From walking on the street to launching a rocket into space, physical forces are acting all around us. All the forces that we experience every day (and many that we don’t realize we experience) can be reduced to just four fundamental forces.…
In order of decreasing strength, they are the strong atomic force, the electromagnetic force, the weak atomic force, and the gravitational force. These are the four fundamental forces in nature, and they govern everything that happens in the universe.
Except for the gravitational force, all of the forces we experience every day are electromagnetic. The world is electromagnetic! This module starts with the fundamental laws of electromagnetism: Maxwell’s Equations and the Lorenz Force Law. Kirchhoff’s Circuit Rules, which are derived from Maxwell’s Equations, are used to analyze electrical and electronic circuits. The variables are voltage and current (whose product is power) and the key attributes are resistance, capacitance and inductance. Key electrical / electronic elements include the resistor and potentiometer, capacitor, inductor, op-amp, comparator, Schmitt trigger, diode, transistor, and H-bridge with pulse-width modulation. Electrical / electronic system physical and mathematical models are developed, and the time and frequency response of the mathematical models are studied.
Magnetic circuits with mechanical motion are the basis for most electromechanical devices. Principles of electromechanical energy conversion in systems with and without permanent magnets are studied. Industrial applications include magnetic levitation trains, magnetic bearings, solenoids, and dynamic vibration exciters.
