Modern Physics
Department of Physics 36001 : Fall 2002 : Call# 14977

Instructor: Dr. Michael Pichowsky
email : mpichows@kent.edu
Office : 209 Smith Hall
Phone : 330-672-2596
Class hours: 204 Smith Hall, Department of Physics
MWF: 11:00 -- 11:50 am.
Office hours: MWF: 10:00am-11:00am
TH: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Text: Modern Physics (2nd ed), K. Krane
Prerequisites: General University Physics II (PHY 23102) or
University Physics Frontiers III (PHY 23003) and
Analytic Geometry and Calculus II (MATH 12003),
or by permission.
Grading:
item weight due date
Pre-Lecture Quizzes: 20% Before class for which it is assigned
Homework: 20% Each Monday in class
Exam I: 20% Friday September 27
Exam II: 20% Friday November 1
Final Exam: 20% 10:15am, Tuesday Dec 10

The Final Exam will consist of 2 sections:
Section #1 covers material after the midterm Exam #2.
Section #2 covers the cummulated material covered by Exam #1 and Exam #2.
Students may choose not to take Section #2. If one chooses to take Section #2 of Final Exam, then the grade on this section will replace one of the above contributions to the grade.
Quiz solutions: Solutions are available upon request.
Grader: Parshu Gyawali
Office Hours: Mon 3:30--4:30 and Tue/Thur 10:45--11:45
Class Homepage: http://cnr2.kent.edu/~pichowsk/Modern/
Homepage is updated regularly during semester.
Class Policy: See below for a detailed list of class policies and student responsibilities.
Course Lectures
Dates Reading Lecture Topics
Week 1
Aug 26 Introduction to Modern Physics.
Course requirements and procedures. Topics covered by this course. Units, dimensions and conservation laws.
Aug 28 1.1 -- 1.4 Taylor expansion is your friend. State of physics before 1900.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Wed Aug 28).
Aug 30 2.1 -- 2.3 Special Theory of Relativity.
The principles of relativity. Galilean relativity. Classical Dopler shift.
Week 2
Sept 2
-- Labor Day. No class.
Sept 4, 6 2.4 -- 2.8 Michelson & Morley experiment and ether flow. Einstein's postulates, relativistic Dopler shift.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Wed Sept 4).
Homework 1 (due Mon Sept 9): 1.2, 2.22, 2.23, 2.27 and extra problem.
Week 3
Sept 9, 11 Lorentz transformations. Twin paradox. Four-dimensional, Minkowski space-time, proper times and world-lines.
Sept 13 3.1 -- 3.2 Particle-like Properties of Electromagnetic Waves.
Wave propagation and properties of Electricity and Magnetism. Double-slit diffraction.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Wed Sept 11).
Homework 2 (due Mon Sept 16): 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.12, 2.18, 2.31
Week 4
Sept 16, 18 3.3 -- 3.6 Photo-electric effect.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Mon Sept 16).
Homework 3 (due Mon Sept 23): 3.1, 3.5, 3.10, 3.19, 3.20, 3.31
Sept 20 In class movie!
Week 5
Sept 23, 25 Black-body radiation. Compton effect. Electron-positron annihilation and photons. Solar wind and solar sails.
Sept 27 -- Midterm Examination 1
Exam will cover chapters 1, 2 and 3.
Week 6
Sept 30, Oct 2, 4 4.1 -- 4.6 Wave-like Properties of Particles.
Classical uncertainty of wave theories and Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Localized wave packets. Probability amplitudes.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Mon Sept 30).
Week 7
Oct 7, 9, 11 5.1 -- 5.4 The Schrödinger Equation and Quantum Mechanics.
Justification for Schrödinger equation. Probabilities and normalization. A particle in a box in one and two dimensions. Probability density functions and normalization.
No Pre-Lecture Quiz this week!
Week 8
