PHGN300-Wiencke

PH300 Modern Physics Fall 2012
MH 220 MWF 2:00-2:50

Prof. Lawrence Wiencke (Office Hours MH 338 M & W 3:15-5:45)
lwiencke@mines.edu

Teaching Assistant: Xiaoning Zang Office Hours
MH 2nd floor computer lab T &Th 9:00-10:00
xzang@mymail.mines.edu

Text Book: See Below

		Syllabus PH300 Fall 2012
Week	Date	Topic	Assignment
1	W 22 Aug	L1-Introduction to Modern Physics	read website+syllabus, Krane CH 1
	F 24 Aug	L2-Waves-1 wave tutorial
2	M 27 Aug	L 3 - Waves-2 wave interference applet waves on a string applet
	W 29 Aug	L4-Michaelson-Morley Experiment MM-Flashlet	Read Krane CH 2.1-4
	F 31 Aug	A5 Activity: Speed of Light Measurement & Bootstrap Error Analysis Apparatus	problem set 1 due set 1 solutions
3	M 3 Sep	L5-Special Relativity-Time-Dilation Twin Paradox-explaination	Read Krane CH 2.5-6
	W 5 Sep	L6 Special Relativity Length Contraction
	F 7 Sep	No Class
4	M 10Sep	L7-Clocks, Trains, and Tunnels For-Train-Tunnel-Paradox see here	problem set 2 due set 2 solutions
	W 12 Sep	L8-SR-Velocity, Momentum,Energy Also_see_Einsteins_Box_Lecture_(M.Fowler)	Read Krane CH 2.7-9
	F 14Sep	L9-SR-Kinematics	problem set 3 due set_3_solutions
5	M 17 Sep	L10: Black-Body-Radiation	Read Krane Ch 3.1-3
	W 19Sep	L11 Photoelectric-Effect
	F 21 Sep	Photoelectric follow up Muon Lifetime Demonstration	problem set 4 due set 4 solutions
6	M 24 Sep	L13-Compton-Scattering	Read Krane Ch 3.4-6
	W 26 Sep	Group Exam 1	problem_9_solution
	F 28 Sept	Individual Exam 1
7	M 1 Oct	L14_Electrons and Cathode Ray Tubes electron discovery (AIP site)
	W 3 Oct	L15_Atomic-Spectra	Read Krane Ch 6-1,2,4
	F 5 Oct	L16 Rutherford Scattering Rutherford Scattering Applet (CU-Boulder)	Problem set 5 due set 5 solutions Read Crane Ch 6-3
8	M 8Oct	Special Topic "Introduction to General Relativity" Prof. Alex Flournoy
	W 10 Oct	L17_Bohr-Atomic-Model Atomic Models Applet	Read Krane Ch 6-5,8
	F 12 Oct	L18 Bohr-Model-II_particles_waves	Problem set 6 due set 6 solutions
9	M 15 Oct	No Class - Fall Break
	W 17 Oct	L19-Particles and Waves	Read Krane Ch 4-1-4
	F 19 Oct	L20 Schrodinger Equation	Problem set 7 due set 7 solutions Read Krane Ch 5-1-4
10	M 22 Oct	L21-QM- Square-Well Computer Simulation - Quantum Bound States	Read Krane Ch 5-4 experiment with simulation
	W 24 Oct	L22-Simple Harmonic Oscillator	Read Krane Ch 5-5-6
	F 26 Oct	L23-QM-Tunneling	Problem set 8 due set 8 solutions
11	M 29 Oct	Prof Gorman Lab Tour (HH 312) Exam Review
	W 31 Oct	Group Exam II
	F 2 Nov	Individual Exam II
12	M 5 Nov	L25-H-Atom_and_Quantum-Numbers	Read Krane Ch 7 1-4
	W 7 Nov	L26- H-Atom-II	Read Krane Ch 7 5-7
	F 9 Nov	L27 X-Ray Fluorescence Demo	Read Krane Ch 8 5 Problem set 9 due set 9 solutions
13	M 12 Nov	L28-The Period Table and Experimental Evidence for spin http://www.ptable.com/ Stern-Gerlach PHET app	Read Krane Ch 8 1-4
	W 14 Nov	L29 Band_Structure Semiconductors Quantum-Well-PHET-Applet Some Transistor links: Transistor Invention 1947	Read Krane Ch 11 1-5
	F 16 Nov	Crystal Radio Activity Crystal Radio Link
14	M 19 Nov	L30-Nuclei Interactive Table of Nuclei (BNL) Complete Table of Nuclei (wiki)	Radio Questions Due Problem set 10 due set 10 solutions
	W 21 Nov	No Class - Thanksgiving Day-1
	F 23 Nov	No Class - Thanksgiving Day+1
15	M 26 Nov	L31-Radiation and Radioactivity Estimate your yearly radiation dose
	W 28 Nov	L32-Applications: Fission and Fusion
	F 30 Nov	D33 Radiation Demonstration Cloud Chamber	Problem set 11 due set 11 solutions
16	M 3 Dec	L34-Particle Physics
	W 5 Dec	No Class	Study Guide
	M 10th Dec	Third Exam MH 220 3:15 pm (see note on exams below)

Text
Sudents are required to have a modern physics text book written for science and engineering students
My recommendation is
Modern Physics (Krane) Third Edition 2012 ISBN 978-1-118-06114-5
However, many other texts are also acceptable. For example:
Stephen Thornton and Andrew Rex Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers Third Edition
Modern Physics (Serway, Moses, Moyer), Modern Physics (Harris), Modern Physics (Tipler)
While not a substitute for one of the above, Issac Asimov's Understanding Physics discusses some of the topics quite clearly.
A used copy is about $10 on Amazon..

Exams
All are closed book. Cell phones, pagers, ipads, smart phones, laptops, etc are not permitted.
A simple calculator is allowed.
A short list of physical constants is provided.
You may bring a one sided 8.5"x11" "cheat sheet'" to each exam.
2nd and 3rd exams cover material since the preceeding exam.
There is no cumulative final exam. The 3rd exam will occur during finals week at the timeslot for the final exam.
There is no group exam prior to the 3rd exam.

Grading:
15% Homework (due at start of Friday class. Late homework not accepted. lowest homework score dropped)
10% 2 Group Exams (5% each. There is no group exam prior to the third individual exam.)
10% Class Participation. (Class attendence taken on random dates will be part of this 10%)
65% 3 Individual Exams (20% 20% 25% each)
100% Total

Final Grade Assignment
Grading is not done on a curve. All, some, (or no one ) could earn an A.
The minium total score (see above) that is required for each letter grade is listed below
A 93.0
A- 90.0
B+ 87.0
B 83.0
B- 80.0
C+ 77.0
C 73.0
C- 70.0
D+ 67.0
D 63.0
D- 60.0
F below 60.0

Policy on late assignments, make up tests