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
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.
Eberhard Bodenschatz , Ithaca, NY, August 2002