Electricity and Magnetism (Berkeley Physics Course, Vol. 2)

This book is really an intro to E&M but it is very dense with verbal descriptions of the physics involved. For that reason even though it seems light on equations it is fairly heavy reading.There are plenty of diagrams and interesting situations. Rather than just throw out a few equations and work an example the author goes into great detail in describing the physics of a situation. I think it is a very useful book for that reason.This is not the sort of text you can scan through to find an equation and then plug and chug some numbers. It requires actually reading the chapters to get the gist of what he's saying. It would be better paired with a book heavy on equations and examples and light on verbal descriptions rather than used stand alone.The real gem in the book is the derivation of the magnetic field from Special Relativity. This is something that should be standard in E&M texts but seems to be missing in most of them.

Book was not as described and arrived damaged, seller took care of it immediately. So many businesses could learn from them. I've been buying from Betterworld Books for a long time and will continue to do so!

The description said the book was good, but the back page was totally off when I received it. It was frustrating.

That this book is still in print is a testament to its popularity in the teaching of electromagnetic theory at the undergraduate level. Not only being popular, it is also a book of high quality and is packed full of the insights that are needed for students at this level. The only thing missing from the book, because of its age, is the inclusion of computer algorithms and code to solve problems in this subject. All physics textbooks in the 21st century should include the use of the computer so as to introduce the student to what is now the predominant way of solving problems in physics. The use of numerical methods in physics will continue to increase in the decades ahead, and students need to be exposed to these methods as early as possible.The author gives good descriptions of the vector calculus needed for a study of electromagnetism. The divergence of a vector function, Gauss's theorem, the curl of a vector function, and Stoke's theorem are all treated in detail, with diagrams employed at every step to reinforce the student's intuition. It is very important at this level to make sure the student understand these concepts in depth, as it will make the learning and appreciation of differential forms much easier in later courses in physics. Too often, vector calculus is presented to physics students as a formal construction, and the use of pictures is eschewed. Thankfully this author has not chosen this approach.In addition, in his discussion of the fields of moving charges, the author prepares the student for the special theory of relativity. An interesting thought experiment is given for illustrating the invariance of charge. A description is also given of the experiment of Henry Rowland, which in the 19th century detected the magnetic field of a charged rotating disk, thus supporting the theory of Maxwell. The Hall effect, of tremendous importance technologically, is described in detail. The famous "jumping ring" demonstration of Lenz's law is discussed also.

My favorite E&M book. I liked this text better than the one I used in my E&M course. And the chapter on how magnetic fields arise as relativistic effects of the electric field on moving charges was brilliant.

A very logical introduction to EM.The author starts only with the conservation of electrical charge and coloumbs law and using basic vector calculus concepts of field and divergence along with stokes theorem he derives maxwells first equation( diff form of gauss law ).He then uses concepts of line integral, potential and gradient and goes on to show how the conservative nature of the electrical force translates to path independence of work done in a static electric field and derives the static version of maxwells second equation.He takes an important look at applied theory especially in current analysis detailing the concept of resistance and basic series and parallel circuit analysis and how they directly derive from conservation of electric charge and conservative nature of the electrical force.A nice introduction to magnetism is completed by showing that it is a relativitic effect of electricity and defines the magnetic force accordingly. He then shows that unlike electricity the net flux of the magnetic field is zero and expresses it in differential form ( maxwells third equation ). By now you should know he is going to talk about line integrals as with electricity and shows that this is proportional to the current enclosed by the path ( static version of maxwell equation )A nice digression on AC currents is explored and he then introduces induction as a prerequisite for modifying maxwells equations.He then shows that something is wrong with 2 of the equations above by showing that conservation of electric charge ( written in differential form ) leads to a contradiction in the above equations. He then shows how "adding" the term from the induction phenomena completes maxwells equations in a vacuum.A solution to maxwells equations is found resulting in the electromagnetic wave we hear so much about.The text concludes with chapters on electric and magnetic fields in matter.There is also a nice intro to special relativity.As with any text to gain understanding you must attempt a majority of the problems which range from very easy to interesting.A definite must for any physics buff.