Physics 241, Spring, 2013
Lectures MWF 8:50- 9:40am
Discussion W 12:00-12:50pm
Instructor: Professor Marshall Onellion, 5104 Chamberlin. Office hours: M & F- before and after class and W: before class and after class until discussion (physics library) or by appointment. I am especially available on weekends if you need to meet with me so that such meetings do not conflict with your classes. Group meetings during finals week are particularly desirable. We will schedule such meetings the last week of class. Spring break is between March 23 (Saturday) and March 31 (Sunday). The last day of class is Friday, May 10. The final examination time and place will be assigned by the Registrar. Course website is: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/undergrads/courses/spring2013/241/
Text Modern Physics 5th ed Tipler and Llewellyn, Freeman 2008, ISBN 0-7167-7550-6, web site www.whfreeman.com/tiplermodernphysics5e and supplementary reading below.
Homework due each Friday in class starting February 1. Late homework will not be accepted. Solutions will be posted on the course website about one week after homework is turned in, except the last homework where the solution will be posted before the final examination. Mid-term examinations include mid-term one covering relativity in class on Wednesday, March 6, and mid-term two covering quantum mechanics through the uncertainty relations in class on Wednesday, April 3. The final examination, which is comprehensive, will be at the time and place scheduled by the Registrar. The final grade will be determined using the algorithm:
Homework (20%), each mid-term (25%), final (30%).
CALENDAR
M W F
Jan. 21 23 25 Chapter 1 special relativity
28 30 Feb. 1 Chapter 1 special relativity (HW set 1 due 2/1)
4 6 8 Chapter 2 relativistic mechanics (HW set 2 due 2/8)
11 13 15 Chapter 2 relativistic mechanics (HW set 3 due 2/15)
18 20 22 Chapter 3 quantum mechanics (HW set 4 due 2/22)
25 27 Mar. 1 Chapter 3 quantum mechanics (HW set 5 due 3/1)
4 6 8 Chapter 3 quantum mechanics (HW set 6 due 3/8)
11 13 15 Chapters 4-5 quantum mechanics (set 7 due 3/15)
18 20 22 Chapters 5-6 quantum mechanics (set 8 due 3/22)
25 27 29 Chapters 5-6 quantum mechanics (no HW due)
April 1 3 5 Chapter 6 quantum mechanics (set 9 due 4/5)
8 10 12 Chapter 7 atomic physics (set 10 due 4/12)
15 17 19 Chapter 7 atomic physics (set 11 due 4/19)
22 24 26 Chapter 7 atomic physics (set 12 due 4/26)
29 May 1 3 Chapter 8 (set 13 due 5/3)
HOMEWORK Sets:
1.Chap 1- 2,3,10,12,15,18 7.Chap 4- 6,8,9,12,15,19
2.Chap 1-19,22,23,33,43,53 8.Chap 4- 24,28,33;Chap 5-4,8,12
3.Chap 2- 3,6,7,9,19,21 9.Chap 5-15,22,25,33;Chap 6-3,4
4.Chap 2- 23,29,30,43,46,51 10.Chap 6- 9,14,15,24,29,36
5.Chap 3- 1,3,6,8,11,15 11.Chap 7- 1,8,9,10.13,14
6.Chap 3- 20,25,26,33; Chap 4-2,5 12.Chap 7- 19,24,25,31,32,33
13. Chap 8- 3,12,21,26,29,33
There is a way to improve your grade. If you buy a copy (suggestion: paperback) of Quantum Enigma by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner and write two reports of 1,000 words each (not longer) due in class March 15 (chapters 1-8 of QE), and at the final examination day/time/location (chapters 9-14 of QE), I will evaluate your reports. You get a pass or a fail. If your report passes, your class average is raised by 5%. So you can raise your class average by as much as 10% (out of 100%). This raising of your class average is done AFTER the grade scale is set, so your classmates do not get their grades lowered. No late reports will be accepted. Reports will be returned the next class day after submission, except the last report, which will be available with your final examination if you wish to pick them up. No appeals of my pass/fail decision will be considered. Students who took physics 241 in the fall of 2012 and read Quantum Enigma had a majority favorable opinion of reading the book.