Academic Catalog

PHYS 4B: GENERAL PHYSICS (CALCULUS)

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2025
Units: 6
Hours: 5 lecture, 3 laboratory per week (96 total per quarter)
Prerequisite: PHYS 4A.
Corequisite: Completion of or concurrent enrollment in MATH 1C.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Description

Classical electricity and magnetism.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Discuss basic electrostatics and electric potential, and solve related problems.
  2. Analyze resistance, capacitance, and DC circuits, computing associated quantities.
  3. Discuss magnetic fields and forces, and solve related problems.
  4. Explain electromagnetic induction and inductance, and solve related problems.
  5. Extrapolate their understanding of DC circuits and circuit elements to AC circuits.
  6. Explain electromagnetic waves.
  7. Assess the limitations of physical laws and make mathematical approximations in appropriate situations.
  8. Understand how physical laws are established and the role of scientific evidence as support.
  9. Discuss historical and current barriers to access in physics.

Course Content

  1. Discuss basic electrostatics and electric potential, and solve related problems
    1. Concept of charge
    2. Conductors and insulators
    3. Concept of electric force
      1. Coulomb's law
    4. Concept of electric field
      1. Electric field lines
      2. Electric field from a point charge and superposition principle
      3. Calculating the electric field from charge distributions
    5. Gauss's law
      1. Electric flux
      2. Applications of Gauss's law
    6. Concept of electric potential
      1. Equipotential surfaces
      2. Electric potential from a point charge and superposition principle
      3. Calculating the electric potential from charge distributions
      4. Electric potential energy
  2. Analyze resistance, capacitance, and DC circuits, computing associated quantities
    1. Concept of resistance
      1. Current
      2. Resistivity
      3. Resistance
      4. Series and parallel configurations
      5. EMF
    2. Concept of capacitance
      1. Capacitors
      2. Capacitance
      3. Dielectrics
      4. Series and parallel configurations
      5. Energy stored
    3. Concepts involving DC circuits
      1. Kirchhoff's rules
      2. Ammeters and voltmeters
      3. RC circuits
  3. Discuss magnetic fields and forces, and solve related problems
    1. Concept of magnetism
      1. Permanent magnets
    2. Concept of magnetic fields
      1. Magnetic field lines
      2. Magnetic flux
      3. Magnetic field of moving charges and currents
    3. Concept of magnetic force
      1. Motion of charged particles in magnetic fields
      2. Force between current carrying wires
      3. Applications of charged particle motion in magnetic fields
    4. Concept of torque on a current loop
      1. DC motor
    5. Ampere's law
      1. Applications of Ampere's law
  4. Explain electromagnetic induction and inductance, and solve related problems
    1. Concept of induction
      1. Faraday's law
      2. Lenz's law
    2. Concept of motional EMF
    3. Concept of inductance
      1. Inductors
      2. Energy stored
      3. Self-inductance
      4. Mutual inductance
    4. Concepts involving inductors in circuits
      1. RL circuits
      2. LC circuits
      3. LRC circuits
  5. Extrapolate their understanding of DC circuits and circuit elements to AC circuits
    1. Concept of phasors
    2. Concept of reactance
    3. Concept of resonance
    4. Transformers
  6. Explain electromagnetic waves
    1. Maxwell's equations
    2. Electromagnetic spectrum
  7. Assess the limitations of physical laws and make mathematical approximations in appropriate situations
    1. Physical laws as ideal models
    2. Methods of approximation
  8. Understand how physical laws are established and the role of scientific evidence as support
    1. Historical development of a sampling of physical laws
    2. Use of student-collected data in labs to confirm physical laws
  9. Discuss historical and current barriers to access in physics
    1. Discuss that historically our field has had barriers to entry and advancement due to race, gender, sexuality, class, and other factors
    2. Discuss "hidden figures" in our field
    3. Discuss that many of these issues persist to the current day and detail efforts to address them

Lab Content

Suggested laboratory experiments (most experiments should rely upon data generated by student's measurements of physical phenomena):

  1. Introduction to measurement uncertainty and error analysis
  2. Introduction to electronics lab equipment
  3. Resistance and resistivity
  4. Ohm's law and circuits
  5. Low pass filters (linearization of data/experimental design)
  6. Measurement of the time constant in an RC circuit (2 week lab)
  7. Magnetic field of a solenoid
  8. Measurements of inductance
  9. LEDs, filters, and light (experimental design)

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

Physics laboratory with equipment for teaching introductory electricity and magnetism.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Weekly problem sets
Periodic midterm tests
Weekly quizzes
Laboratory performance
Project/presentation
Final examination
Students are evaluated using a variety of measures that can include written exams, project presentations, and discussions, in order to allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by the end of the quarter

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture (may be live/interactive or in the form of pre-recorded videos)
Discussion
Cooperative learning exercises
Electronic discussions/chat
Laboratory
Demonstration
Students gain an understanding of physics through connecting new terms, concepts, and procedures to what they already know through small group and large group discussions, making predictions and correcting each other's assumptions on ranking tasks, and practicing problem solving methods with the support and guidance of peers and the instructor

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Moebs, Ling, and Sanny. OpenStax University Physics. 2017.

OpenStax is the primary OER text in the field. Additionally, the bulk of the content was explored prior to 1870, and has not changed much over the past 150 years.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Homework problems: Homework problems covering subject matter from text and related material ranging from 10-40 problems per week. Students will need to employ critical thinking in order to complete assignments.
  2. Lecture: Five hours per week of lecture covering subject matter from text and related material. Reading and study of the textbook, related materials, and notes.
  3. Labs: Students will perform experiments and discuss their results either in the form of a written lab report or via oral examination. Reading and understanding the lab manual prior to class is essential to success.

Discipline(s)

Physics/Astronomy