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Readings

This page presents the readings assigned for each class session, followed by a few background readings.

Most assigned readings are from the course textbook:

Amazon logo Livingston, J. D. Driving Force: The Natural Magic of Magnets. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780674216457.

Lec #TopicsREADINGS
1Introduction: Basics of Hard and Soft Magnetic MaterialsDriving Force. Chapter 1 (facts 1-8), pp. 75-76 (fact 9), pp. 118-119 (fact 10), and pp. 123-129.
2Magnetic Forces and Curie TemperaturesDriving Force. Chapter 10.

Magnetic Levitation
3Basics of ElectromagnetismDriving Force. Chapter 9.

Livingston, J. D. "100 Years of Magnetic Memories." Scientific American 279, no. 5 (November 1998): 106-111.
4Magnetic Data Recording 
5SuperconductivityDriving Force. pp. 239-246.

Handout: Magnetism and the Mind
6Brain Magnetic Fields 
7Oral Presentations - Part 1Driving Force. pp. 76-82 and related handouts.
8Magnets in Cyclotrons, CERN, and Space 
9Oral Presentations - Part 2Driving Force. pp. 69-75 (Superconducting Electromagnets), pp. 183-85 (Uranium Enrichment), and pp. 227-232 (NMR).

Handouts on NMR in Chemistry
10Magnets in NMR, EPR, Mass Spectroscopy 
11FerrofluidsFerrotec'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).
12Wrap-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.