Course Objectives: Modern Physics is heavily
calculus-based physics course designed for upper level physics majors. The
principle objectives are:
Course Prerequisites: PHYSCS 170-174 are
prerequisites. Simultaneous enrollment in PHYSCS 221 (Intermediate Lab) is strongly
encouraged.
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Required text: |
Modern Physics, Tipler & Llewellyn,
4th edition |
Other required materials: Clickers (available at
Textbook Rental) and a scientific calculator (graphing capability is not necessary).
Supplemental materials:
• Student Solutions Manual I am getting a copy to put
into the SPS (Society of Physics Students) room. This book principally has
worked out example problems. If you find it useful, you may want to consider
purchasing a copy for yourself.
Web Site for Textbook: http://bcs.whfreeman.com/tiplermodernphysics4e/
Note Chapter 14
is ONLY available on-line since this area of physics changes so quickly!
COURSE
COMPONENTS
Grading policy: The grade you earn in this class will be based upon the assignment
types listed below. The maximum number of class points is 1000 (not counting
extra credit). A grading scale is given below for your reference. You can use
the score below to determine your guaranteed grade. At the end of the
course, if four people have not earned an A with the grading scale below, the
grading scale will be uniformly slid downward so that five people earn A’s. For
example, if the fifth highest score in the class is an 850, then the grading
scale becomes A (850-1000), B (750-849), C (600-749) and so on. Grades are not curved, encouraging you
to work together, but I expect each student to hand in his or her own
work.
|
Grading Scale |
|
Grade Breakdown |
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|
Letter |
Score |
|
Assignment |
Weight |
|
A |
900-1000 |
|
Weekly
quizzes(8) |
10% |
|
B |
800-899 |
|
Midterm
exams (2) |
20% |
|
C |
650-799 |
|
Final
exam |
20% |
|
D |
500-649 |
|
Homework |
25% |
|
F |
0-499 |
|
Final
Paper |
10% |
|
|
|
|
Presentation |
5% |
|
|
|
|
Participation |
10% |
Attendance: Attendance is a small part of your grade for this course. However, it
is a disadvantage to miss any lectures because the lectures, demonstrations,
and in-class activities will greatly enhance your ability to understand the
material. There will often be assignments done in class that are worth points.
If you are ill, please contact me before class to make arrangements to
make up in-class work. Otherwise, you will lose the points for any day you are
absent. Late exams are not allowed, but in special cases you may take an exam
early. You must remember to sign in on
the attendance sheet to get credit.
Weekly quizzes (8 quizes): Each Wednesday we will start with a 20 minute quiz
(worth 10 quiz points) over the material covered in lecture and homework for
the previous week. The scores on these quizzes will be added together (80 total
possible points), and divided by 70. The quiz score will be equivalent to one
midterm exam. Note that there will be NO cheat sheets or calculators for
these quizzes. I will expect you to have this stuff in your head.
Exams (2 exams@100 class points each): Two midterm exams are
scheduled as shown in the attached schedule. I will schedule an evening review
session the evening before each midterm exam, as well as the final exam. You
will be allowed to have a calculator and one sheet of notes for each exam.
Final exam (1 exam@200 class points):
The final exam will be comprehensive. You will be allowed to have a
calculator and two sheets of notes for the final.
Homework (250 class points): Homework is the heart of this course, and homework
will be due EVERY Monday (with one exception). Some of the problems (Level 1) are rote application of
concepts, similar to intro physics problems. The Level 2 problems are multipart
and somewhat more involved. The Level 3 problems are a test of your character,
and will reduce some of you to tears or cause you to start destroying
things. Each assignment will have
a mix of these problems, with the point value weighted towards the more
difficult problems. After Spring
Break, there will be fewer of the harder problems for reasons I’ll get to in a
second. The homework will be due to me by 2pm on Monday in Upham 238, although
I would prefer it if you gave it to me in class. At 2pm, I will put the
solutions to the homework down in the SPS room, and after that NO LATE HOMEWORK
WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Each homework assignment
will be worth 100 HW points although the length of the assignments will vary,
giving a total of 1400 homework points, and your class points will be
calculated as follows
Class
points= (homework points earned)/(1400 homework points)*250
Make sure to study the
homework solutions right away as you will probably see similar type problems
for the quiz questions the following class period.
