Physics 3520: Modern Physics
Fall 2009
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Instructor: |
Marvin Johnson |
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Office |
N169 (Phone 667-3552) |
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Office Hours: |
Mon., Wed. & Fri., |
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Email: |
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Textbook |
Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Thornton and Rex. |
This course will
cover special relativity and the development of quantum mechanics. Many of these discoveries have had a
significant impact on our society and our technologies. We will cover waves plus the first six
chapters in the textbook and hopefully selected topics from chapters 7 & 8. The math we will use will require that you
have had the calculus sequence through multivariate calculus, and it is assumed
you have had General Physics I and II.
I plan on giving several examinations and a final. The exams and final will count for about 80% of your grade. I will assign, collect and grade homework, usually one assignment per week. The homework will count for about 20% of your grade. Homework will be due at the beginning of class on the day indicated. It is important that you DO THE HOMEWORK! You grade will be determined by looking at your total number of points, but if you are continually improving, I will weigh the later grades more heavily. I will use +/- grading. Typically the cutoffs for the grades are as shown below.
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A |
88-100% |
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B |
76-87% |
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C |
63-75% |
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D |
50-62% |
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F |
<50% |
I encourage you to work together. I do not want you to copy another person's work, but it often helps to discuss the problems and the course material with other students. It is a good learning experience to try to explain the material to another person and it usually is more fun when you work with other people.
A good practice is to read the homework questions and then read the chapter before I lecture on it. Then come to the lecture and make sure the questions you have from your reading are answered in the lecture. Since we will miss at least two lecture days, you will probably need to do this to keep up.
I plan to take furlough days on 9/22, 10/12, 10/27, 11/12, 11/25, and 12/7 (maybe). The days in boldface are days our class would normally meet. (I may shift the furlough day on 12/7 to 12/18, in which case it would not affect you.)
Some of the problems you will be asked to do may involve calculations that can be done with computer programs like Maple. Since most of you are in Math Physics, which uses Maple, I will not hesitate to assign a few these problems. If you need assistance, see me and I’ll help you. If you are not in Math Physics, you can do them in other ways.