Conceptual Notion of Fields

🔖 Topics

• Conceptual notion of fields
• Scalar fields
• Vector fields
• Higher-order (tensor) fields
• Time independent vs. time dependent fields
• Superposition

🎯 Objectives

• Describe the idea of a field, conceptually
• Calculate the magnitude and direction of a field at a given point in space
• Calculate the net result of two or more fields at a given point in space

📋 Sequence

• Conceptual notion of fields
• Scalar fields
• Vector fields
• Higher-order (tensor) fields
• Time independent vs. time dependent fields
• Superposition

🖥️ Animations, Simulations, Activities

N/A

📝 Practice Problems

1. Vector field A is given by the equation $\vec{A}=20y\hat{x}-30x\hat{y}$. Vector field B is given by the equation $\vec{B}=5\hat{x}-10y\hat{y}$. What is the value of the field at the point (1,1)?
2. Sketch the gravitational field around the planet Earth when you are zoomed out on a planetary scale.
3. Sketch the approximate gravitational field near the surface of the Earth (this is the assumption we made for most of PHY 121).
4. What is an example of a scalar field?
5. What is an example of a vector field?
6. Although we won’t deal with them in this class, can you think of an example of a higher-order (tensor) field?

✅ Partial Solutions

1. (25, -40)

📘 Connected Resources

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