This page presents the readings assigned for each class session, followed by a few background readings.
Most assigned readings are from the course textbook:
Livingston, J. D. Driving Force: The Natural Magic of Magnets. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780674216457.
| Lec # | Topics | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Basics of Hard and Soft Magnetic Materials | Driving Force. Chapter 1 (facts 1-8), pp. 75-76 (fact 9), pp. 118-119 (fact 10), and pp. 123-129. |
| 2 | Magnetic Forces and Curie Temperatures |
Driving Force. Chapter 10. Magnetic Levitation |
| 3 | Basics of Electromagnetism |
Driving Force. Chapter 9. Livingston, J. D. "100 Years of Magnetic Memories." Scientific American 279, no. 5 (November 1998): 106-111. |
| 4 | Magnetic Data Recording | |
| 5 | Superconductivity |
Driving Force. pp. 239-246. Handout: Magnetism and the Mind |
| 6 | Brain Magnetic Fields | |
| 7 | Oral Presentations - Part 1 | Driving Force. pp. 76-82 and related handouts. |
| 8 | Magnets in Cyclotrons, CERN, and Space | |
| 9 | Oral Presentations - Part 2 |
Driving Force. pp. 69-75 (Superconducting Electromagnets), pp. 183-85 (Uranium Enrichment), and pp. 227-232 (NMR). Handouts on NMR in Chemistry |
| 10 | Magnets in NMR, EPR, Mass Spectroscopy | |
| 11 | Ferrofluids | Ferrotec's Ferrofluid Technology Overview Web site, or other Web sites on ferrofluids. Magnetic microparticles have also found many uses in medicine, including localized drug delivery (see p. 222 of Driving Force). |
| 12 | Wrap-up |
Background Readings
Magnetic Materials Overview (PDF)
Livingston, J. D. "The Force Is With Us." In Britannica Yearbook of Science and the Future. Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1999, pp. 132-147.
———. "Magnets on the Rise." Technology Review 99, no. 4 (May/June 1996): 33-40.