Comparación De Electrodinámica Clásica

A Companion to Classical Electrodynamics 3rd Edition by J.D. Jackson
Rudolph J. Magyar September 30, 2008
c Rudolph J. Magyar. No portion of this may be reproduced for profit without the expressed prior written consent of Rudolph J. Magyar.

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A lot of things can be said about Classical Electrodynamics, the third edition, by David J. Jackson. It’s seemingly exhaustive, well researched, andcertainly popular. Then, there is a general consensus among teachers that this book is the definitive graduate text on the subject. In my opinion, this is quite unfortunate. The text often assumes familiarity with the material, skips vital steps, and provides too few examples. It is simply not a good introductory text. On the other hand, Jackson was very ambitious. Aside from some notableomissions (such as conformal mapping methods), Jackson exposes the reader to most of classical electro-magnetic theory. Even Thomas Aquinas would be impressed! As a reference, Jackson’s book is great! It is obvious that Jackson knows his stuff, and in no place is this more apparent than in the problems which he asks at the end of each chapter. Sometimes the problems are quite simple or routine, other timesdifficult, and quite often there will be undaunting amounts of algebra required. Solving these problems is a time consuming endevour for even the quickest reckoners among us. I present this Companion to Jackson as a motivation to other students. These problems can be done! And it doesn’t take Feynmann to do them. Hopefully, with the help of this guide, lots of paper, and your own wits; you’ll beable to wrestle with the concepts that challenged the greatest minds of the last century. Before I begin, I will recommend several things which I found useful in solving these problems. • Buy Griffiths’ text, an Introduction to Electrodynamics. It’s well written and introduces the basic concepts well. This text is at a more basic level than Jackson, and to be best prepared, you’ll have to find othertexts at Jackson’s level. But remember Rome wasn’t build in a day, and you have to start somewhere. • Obtain other texts on the level (or near to it) of Jackson. I recommend Vanderlinde’s Electromagnetism book or Eyges’ Electromagnetism book. Both provide helpful insights into what Jackson is talking about. But even more usefully, different authors like to borrow each others’ problems and examples. Aproblem in Jackson’s text might be an example in one of these other texts. Or the problem might be rephrased in the other text; the rephrased versions often provide insight into what Jackson’s asking! After all half the skill in writing a hard i

physics problem is wording the problem vaguely enough so that no one can figure out what your talking about. • First try to solve the problem withouteven reading the text. More often than not, you can solve the problem with just algebra or only a superficial knowledge of the topic. It’s unfortunate, but a great deal of physics problems tend to be just turning the crank. Do remember to go back and actually read the text though. Solving physics problems is meaningless if you don’t try to understand the basic science about what is going on. • Ifyou are allowed, compare your results and methods with other students. This is helpful. People are quick to tear apart weak arguments and thereby help you strengthen your own understanding of the physics. Also, if you are like me, you are a king of stupid algebraic mistakes. If ten people have one result, and you have another, there’s a good likelihood that you made an algebraic mistake. Find it.If it’s not there, try to find what the other people could have done wrong. Maybe, you are both correct! • Check journal citations. When Jackson cites a journal, find the reference, and read it. Sometimes, the problem is solved in the reference, but always, the references provide vital insight into the science behind the equations. A note about units, notation, and diction is in order. I prefer SI...