Electricity & Magnetism
Real electricity and magnetism for talented middle schoolers.
Online from anywhere · or in-person in Princeton, NJ
A World Through the Lens of Electricity and Magnetism
Electricity & Magnetism is one of the four courses of the Physics Lyceum: Middle School curriculum, taught on the Deep Physics model that runs through the whole SoTS Physics Lyceum.
The course runs on theory, problem-solving sessions, homework, and practical laboratory work. The Lyceum provides the equipment, and tuition covers it.
1. Electric Charge, Conductors, and Insulators
The starting point of the whole subject. Two kinds of charge, positive and negative, and the rule that like charges push apart while unlike charges pull together. Conductors that let charge move freely, like metals, and insulators that hold it in place, like rubber. Static electricity as charge that has not yet found a path to flow.
2. Current, Voltage, and Resistance
The three quantities that describe any circuit. Current as the flow of charge through a wire. Voltage as the push that drives the flow. Resistance as how hard the wire makes the current work. Ohm’s law: the simple rule that ties the three together.
3. Series and Parallel Circuits
How resistors share the work when you wire them together. Series: one path, so the same current goes through everything and voltages add up. Parallel: multiple paths, so voltage is shared and currents add up. Predicting brightness, current, and voltage anywhere in a circuit on paper, before you build it.
4. Electric Power and Joule Heating
Where the energy in a battery actually goes. Electric power as voltage times current. Joule heating: why a wire warms up when current passes through it, and why this is what makes a toaster toast and a light bulb light. The energy used by a household appliance, computed on paper.
5. Magnetism and the Magnetic Field
The second half of the subject, until you see they are one.Permanent magnets and their two poles. The magnetic field as the shape of the influence around a magnet, traced with iron filings or a compass. Earth’s magnetic field and why a compass works. The discovery that an electric current is itself a source of magnetic field.
6. Electromagnets and the Electric Motor
How a current in a magnetic field can do work. Electromagnets: build a magnet that turns on and off with a switch. The force on a current-carrying wire when it sits in a magnetic field. Put a loop of wire in a magnetic field, run current through it, and the loop turns. You have built an electric motor.
The specific topics, and the depth given to each, may shift depending on the dynamics of the cohort. The destination, a working understanding of electricity, magnetism, and the link between them, stays the same.