Office: 203B Bell Bldg. |
Text: Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 2nd edition, by Taylor, Zafiritos, and Dubson.
In this semester we hope to give you the background and execution of 20th century revolutions in physics. I expect to cover through chapter 8 fairly thoroughly, and perhaps some of chapters 9 and 10 also. Additionally, we may supplement the text with relevant current topics. We want to further develop your physical intuition, to extend your physics experience more deeply, especially into relativity and quantum mechanics, to enhance your capacity for solving problems both qualitatively and quantitatively, and for you to understand the motivation and process of the development of modern physics. Major topical areas are: relativity, quantum nature of light, matter waves, and quantum mechanics.
Useful information (e.g., homework) will be available through this web page.
If you have a question, please ask it. If you have a comment, please make it. Even an anonymous note under my door or in my mailbox is fine. Communication is the essence of the classroom experience. I am pleased to see you any time you can find me. I encourage you to email me. I usually read my email at home and at the office.
You will need to maintain a working knowledge of the physics and mathematics at the level of physics 201-202, and calculus. Phys330 has a formal co-requisite of Calculus III (math221), although there are a couple of (restricted) exceptions to this. Differential equations is also a help but is by no means necessary.
As an important part of this course we will be learning to use a powerful computerized mathematics system, Mathematica. Computational systems such as Mathematica are very common tools in many fields of science and engineering and the experience you gain in this class will likely be a significant benefit in your further education and in your career. You will be encouraged, and sometimes mandated to work problems using Mathematica in homeworks, quizzes, and tests.
You will submit a project in Mathematica by Tuesday, 20 November. You are encouraged to pick a topic for your project which is consistent with your interests and goals. The project can be an interactive tutorial or a working tool. It should use the power of Mathematica, rather than merely be a word processor document. I will have to approve your topic, and can give you a lot of guidance on selecting an approach and putting it together.
I expect you to have studied the relevant material for each day. Assume that I may give you a short quiz at any time to help motivate you to be prepared for class. The best advice I can give you is come to every class, participate, take good notes, read the book, do the problems and keep up. The most common, and perhaps the deadliest habit is to postpone your assault of the material. You are expected to diligently apply yourself, since it is your future you are working for. Assume that I may give you a short quiz at any time to help motivate you to be prepared for class. The best advice I can give you is come to every class, take good notes, read the book, do the problems, talk with your classmates, and keep up. I know these sound trivial, but they are all too often ignored.
Attendance, timeliness and participation are critical to the learning process and an integral part of this course. In general, I believe that absence is its own punishment, that is, you miss things you can't possibly get by going over a classmate's notes. You are responsible for material covered that day. Contact one of your classmates for the notes. Failure to attend class on the day an assignment is assigned or due does not mean that you may turn in a late assignment without penalty. There are certain aspects of the course for which the information can be obtained only in class, thus, a student who misses class will miss material they will need on quizzes and tests.
If you miss classes, this one or others, it can be of benefit to you to get it documented with the Office of the Associate Dean of Students, at 67 George Street (white house next to the Stern Center), fill out an Absence Memo form or access a copy of the form on line, and deliver to it to the Dean with the appropriate documentation. After I get notified by the Dean's Office I will judge whether you get an excused miss or a zero for the late or missed material.
If you are late or miss class I may assign you extra homework to help you get focused.
A key word in education is RESPONSIBILITY. I have responsibilities as the instructor. You have responsibilities to yourself, me, and the class. One responsibility is to be in class every day and be there on time. As a student it is your job. Another is to read the day's reading before class. Also please do not think it is my job or my responsibility to teach you. IT IS NOT. It is my job to create an environment in which you can teach yourself. The goal of education is to empower the individual student to be self-taught. I can't really do this for you, but I can help a lot.
Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day. Late assignments may be accepted, at my whim, but will ordinarily be penalized by assigning further work.
homework assignments.
I assign homework, and you should do it. I do not collect or grade homework. You shouldn't be surprised to see very similar items on quizzes or tests. Don't be surprised if I ask you to come up and tell the class about a problem.
Be prepared to consider the following points on your homework:
We will have four tests during the semester, plus the final exam. Tests may include problems, graphs, sketches, explanations, and Mathematica exercises. I generally do not have multiple choice or true/false questions, although on the final exam there will be several GRE-type problems. If you question your score on graded work you must bring it to my attention within 24 hours after they were handed back in class. I may at any time, without prior notice, prohibit the use of calculators on any quiz or exam. Of course, I won't expect the impossible if I do so. Calculations would be those reasonably expected to be do-able by hand.
We will have in-class tests over the following sections
I may give pop quizzes without notice. If you keep up on your homework and reading assignments you should have little difficulty with the quizzes. There will be no makeup quizzes.
Since I can't write exams in such a way that I know in advance precisely how difficult they are, I can't give you an advance guarantee of points resulting in a specific grade. I assign letter grades to work when I return it to you. I encourage you to see me at any time for my assessment of your work. Below are the relative weights of the pieces of your semester grade.
Tests and Pop Quizzes 60%
Mathematica Project 10%
Final Exam 30%