EE 345: Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and Publications Teaching Service Biography HOME
Winter 2006

    This course is meant to provide you with both theoretical and practical knowledge about the electromagnetic fields that are so important in modern communications,  power generation and transmission, operation of motors and transformers, and even regeneration of amputated limbs!  This course will open your eyes to activities that surround you, from the shock you get when climbing out of your car on a cold winter’s day, to the lightening strikes of a spring thunderstorm, and from the lovely aurora borealis to the possible effects of a cellular telephone on your brain. 

There is compelling evidence that the earth's electric and magnetic fields somehow provide a coordinate system for orienting and navigational behavior for animals, as well as timing signals for biological cyclic phenomena.

Antenna radiation pattern from a circular horn antenna (http://www.mician.com/circular_horn.htm)

 

The infrared radiation from glowing glass can produce a condition known as "glass blower's cataract." 

Snowblindness occurs because snow reflects UV while most other substances absorb it strongly.  The eyes are very susceptible to damage from ultraviolet.  For example, welders must wear protective eye shields because the UV content of welding arcs can inflame the eye.

Aurora at Siple Station, Antarctica, during the 1981 austral winter.  At the time, Siple Station was the smallest, most remote year-round U. S. Antarctic Station; it has some of the most spectacular aurora activities on the planet.  The station was placed at that location for ionospheric Very Low Frequency (VLF) electomagnetic radiation research.   Photo by Philip W. Oakley. 

 

Note:  When you increase the frequency, the simulation may appear to slow.  This is because it is has to increase the number of data points accessed for each time unit on the graph.  You will notice, however, that the number of periods in a given time mark on the time axis have increased--this is how you can tell that the frequency has increased.

 

Thanks also to Jeff Spezia for the 'toilet paper roll' idea.