I've recently began reviewing this material. I just wrapped up electric fields. I'm a little confused. Does the MCAT require detailed knowledge that requires us to apply Biot-Savart Law or Ampere's Law, etc. The review books are very brief when it comes to Magnetism.
Magnetic Fields and Forces
- Thread starter AFEmp
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2010
- Messages
- 412
- Reaction score
- 12
Based on this the MCAT only claims to test the existence of magnetic fields and their interaction with moving charges.
I would probably understand the Lorentz force as well. Also, I would make sure that I understood the interaction between the B field and things like currents. From the MCAT outline, it doesn't appear to imply we need to be able to find the magnetic field due to a current-carrying wire or a current density, but I would probably make sure to remember the basic idea of the Biot-Savart law. Amperes law is probably not something I'd expect to be on the MCAT since it requires some introduction to calculus to really be able to ask anything about it.
Remember, Maxwell's equations are defined as differential or integral equations, both of which are beyond the scope of the MCAT. Gauss' law can be covered in an introductory class because it reduces to something which looks like Newton's law of gravitation for point charges, but anything more complicated (e.g., line and surface charges, or non-ideal wires) is probably beyond the range of what the MCAT writers would expect you to know.
But, I've not taken the MCAT or any of the AAMC practice FL yet, so if someone else responds with an alternate opinion, I'm open to correction.
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2011
- Messages
- 2,183
- Reaction score
- 2,962
If memory serves, you are not expected to calculate anything using Ampere's law. It is definitely a good idea to understand Biot-Savart, the right-hand rules for magnetic fields and forces and how they interact.