Participation (100 class points): There are two components to your
participation grade: preflights and attendance.
Each will carry equal weight of 2 participation points per day.
Class
points= (participation points earned)/(total participation points)*100
Attendance and participation: Attendance will be taken for each class period by
a sign-in sheet at the front of the room. Just initial the sheet when you come
in. I will also be checking to make sure that you are answering the clicker
questions. I will be teaming you up into groups of three to discuss concept
questions as well as work on problem questions. The groups will be reshuffled
after each exam. Note that participation will be required at the public lecture
on the evening of Mar 13 by Prof. Lisa Randall, a particle physicist from
Harvard University.
Preflights: Before each lecture, you
will have a series of questions to answer (“preflight”) on your reading
assignment for that lecture. Your answers must be submitted by midnight the
night before the lecture. I
strongly encourage you to read ahead over the weekend and answer the whole
week’s preflights before the week starts. If, for some reason, you can’t get a
computer connection, you can print out the questions and turn in your answers
at the beginning of class. Please
make sure to do your reading thoroughly and come to class with a solid idea of
the concepts covered in that day’s reading assignment. The more prepared you are, the more
likely we will be able to spend some of the class time working out problems,
including homework problems.
Labs (200 class points): There will be twelve labs this semester held in
Upham 238, starting the first week of class. I will give you a separate
syllabus covering this section of the course, and how the grades will be
assigned.
Extra Credit (25 class points): The homework assignments will occasionally have
extra credit problems, probably 5 points per assignment. This means there will be 70 points
worth of extra credit problems, but you can earn a maximum of 25 extra credit points for the
course.
Final paper (100 class points):
A
eight-ten page paper on a topic in modern physics will be due on Monday, April
10. I will grade these papers thoroughly and critically. If you revise the
paper to respond to the criticism, I will accept a revised version of the paper
up to the last day of class, and the new grade will replace the old grade. I
want this paper to the proudest moment of your undergraduate physics career.
Possible topics and guidelines will be discussed later in the semester.
Presentation (50 class points): Each class member will do a 10 minute presentation
of a Level 3 problem that they have worked out from Chapters 8-14. This will be
done on the white board, with a written solution to be handed out to your classmates.
Grading criterion will be discussed after the break.
Course Schedule: This course will cover
Chapter 1-7 of the textbook deeply and thoroughly, and the remainder of the
text book at a more superficial level. The tentative topic schedule and deadlines
are attached.
Workload: The
University sets a minimum level of effort which each student must devote per
credit earned for all courses at the university, a minimum found in Section
V-C, page 1 (revised 1992 August 1), of the University Handbook. Effectively,
you should be spending twice as much time on this course outside of class as
you do in class, approximately eight hours of work for this four credit
class. If you find that you are
spending significantly more than that, please discuss it with me to see if I
can help you study more effectively.
Special needs statement: Students with special needs
should contact the instructor to make appropriate arrangements.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is dedicated to a safe, supportive and non-discriminatory learning environment. It is the responsibility of all undergraduate and graduate students to familiarize themselves with University policies regarding Special Accomodations, Misconduct, Religious Beliefs Accomodation, Discrimination and Absence for University Sponsored Events. (For details please refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate Timetables; the Rights and Responsibilities section of the Undergraduate Catalog; the Academic Requirements and Policies and the Facilities and Services sections of the Graduate Catalog; and the Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures [UWS Chapter 14]; and the Student Nonacademic Disciplinary Procedures [UWS Chapter 17].)