For 2026: Please note that units are considered "under revision" until two weeks before the class date, and page content, web assignments, and exercises may change before that deadline.

Unit 31: Magnetism

Preparation

• History Web Lecture: The key point here, besides some biographical information, is to point out the dichotomy between the new mechanical view of the universe and the lingering remnants of the "great chain of being" view in which things that move themselves are somehow alive.
• Science Web Lecture: The science lecture introduces the concept of inverse proportions, which will arise again with gravity.
• Homework: The homework is intended to help students fix the basic properties of magnetism firmly in their minds, and to prepare for differences between magnetism, electricity, and gravity.
• Discussion: The discussion will focus on the historical questions of an "animate" universe in contrast with the "mechanical" universe of Newton, and talk about inverse proportionality (as well as the properties of magnets).

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