Selected Texts

• Electricity & Magnetism with Applications to Optics & Electronics
  Last updated 26 May 2011
  (6.2 MB, 169 pages)
  
  This is a one-semester introduction to electromagnetism for beginning students. Part one develops Maxwell's equations in the integral form involving flux and circulation of electric and magnetic fields. Part two applies Maxwell's equations to optics and electronics, beginning with light as an electromagnetic wave. Babinet's principle elucidates diffraction and interference. Electric potential introduces electronics. Analogy with damped mechanical oscillators clarifies RCL circuits.

• A Bridge to Modern Physics
  Last updated 17 December 2006
  (2.4 MB, 109 pages)
  
  This is a one semester introduction to relativity and quantum mechanics, the twin pillars of twentieth century physics. Loedel spacetime diagrams and 4-vectors introduce relativity. Single photons in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer introduce quantum mechanics. Feynman's rotating vector model and his sum-over-paths formulation imply Schrödinger's equation, which implies the spectrum of the quantum harmonic oscillator.

• Electromagnetism with Spacetime Algebra
  Last updated 4 January 2011
  (2.7 MB, 139 pages)
  
  This is a one-semester overview of electromagnetism for advanced undergraduates. It begins with a self-contained introduction to geometric and spacetime algebra. This enables the introduction of a single Maxwell equation as a postulate, from which the traditional equations follow. The latter are then used to investigate electrostatics, magnetostatics, electrodynamics, and radiation. The text employs units where both the permittivity and permeablity of free space are unity. It omits electric and magnetic fields in matter.

• Belief in God in an Age of Science
  Last updated 18 December 2007
  (536 kB, 39 pages)
  
  This is the static text of the blog for my 2007 First-Year Seminar on science, religion, and the nature reality. It includes detailed summaries of all of our discussions. It explores a relationship between science and religion that goes beyond conflict to dialogue, interaction, and consonance, in the work of John Haught, Ian Barbour, John Polkinghorne, Bob Russell, and others. Ancillary materials, including the original online blog, are at the seminar's web site.

• To Dream, Eyes Wide Open
  Last updated 4 November 2003
  (43 KB, 2 pages, 608 words)
  
  This essay about the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was published in the Wooster Voice in November 2003.

• Earth, Moon, Mars
  Last updated 28 July 2009
  (56 KB, 2 pages, 748 words)
  
  A version of this essay was published by the Orlando Sentinel on 20 July 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the first human landing on Moon.