Oct 14, 16, 18 5.5 -- 5.7 Expectation and variance of x and p. Time dependent Schrödinger equation. Scattering from step potentials, step barriers.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Mon Oct 14).
Homework 4: 4.16, 4.17, 4.20, 4.22, 4.30 (due Mon Oct 14).
Week 9
Oct 21, 23, 25 Scattering from step potentials, step barriers. Barrier penetration. Quantum tunneling. Alpha decay of nuclei.
Homework 5: 5.5, 5.7, 5.9, 5.12, 5.13, 5.31, 5.32, 5.33 (due Wed Oct 21).
Week 10
Oct 28, 30 6.1 -- 6.3 The Structure of the Atom.
Thompson plum-pudding model. Rutherford model.
Pre-Lecture Quiz (due Mon Wed 30).
Nov 1 -- Midterm Examination 2
Exam will cover chapters 4, 5.
Questions & Answers Session: Thursday Oct 31 at 4:00 PM
Week 11
Nov 4, 6, 8 6.4 -- 6.5 Atomic spectra and the Bohr model.
Week 12
Nov 11 -- Veteran's Day. No class.
Nov 13, 15 7.1 -- 7.3 The Hydrogen Atom in Quantum Mechanics.
Schrödinger equation in three-dimensional spherical coordinates. Hydrogen atom wave radial functions.
No pre-lecture quiz this week.
Homework: 6.2, 6.6, 6.8, 6.20, 6.22, 6.23, 6.37 (due Wed Nov 13)
Week 13
Nov 18, 20, 22 7.4 -- 7.7 Angular momentum and intrinsic particle spin. Energy levels and spectroscopic notation.
Pre-Lecture Quiz. (due Wed Nov 20)
Homework: 7.8, 7.11, 7.13, 7.15, 7.16 (due Mon Nov 25)
Week 14
Nov 25, 26
12.1 -- 12.4 Structure of the Nucleus.
Constituents of the nucleus. Sizes of nuclei. Nuclear masses and binding energies. The nuclear force and pion.
Pre-Lecture Quiz. (due Mon Nov 25)
Homework: 12.1, 12.3, 12.12, 12.13 (due Mon Dec 2)
Nov 28 -- Thanksgiving recess. No class.
Week 15
Dec 2, 4, 6 14.1--14.5, 14.8, 14.9 Elementary Particles
Four fundamental forces. Matter and anti-matter. Particle decays, quarks and the standard model.
Pre-Lecture Quiz. (due Mon Dec 2)
Finals Week
Dec 10 -- Final examination
Exam is on Tuesday, December 10 2002.
10:15am -- 12:30pm in 204 Smith Hall.
Section #1: Covers selected material from Chapters 6, 7, 12 and 14.
Section #2: Optional and cummulative.
Questions & Answers Session: Monday December 9 at 2:00 PM

Important Class Policies

  1. Assigned Readings: Students are expected to have read the weekly reading assignments shown above before the date of the associated lecture in the above schedule. The assigned sections are indicated in the above column marked "Reading" and refer to sections in the course text. The Pre-lecture quizes will be based primarily on the assigned readings.

  2. Pre-Lecture Quizzes: Students will complete the pre-lecture quizes before the class time. That is, the first pre-lecture quiz is due Wed August 8, then it must be submitted to me via email before 11:00am on Wednesday August 8th 2002 to receive a non-zero grade. The pre-lecture quizes are due either Monday or Wednesday. Get the exact day in the lecture list above! Watch this syllabus for updates!
    The pre-lecture quizes will be based primarily on the assigned readings. Their purpose is to give students an incentive to read the text book before coming to lectures.

  3. Homework Assignments: Homework is due each Monday Graded homeworks will be returned one week later after class. Homeworks that are late will not be accepted.
Links to interesting sites
In accordance with University policy, if you have a documented disability and require accommodations to obtain equal access in this course, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semiester or when given an assignment for which an accommodation is required. Students with disibilities must verify their eligibility through the Office of Student Disability Services (SDS) in the Michael Schwartz Student Services Center (330-672-3391).