AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism is a one-semester, calculus-based, college-level physics course, especially appropriate for students planning to specialize or major in physical science or engineering. The course explores topics such as electrostatics; conductors, capacitors, and dielectrics; electric circuits; magnetic fields; and electromagnetism. Introductory differential and integral calculus is used throughout the course.


Content Outline for AP Physics C: Electricity & Magnetism


A . Electrostatics                                                          30%
1 . Charge and Coulomb’s law 
2 . Electric field and electric potential (including point charges)
3 . Gauss’s law
4 . Fields and potentials of other charge distributions 


B . Conductors, capacitors, dielectrics                       14%
1 . Electrostatics with conductors 
2 . Capacitors
     a . Capacitance 
     b . Parallel plate 
     c . Spherical and cylindrical 
3 . Dielectrics 


C . Electric circuits                                                       20%
1 . Current, resistance, power 
2 . Steady-state direct current circuits with batteries and resistors only
3 . Capacitors in circuits
     a . Steady state 
     b . Transients in RC circuits 


D . Magnetic Fields                                                       20%
1 . Forces on moving charges in magnetic fields 
2 . Forces on current-carrying wires in magnetic fields
3 . Fields of long current-carrying wires 
4 . Biot–Savart law and Ampere’s law 


E . Electromagnetism                                                   16%
1 . Electromagnetic induction (including Faraday’s law and Lenz’s law)
2 . Inductance (including LR and LC circuits) 
3 . Maxwell’s equations