Electromagnetic (EM) fields and forces form the foundation of modern electrical systems. Electromagnetics studies the laws that govern electricity and magnetism, and how these laws can be used in practical applications. Because of this, EM provides the fundamental principles for many areas of electrical engineering and influences several others. It includes topics such as antennas, wireless communication, and radar, all of which rely on microwave engineering—an important subfield of EM. Understanding EM often involves mathematical modeling, where simplified models are used to gain insight into complex physical phenomena. Its applications extend to areas such as remote sensing, electrical machines, optics, power systems, and technologies operating across a wide range of frequencies, including terahertz systems. By the end of this course, students will be able to understand and describe key concepts such as electric fields, potential, forces, flux, and current. They will apply the laws of electrostatics—such as Coulomb’s law and Gauss’s law—to analyze electric fields in both free space and materials using vector calculus. Students will also study how materials respond to electric fields through polarization and learn to solve boundary-value problems in different media, including vacuum, conductors, and dielectrics. This includes solving Poisson’s and Laplace’s equations and deriving expressions for resistance and capacitance. The course also introduces magnetic fields, magnetic potential, magnetomotive force, flux, inductance, and reluctance. Students will apply laws such as Ampere’s law and Gauss’s law for magnetism to analyze magnetic fields and derive expressions for inductance and reluctance. Finally, they will explore time-varying electromagnetic fields, including concepts such as transformers, displacement current, and induced electromotive force, using Faraday’s law.
