Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics

This is the second of a series of computational/graphing activities on scalars and vectors designed for the intermediate Electricity & Magnetism course using a text such as Griffiths “Introduction to Electrodynamics”. These activities are 1. Scalar and Vector Fields 2. Div, Grad, Curl 3. Vector Fields Vector Fields is an in-class activity for students to think about mathematical representations of vectors and how they will look graphically. Students are then led through a vector manipulation that demonstrates a connection between cartesian and spherical coordinate vectors. Learning Outcome: Students develop intuition for what mathematical description of a vector will produce a particular vector field graph. Students develop a better understanding mathematically and graphically of coordinate transformations between cartesian and spherical coordinates.