 lectures on Vibrations and Waves can also be viewed at MIT'S OpenCourseWare, iTunes U, YouTube and Academic Earth. These lectures are being watched by about 5000 people daily from all over the world, that's about two million people per year! Many teachers show them regularly in their class rooms, and Bill Gates wrote Professor Lewin that he has watched all his lectures more than once, and that he learned a lot from them. The many responses that Professor Lewin receives daily are quite wonderful and often very moving.