Exam 1 Study Guide

PHYS 122 — Summer 2019 1st Session — Dr. Goolsby-Cole

First, some general reminders about the exam.

• You are allowed a calculator, but no sharing of calculators.

• Cellphones or any other electronic devices are forbidden.
• One 3’’ x 5’’ index card is allowed with anything written on it.
• Your work must be legible and clearly written. Messy or indecipherable work may receive no credit.
• For multiple choice questions, no work is required and no partial credit will be given.
• For free-response questions, you must show your work in order to receive credit. A correct answer with no
supporting work will receive no credit, while a wrong answer with supporting work might receive partial
credit.
• Give numerical results to two significant figures with appropriate units. Complete the arithmetic for full
credit.

The topics for Exam 1 will come from material from FlipIt Physics Units 1-6 and lecture slides.

Important Equations

!F ⃗= k ! F ⃗ = q E ⃗ !E ⃗ = k !E ⃗ = dE ⃗ = k
q1q2 Q dq 2k λ σ
∫ ∫ r2
r̂ r ̂ r ̂ E
! = E
! =
r 2 12 r2 r 2ϵo
b
E ⃗⋅ d a ⃗ ! E = E ⃗ ⋅ d a ⃗ = enc E ⃗ ⋅ d l ⃗
q qq q
∫ ∮ ∫a
Φ
! E= Φ ! = k 1 2
U ! =k
V V
! b − Va = −
ϵ0 r r

dV
E
! =−
dx

Exam 1 Learning Objectives

Common questions students have for a particular course are: “What exactly will this course cover?” and “What
is going to be on the exams?”. The course learning objectives will be used to address these questions. A
learning objective is a statement of what you should be able to do for a particular concept or topic. Below are a
list of learning objectives that you should be able to do for exam 1. As you might recall from the syllabus, the
three main learning objectives for the course as a whole that this exam will cover are:

1. Use Coulomb’s law and the principle of superposition to find electric fields of charged particles and
determine forces on charged particles.
2. Apply Gauss’s law to find electric fields of symmetric charge distributions and infer charge
distributions on conductors.
3. Qualitatively and quantitatively reason with electric potential and electric potential energy;
determine electric potential difference from electric field. 


The learning objectives below are a more detailed description of the various topics and concepts we have
covered so far in this course. When writing questions for exam 1, I will primarily rely on the following learning
objectives. For each learning objective, they should be read as follows: “On the exam, I should be able to…”.
For example, the first learning objective under the Coulomb’s Law section would be read as “On the exam, I
should describe what charges exists and how they interact”.

• Coulomb’s Law (Unit 1)

- Describe what charges exists and how they interact
- Describe how charges move in a conductor versus an insulator
- Use Coulomb’s law and the principle of superposition to determine forces (components, magnitude, &
direction) on charged particles for both 1D and 2D

• Electric Fields (Unit 2)

- Calculate the electric field (components, magnitude, and direction) at a point in space due to a collection of
point charges and/or infinite lines of charge
- Calculate the electric field (components, magnitude, and direction) for a continuous charge distribution, i.e.
finite line of charge, infinite line of charge, arc of charge.
- Analysis the motion of a charged particle in an electric field

• Electric Flux and Field Lines (Unit 3)

- Analyze graphs of electric field lines to determine magnitude of electric field, signs of charges, magnitudes
of charges, and direction of electric field
- Calculate the electric flux (magnitude & sign) for open and surfaces
- Describe how the electric flux through a open or closed surface changes based on the location of charges

• Gauss’s Law (Unit 4)

- Define Gauss’s Law and describe what the variables represent
- Apply Gauss’s Law to determine electric fields of symmetric charge distributions (spherical, cylindrical, &
planar) and infer charge distributions on conductors
- Describe when the electric field is either parallel or perpendicular to a Gaussian surface and how the two
cases affect the electric flux
- Analyze cases when the electric flux is zero but the electric field at the Gaussian surface is not zero
- Describe the electric field inside and right outside of a conductor

• Electric Potential Energy (Unit 5)

- Calculate the total electric potential energy for a collection of charges
- Determine the work done on a charged particle and the change in its electric potential energy when
moving it around in an electric field
- Qualitatively and quantitively analysis the motion of charged particles using conservation of energy

• Electric Potential (Unit 6)

- Calculate the total electric potential at a point due to a collection of point charges
- Infer properties of the electric field (strength, direction) and electric potential based on an equipotential
plot
- Calculate the change in electric potential energy (or the work done by the electric field or the work done by
you) when a point charge moves on a equipotential plot
- Describe the electric potential inside a conductor
- Determine properties of the electric field based on electric potential plot
- Qualitatively describe a plot of electric potential based on the electric field
- Calculate the electric potential difference from the electric field