Students experiment with various ways to naturally dye materials using sources found in nature—roots, leaves, seeds, spices, etc.—as well as the method of extracting dyes. Then they analyze various materials using statistical methods and tackle an engineering design challenge—to find dyes that best suit the needs of a startup sustainable clothing company.

This activity poses the question: What would happen if a meteor or comet impacted Earth? Students simulate an impact in a container of sand using various-sized rocks, all while measuring, recording and graphing results and conclusions. Then students brainstorm ways to prevent an object from hitting the Earth.

Students learn what causes earthquakes, how we measure and locate them, and their effects and consequences. Through the online Earthquakes Living Lab, student pairs explore various types of seismic waves and the differences between shear waves and compressional waves. They conduct research using the portion of the living lab that focuses primarily on the instruments, methods and data used to measure and locate earthquakes. Using real-time U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data accessed through the living lab interface, students locate where earthquakes are occurring and how frequently. Students propose questions and analyze the real-world seismic data to find answers and form conclusions. They are asked to think critically about why earthquakes occur and how knowledge about earthquakes can be helpful to engineers. A worksheet serves as a student guide for the activity.

Students learn how engineers characterize earthquakes through seismic data. Then, acting as engineers, they use real-world seismograph data and a tutorial/simulation accessed through the Earthquakes Living Lab to locate earthquake epicenters via triangulation and determine earthquake magnitudes. Student pairs examine seismic waves, S waves and P waves recorded on seismograms, measuring the key S-P interval. Students then determine the maximum S wave amplitudes in order to determine earthquake magnitude, a measure of the amount of energy released. Students consider how engineers might use and implement seismic data in their design work. A worksheet serves as a student guide for the activity.

Students study how geology relates to the frequency of large-magnitude earthquakes in Japan. Using the online resources provided through the Earthquakes Living Lab, students investigate reasons why large earthquakes occur in this region, drawing conclusions from tectonic plate structures and the locations of fault lines. Working in pairs, students explore the 1995 Kobe earthquake, why it happened and the destruction it caused. Students also think like engineers to predict where other earthquakes are likely to occur and what precautions might be taken. A worksheet serves as a student guide for the activity.

To gain an understanding of mixtures and the concept of separation of mixtures, students use strong magnets to find the element of iron in iron-fortified breakfast cereal flakes. Through this activity, they see how the iron component of this heterogeneous mixture (cereal) retains its properties and can thus be separated by physical means.

Students act as Mars exploratory rover engineers, designing, building and displaying their edible rovers to a design review. To begin, they evaluate rover equipment and material options to determine which parts might fit in their given NASA budget. With provided parts and material lists, teams analyze their design options and use their findings to design their rovers.

Students use a watt meter to measure energy input into a hot plate or hot pot used to heat water. The theoretical amount of energy required to raise the water by the measure temperature change is calculated and compared to the electrical energy input to calculate efficiency.

After this course the student can:
Understand mechanical system requirements for Electric Drive
Understand and apply passive network elements (R, L, C), laws of Kirchhof, Lorentz, Faraday
Understand and apply: phasors for simple R,L,C circuits
Understand and apply real and reactive power, rms, active and reactive current, cos phi
Describe direct current (DC), (single phase) alternating current (AC) and (three phase) alternating current systems, star-delta connection
Understand the principle of switch mode power electronic converters, pole as a two quadrant and four quadrant converter
Understand principles of magnetic circuits, inductances and transformers

This course provides an introduction into electrical troubleshooting theory in troubleshooting common electrical problems including: low voltage, high voltage, unwanted resistance, open circuits, high resistance shorts-to-ground, and current and voltage unbalance. Efficiency technology and sustainable practices are covered. An effective troubleshooting methodology is embedded in this course.

This course provides an introduction into electrical troubleshooting theory in troubleshooting common electrical problems including: low voltage, high voltage, unwanted resistance, open circuits, high resistance shorts-to-ground, and current and voltage unbalance. Efficiency technology and sustainable practices are covered. An effective troubleshooting methodology is embedded in this course.

This course provides an introduction into electrical troubleshooting theory in troubleshooting common electrical problems including: low voltage, high voltage, unwanted resistance, open circuits, high resistance shorts-to-ground, and current and voltage unbalance. Efficiency technology and sustainable practices are covered. An effective troubleshooting methodology is embedded in this course.

This course provides an introduction into electrical troubleshooting theory in troubleshooting common electrical problems including: low voltage, high voltage, unwanted resistance, open circuits, high resistance shorts-to-ground, and current and voltage unbalance. Efficiency technology and sustainable practices are covered. An effective troubleshooting methodology is embedded in this course.

This course provides an introduction into electrical troubleshooting theory in troubleshooting common electrical problems including: low voltage, high voltage, unwanted resistance, open circuits, high resistance shorts-to-ground, and current and voltage unbalance. Efficiency technology and sustainable practices are covered. An effective troubleshooting methodology is embedded in this course.

This course provides an introduction into electrical troubleshooting theory in troubleshooting common electrical problems including: low voltage, high voltage, unwanted resistance, open circuits, high resistance shorts-to-ground, and current and voltage unbalance. Efficiency technology and sustainable practices are covered. An effective troubleshooting methodology is embedded in this course.

