In Week 9 we shall begin our consideration of the fields produced by an accelerating point charge. We shall start with an intuitive, but nevertheless correct approach, in Lecture 18. In Lecture 19 we shall derive the so-called Lienard-Wiechert potentials for a moving point charge. We shall then apply vector calculus to the Lienard-Wiechert potentials to make an alternative derivation (to that presented in Lecture 18) of the fields produced by an accelerating point charge.

There are two interactive sessions each week: in the Simon lecture theatre A (Monday) and Stopford lecture theatre 1 (Wednesday).

There are three mini-lectures, with associated small exercises and lecture notes provided, but most of the core material for this week will be covered in `live lectures'.

In preparation for this week's lectures I very strongly recommend you revise the material covered in Lectures 14 and 15, in which we derived the potentials and fields produced by a moving charged particle.

⚬ Monday 15:00-16:00 - Live Lecture 18: The fields produced by an accelerating point charge in the rest frame - an intuitive approach

This live lecture covers approximately the same material as mini-lecture 18.

Lecture 18 Podcast ............. Notes written to visualiser ............. Cut-outs used in lecture to demonstrate effect of acceleration on E fields

⚬ Wednesday 9:00-10:00 - Live Lecture 19: An alternative (vector calculus) approach to deriving the fields produced by an accelerating point charge in the rest frame

This live lecture covers approximately the same material as mini-lectures 19a and most of 19b.

Lecture 19 Podcast ............. Notes written to visualiser ............. Exercises from lecture ............. Answers

By clicking on the links given below you will be able to access the video of each mini-lecture, together with the associated small exercises and lecture notes.

Mini-Lecture 18: The fields produced by an accelerating point charge in the rest frame - an intuitive approach

Video ............. Lecture notes written to visualiser

Mini-Lecture 19a: The Lienard-Wiechert potentials for a moving point charge

Video ............. Lecture notes written to visualiser

Mini-Lecture 19b: An alternative (vector calculus) approach to deriving the fields produced by an accelerating point charge in the rest frame

Video ............. Lecture notes written to visualiser ............. Exercises from mini-lecture ............. Answers ............. Note on the definition of the acceleration

Radiation by an accelerated point charge

In preparation for this week's lectures I recommend you revise the material covered in Lectures 14 and 15, in which we derived the potentials and fields produced by a moving charged particle.

A good description at a level similar to Lecture 18 is in Appendix B of the book: Electricity and Magnetism by E.M. Purcell (yes, those are really his initials ;-)

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any undergraduate-level text books that do the vector calculus treatment of this subject in exactly the way that I have adopted in my lectures next week. For various alternative approaches I suggest looking at:

M.A. Heald and J.B. Marion, Classical Electromagnetic Radiation (3rd edition): Chapter 8.

J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics: Chapter 14.

D.J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics: Chapter 11.2. (N.B. if in your edition of Griffiths, chapter 11 in entitled "Electrodynamics and Relativity" then try looking in chapter 10!)

For various different approaches I suggest looking at:

M.A. Heald and J.B. Marion, Classical Electromagnetic Radiation (3rd edition): Chapter 8.

J.D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics: Chapter 14.

D.J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics: Chapter 11.2. (N.B. if in your edition of Griffiths, chapter 11 in entitled "Electrodynamics and Relativity" then try looking in chapter 10!)