PHYSICS 115: CONTEMPORARY PHYSICS III
Spring 2008

Instructor: Prof. Michael S. Vogeley
Department of Physics
Office: Disque 811
Email: vogeley@drexel.edu
Phone: (215)895-2710
Office hours: TBA

Teaching Assistant: Travis Hoppe
Office: Disque 908
Email: hoppe@drexel.edu
Phone: (215)895-1989
Office hours: TBA


Waves? We got `em. Bonzai pipeline, North Shore. Oh, you meant ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES! We got them, too. See below.

Announcements
Course Meetings
Syllabus
Course Outline
Textbook and Reading Assignments
Grading
Homework
Homework Solutions
Exams
Course Schedule

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Also see Travis Hoppe's much cooler web page for Physics 115 for recitation information and his running "course blog."

Problem set 8 solutions are posted below. The final exam will be on Tuesday, June 10 3:30-5:30 p.m. in Stratton 101.

Welcome to the home page of Contemporary Physics III. This is your resource page for information about the course, including homework assignments, exams, and solutions. This web page is also the syllabus for the course. To save paper, I will not print and distribute copies of documents in class. You may read them on the web or your computer and print out if you need.

Course Meetings

Lectures will be given on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00-10:50 a.m. in Curtis 344. Please be on time.

Recitations will be on Wednesday 2:00-3:50, 4:00-5:50 p.m. in Disque 704.

Syllabus

This web page is the syllabus. Please print this out and save it and/or bookmark this website for the future (no printed copies will be distributed). If you're reading a printed copy, and don't remember the URL, you can find the web page at http://www.physics.drexel.edu/courses/Physics-115. You should check the web page frequently for updates.

Course Outline


In this final, and most fun of all, part of Contemporary Physics, we'll delve into further properties of electricity and magnetism. Topics include
  1. Magnetic Fields
  2. Electric Circuits
  3. Magnetic force (including the Hall Effect)
  4. Patterns of EM fields (focus on Gauss's Law)
  5. Faraday's Law
  6. Electromagnetic Radiation (yeah!)
  7. Waves and Particles (EM waves are also particles!)
  8. (if there's time) Semiconductor Physics

Textbook and Reading Assignments

Chabay and Sherwood, Matter & Interactions II, 2nd Ed. In Physics 115, we will cover chapters 17-24 and, if time, discuss some topics in chapter 25.

See the course schedule below for the reading assignments.

Grading

Grades will be based on the following weighting of different components of the course:
Homework: 30% (2/3 problem sets and 1/3 computer assignments)
Midterm: 25%
Final Exam: 35%
Class Participation: 10% (recitation!)

Homework: Problem Sets and Computer Assignments


Problem sets will be due at the beginning of class on each Friday (except the first week and on the day of the midterm). Solutions will be available on the web page on that same day, so late homework will not be accepted. Please neatly and accurately write up your solutions to these problems.

The computer assignments will be given in recitation, will count as one-third of your total homework grade, and are due at recitation on the Wednesday following their assignment.

You may discuss the homework with your classmates, but you and you alone are responsible for the work that you turn in. Please write up your own solutions to the problems and computer assignments. Breaches of this policy will result in homework scores being divided by the number of ``participants.'' Second offenses may result in failure (of the class).

Use of solutions to these problems from previous years or any other source without constitutes plagiarism. You must attribute (by giving the correct reference) any significant help that you receive from outside sources.

Problem Set 1 (Due in class Friday, April 11):
Chapter 17, problems 43, 48, 49, 52, 55

Problem Set 2 (Due in class Friday, April 18):
Chapter 18, review question 41 (Present a table with headings "experiment, effect on current, parameter." You must explain your answers!), problems 45, 46, 50, 51 (also graph the potential V and electron current i for all at points A-F around the circuit), 56

Problem Set 3 (Due in class Friday, April 25):
Chapter 19, review questions 47, 52, problems 66, 67, 69, 71, 73

Problem Set 4 (Due in class Friday, May 2):
Chapter 20, review questions 28, 29, 36, problems 44, 48, 52, 69

Problem Set 5 (Due in class Friday, May 16):
Problem Set 5 (PDF)

Problem Set 6 (Due in class Friday, May 23):
Problem Set 6 (PDF)

Problem Set 7 (Due in class Friday, May 30):
Problem Set 7 (PDF)

Problem Set 4 (Due by Monday, June 9):
Chapter 24, review questions 20, 22, 27, 30, 31, problem 40 [Note: this problem set is optional. If you turn it in, I will drop your lowest homework grade.]

Problem Set Solutions


Problem Set 8 solutions(PDF)

Exams


The midterm will be given during recitation in Week 6. If we keep to the schedule, it will cover chapters 17 through 20.

The final exam will be given at the assigned place/time during finals week. The final will include material from the entire course, with more weight given to the second half (roughly 40% first half, 60% second half).

Course Schedule

Please note the following schedule of readings and assignments. Dates are for lectures. This schedule may be revised, so you should recheck this web page. Notation of "HW#" indicates that a homework is due that Friday at the start of class. Exact due dates for the homework will be announced in class. You should do the indicated reading before class.

Week Class Dates Reading Homework Exams
1 March 31, April 2, 4 ch. 17
2 April 9, 11 (no class 4/7) ch. 18 HW1 due
3 April 14, 16, 18 ch. 19 HW2 due
4 April 21, 23, 25 ch. 20 HW3 due
5 April 28, 30, May 2 review chs. 17-20 HW4 due
6 May 5, 7, 9 ch. 21 Midterm in recitation 5/7
7 May 12, 14, 16 ch. 22 HW5 due
8 May 19, 21, 23 ch. 23 HW6 due
9 May 28, 30 (no class 5/26) ch. 24 HW7 due
10 June 2, 4, 6 review chs. 21-24, ch. 25 (maybe) HW8 due
11 No Class Final Exam, TBA

Last update: June 9, 2008