,
,Electricity and Magnetism
For 50 years, Edward M. Purcell’s classic textbook has introduced students to the world
of electricity and magnetism. This third edition has been brought up to date and is now
in SI units. It features hundreds of new examples, problems, and figures, and contains
discussions of real-life applications.
The textbook covers all the standard introductory topics, such as electrostatics, mag-
netism, circuits, electromagnetic waves, and electric and magnetic fields in matter. Tak-
ing a nontraditional approach, magnetism is derived as a relativistic effect. Mathemat-
ical concepts are introduced in parallel with the physical topics at hand, making the
motivations clear. Macroscopic phenomena are derived rigorously from the underlying
microscopic physics.
With worked examples, hundreds of illustrations, and nearly 600 end-of-chapter prob-
lems and exercises, this textbook is ideal for electricity and magnetism courses. Solu-
tions to the exercises are available for instructors at www.cambridge.org/Purcell-Morin.
EDWARD M . PURCELL (1912–1997) was the recipient of many awards for his scientific,
educational, and civic work. In 1952 he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics for the dis-
covery of nuclear magnetic resonance in liquids and solids, an elegant and precise
method of determining the chemical structure of materials that serves as the basis for
numerous applications, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During his career
he served as science adviser to Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy,
and Lyndon B. Johnson.
DAVID J . MORIN is a Lecturer and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the
Department of Physics, Harvard University. He is the author of the textbook Introduction
to Classical Mechanics (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
,
,Electricity and Magnetism
For 50 years, Edward M. Purcell’s classic textbook has introduced students to the world
of electricity and magnetism. This third edition has been brought up to date and is now
in SI units. It features hundreds of new examples, problems, and figures, and contains
discussions of real-life applications.
The textbook covers all the standard introductory topics, such as electrostatics, mag-
netism, circuits, electromagnetic waves, and electric and magnetic fields in matter. Tak-
ing a nontraditional approach, magnetism is derived as a relativistic effect. Mathemat-
ical concepts are introduced in parallel with the physical topics at hand, making the
motivations clear. Macroscopic phenomena are derived rigorously from the underlying
microscopic physics.
With worked examples, hundreds of illustrations, and nearly 600 end-of-chapter prob-
lems and exercises, this textbook is ideal for electricity and magnetism courses. Solu-
tions to the exercises are available for instructors at www.cambridge.org/Purcell-Morin.
EDWARD M . PURCELL (1912–1997) was the recipient of many awards for his scientific,
educational, and civic work. In 1952 he shared the Nobel Prize for Physics for the dis-
covery of nuclear magnetic resonance in liquids and solids, an elegant and precise
method of determining the chemical structure of materials that serves as the basis for
numerous applications, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During his career
he served as science adviser to Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy,
and Lyndon B. Johnson.
DAVID J . MORIN is a Lecturer and the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the
Department of Physics, Harvard University. He is the author of the textbook Introduction
to Classical Mechanics (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
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