Building on concepts taught in the associated lesson, students learn about bioelectricity, electrical circuits and biology as they use deductive and analytical thinking skills in connection with an engineering education. Students interact with a rudimentary electrocardiograph circuit (made by the teacher) and examine the simplicity of the device. They get to see their own cardiac signals and test the device themselves. During the second part of the activity, a series of worksheets, students examine different EKG print-outs and look for irregularities, as is done for heart disease detection.

Electromagnetics Volume 1 by Steven W. Ellingson is a 225-page, peer-reviewed open educational resource intended for electrical engineering students in the third year of a bachelor of science degree program. It is intended as a primary textbook for a one-semester first course in undergraduate engineering electromagnetics. The book employs the “transmission lines first” approach in which transmission lines are introduced using a lumped-element equivalent circuit model for a differential length of transmission line, leading to one-dimensional wage equations for voltage and current.

Suggested citation: Ellingson, Steven W. (2018) Electromagnetics, Vol. 1. Blacksburg, VA: VT Publishing. https://doi.org/10.21061/electromagnetics-vol-1 CC BY-SA 4.0

Three formats of this book are available:
Print (ISBN 978-0-9979201-8-5)
PDF (ISBN 978-0-9979201-9-2)
LaTeX source files

If you are a professor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook please help us understand a little more about your use by filling out this form: http://bit.ly/vtpublishing-updates

Additional Resources
Problem sets and the corresponding solution manual are also available.
Community portal for the Electromagnetics series https://www.oercommons.org/groups/electromagnetics-user-group/3455/
Faculty listserv for the Electromagnetics series https://groups.google.com/a/vt.edu/d/forum/electromagnetics-g
Submit feedback and suggestions http://bit.ly/electromagnetics-suggestion

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Preliminary Concepts
Chapter 2: Electric and Magnetic Fields
Chapter 3: Transmission Lines
Chapter 4: Vector Analysis
Chapter 5: Electrostatics
Chapter 6: Steady Current and Conductivity
Chapter 7: Magnetostatics
Chapter 8: Time-Varying Fields
Chapter 9: Plane Waves in Lossless Media
Appendixes
A. Constitutive Parameters of Some Common Materials
B. Mathematical Formulas
C. Physical Constants

About the Author: Steven W. Ellingson (ellingson@vt.edu) is an Associate Professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia in the United States. He received PhD and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Ohio State University and a BS in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Clarkson University. He was employed by the US Army, Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Raytheon, and the Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory before joining the faculty of Virginia Tech, where he teaches courses in electromagnetics, radio frequency systems, wireless communications, and signal processing. His research includes topics in wireless communications, radio science, and radio frequency instrumentation. Professor Ellingson serves as a consultant to industry and government and is the author of Radio Systems Engineering (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

This textbook is part of the Open Electromagnetics Project led by Steven W. Ellingson at Virginia Tech. The goal of the project is to create no-cost openly-licensed content for courses in undergraduate engineering electromagnetics. The project is motivated by two things: lowering learning material costs for students and giving faculty the freedom to adopt, modify, and improve their educational resources.

Accessibility features of this book: Screen reader friendly, navigation, and Alt-text for all images and figures.

Publication of this book was made possible in part by the Open Education Faculty Initiative Grant program at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech. http://guides.lib.vt.edu/oer/grants

Electromagnetics, volume 2 by Steven W. Ellingson is a 216-page peer-reviewed open textbook designed especially for electrical engineering students in the third year of a bachelor of science degree program. It is intended as the primary textbook for the second semester of a two-semester undergraduate engineering electromagnetics sequence. The book addresses magnetic force and the Biot-Savart law; general and lossy media; parallel plate and rectangular waveguides; parallel wire, microstrip, and coaxial transmission lines; AC current flow and skin depth; reflection and transmission at planar boundaries; fields in parallel plate, parallel wire, and microstrip transmission lines; optical fiber; and radiation and antennas.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Preliminary Concepts
Chapter 2: Magnetostatics Redux
Chapter 3: Wave Propagation in General Media
Chapter 4: Current Flow in Imperfect Conductors
Chapter 5: Wave Reflection and Transmission
Chapter 6: Waveguides
Chapter 7: Transmission Lines Redux
Chapter 8: Optical Fiber
Chapter 9: Radiation
Chapter 10: Antennas
Appendix A: Constitutive Parameters of Some Common Materials
Appendix B: Mathematical Formulas
Appendix C: Physical Constants

Additional Resources
Problem sets and the corresponding solution manuals
Slides of figures used in and created for the book
LaTeX sourcefiles.
Screen-reader friendly version
Errata for Volume 2
Collaborator portal for the Electromagnetics series https://www.oercommons.org/groups/electromagnetics-user-group/3455
Faculty listserv for the Electromagnetics series
Submit feedback and suggestions

The Open Electromagnetics Project https://www.faculty.ece.vt.edu/swe/oem
Led by Steven W. Ellingson at Virginia Tech, the goal of the Open Electromagnetics Project is to create no-cost openly-licensed content for courses in engineering electromagnetics. The project is motivated by two things: lowering learning material costs for students and giving faculty the freedom to adopt, modify, and improve their educational resources.

Books in this Series
Electromagnetics, Volume 1 https://doi.org/10.21061/electromagnetics-vol-1
Electromagnetics, Volume 2 https://doi.org/10.21061/electromagnetics-vol-2

To express your interest in a book or this series, please visit http://bit.ly/vtpublishing-updates

Students gain a better understanding of the different types of materials as pure substances and mixtures and learn to distinguish between homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures by discussing an assortment of example materials they use and encounter in their daily lives.