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Physics III:

Optics, Waves, and Particles

Course Information

 

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Lecturer:
Eberhard Bodenschatz, 618 Clark Hall , x5-0794 (eb22@cornell.edu);
Lectures:          TR 9:05-9:55, 11:15-12:05; 

Office hours:   Monday 3:00-4:30pm

 

 

TA, section and lab coordinator:
Henry Tye, 332 Newman, x5-3360 (tye@mail.lns.cornell.edu)

Section # 14; Lab #4

Office hours: Wednesday 3pm-4pm and Thursday 10am-11am.

 

TA, and guest lecturer for October 1:
Alan Giambattista,
130 Clark Hall, x5-6035 (agg1@cornell.edu )

Section # 8; Section #15

Office hours: Wednesday 3pm - 5pm.

 

 

TA's:

 

Jacob Alldredge, 115 Clark, %x5-8974 (jwa24@cornell.edu); %Secs. 3, 6, Lab 1.

Office hours: Tuesday 5:00-6:00 and Wednesday 5:00-6:00

 

 

 

 

Matthew Dearing, 19 Rock, x4-5053 (md225@cornell.edu); Secs. 1, 7 Lab 13. Office hours: Tuesday: 7:30 - 9:30 pm, Rock. 19

 

 

 

 

Molly Golladay, 1 Rock, x5-3449 (mgolladay@physics.cornell.edu); Secs.  5,12, Lab 6 Office hours: Monday 8-9 am and Wednesday 4:30-6:30 pm

 

 

 

 

Jack Sankey, G3 Clark x5-9349 (baldbaldybaldbald@cornell.edu); Sec. 10. Office hours: Monday 6pm and Wednesday 6pm

 

 

 

 

 

Saswat Sarangi, 81 Rock (ss324@cornell.edu); Secs. # 9,13, Lab. 2

Office hours: Wednesday  3pm to 4pm and Friday 10 am to 11am.

 

 

 

 

 

Nathan Heston,  (n1heston@hotmail.com); Labs. 5,7,10

 

 

 

 

Saikat Gosh,  (sg256@cornell.edu); Labs. 9,11,12,15

 

 

 

 

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Textbooks:

  1. Young and Freedman, University Physics, 10th edition: This is the text you have from the earlier courses. You need to buy the third part which has  Quantum Mechanics.
  2. Elmore and Heald, The Physics of Waves, Dover: This text is used in P218. It is more sophisticated and more precise. I personally favor this book very much. It will be useful for the waves part of the course. It is also very cheap (approx. $15).
  3. Physics 214 Laboratory Manual:  You need it for the labs and is required.  You can get it in the campus store.

 

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Getting the most from the lectures:
Students generally get more out of a lecture if they have a sense of the material to be covered and some questions already formed in their minds. Selected short readings will be assigned at the top of each new problem set. It is highly recommended that this reading be done, even if cursorily, before attending the corresponding lecture.

 

Problem Sets:
Beyond the readings and the lectures, the third element of the learning process is working the weekly problem sets. Students should feel free and are strongly encouraged to discuss and ask conceptual and practical advice on the problem sets from the teaching staff and from each other. The problem sets are meant to encourage discussion but also make up a part of the grade. So, please make good use of office hours! After the discussion process, students are to sit down and write up the solutions by themselves. If you and your study partner end up using the same sentences and variable names in your solutions, this is a sign that you are collaborating too closely.

There will be approximately eleven problem sets. The problem sets will be available only on the web Thursday of the week prior to their due date. The problem sets must be returned every Thursday between 4:30pm and 5:00 pm (sharp) on the shelves in the lecture hall in Rockefeller. Late problem sets absolutely will not be accepted and will receive a grade of zero. To mitigate unfortunate circumstances, the lowest two of your problem set scores will be dropped in forming your problem set average.

Quizzes:
To encourage keeping up with the class, there will be four class-wide quizzes scheduled in section during the weeks of September 9-13, September 23-27, October 21-25, and November 25-29. Each section TA has the prerogative of giving additional quizzes as necessary and to be included in the participation grade. (See below.) To mitigate unfortunate circumstances, the lowest quiz score will be dropped in forming your quiz average.

Participation:
A small portion of the total grade (5%) is allotted to participation in section.

Prelims and Final:
There will be two (2) one and one-half hour prelims (7:30-9:00pm, October 8 and November 7) and one (1) two and one-half hour final exam (3:00-5:30pm, December 16). The final will focus on the last third of the course and is not meant to be cumulative except in so far as concepts from earlier in the course are reused in later parts. Only Professor Henry Tye can excuse you from prelims and exams for extremely extenuating circumstances. He must be notified at least twenty-four hours prior to the prelim/exam.

Grades:
The relative weighting of exams and problem sets will be:

-       Section (Problem sets 10%; quizzes 10%; participation 5%) 25%

-       Prelim I (October 8, 7:30-9:00pm) 25%

-       Prelim II (November 7, 7:30-9:00pm) 25%

-       Final exam (December 16, 3:00-5:30pm)25%

-       Labs (Important: each missed lab will lower your grade by one mark; i.e., B- becomes C+ then C, etc.)

The class's overall performance throughout the semester will determine the final distribution of grades.

Partial Credit:
Partial credit, particularly on exams, will be awarded generously only in those cases involving minor algebraic errors. Incomplete physical reasoning or simply writing down formulas without physical justification will not result in credit for the problem in question.

Great pains will be taken to implement a system with uniform grading; therefore, awards of partial credit will not be adjusted on an individual basis, as it would be grossly unfair to the rest of the class to adjust the credit of one student with out adjusting that of the entire class. Granting partial credit to the entire class uniformly assures that the system is fair.

Grading Corrections:
You are strongly encouraged to bring to our attention cases where graders have mis-graded, including simple mistakes, not noticing information which you provided in your solution, and not giving credit for valid alternate solutions. To resolve these matters, please write a brief explanation of the grading error and
submit this written explanation along with the paper to be corrected directly to your TA. This must be done at the end of section in which your paper is returned. Grades become final immediately after the period in which your paper is returned.

Written explanations such as ÒThe grader didn't see the rest of the solution on the top of the next page,Ó or ÒI believe my alternate solution to 3(b) wasn't graded properly because...Ó will suffice, but more information may be provided if you feel it helps your case. If it is a case of an alternate solution please be sure to write Òalternate solutionÓ explicitly on your problem set.

Good luck!!!
This semester we will first study what happens when not one or two, but many millions of particles interact and make waves that can be found everywhere in nature and influence our daily lives. Then we will zoom in and attack the world at smaller scales where both waves and particles will be important.  We will be concerned with atoms and the quantum properties. We will also develop skills and tools for analysis that are important in all disciplines of engineering and science. It is a pleasure for us to teach you  this very interesting and important topic. We wish you all a productive, enjoyable and stimulating semester.

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Eberhard Bodenschatz ,  Ithaca, NY, August 2002