PHY215 Spring 2008 - Thermodynamics and Modern Physics
Michigan State University
Personnel
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Course Coordinator:
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David Tomanek, Felicia V Berryman |
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Exam Proctor:
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David Tomanek, Kiseok Chang, Teng Yang, Savas Berber |
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Instructor:
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David Tomanek, Savas Berber |
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Teaching Assistant:
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David Tomanek, Teng Yang, Kiseok Chang, Roman Senkov, Savas Berber |
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Instructor Information
Prof. David Tomanek
Office: 4231 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Bldg.
Phone: (517) 355-9702Course Description
Relativity, Thermodynamics, Quantized systems, Atomic physics, Nuclear physicsPrerequisites
PHY184 or PHY184A, or PHY184B, or PHY294H, or LBS267Class Hours
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 9:10 am - 10:00 am, BPS 1420;
Recitations: Tuesday, 9:10 am - 10:00 am, BPS 1420;
for details see the course schedule.
Office Hours
After class or by appointment, 4231 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Bldg.Helproom Hours
The Teaching Assistant for the course is Kiseok Chang. The TA's job is to assist students in homework assignments by solving example problems at the recitations. TA is available for office hours (3 h per week) on case-by-case basis appointments and is accessible via e-mail at <changkis@msu.edu>. The TA also provides written homework solutions, which are posted on the course web-page.
Note that there is a discussion forum within LONCAPA, where students can post and answer questions.Project Information
Special projects are available for interested students. Contact the course instructor for details.Exam Information
There will be three hour exams and one final exam; for details see the course schedule.Deadlines
For details on homework and partial credits see the course schedule.Grading Information
The final grades will be calculated based on the final grade contributions given below.
........................Contribution to the final grade
Homework assignments....20 %,
Quizzes..............................7 %,
Midterms (13 % each)......39 %,
Final exam........................36 %.
This adds up to 102%, and includes 2% bonus points for potentially missed quizzes.
The final grades are going to be calculated based on the following cut-off lines.
x = % of total points......Final grade
90 =< x <100....................4.0
83 =< x < 90.....................3.5
76 =< x < 83.....................3.0
70 =< x < 76.....................2.5
64 =< x < 70.....................2.0
58 =< x < 64.....................1.5
52 =< x < 58.....................1.0
00 =< x < 52.....................0.0
Readings
Students are expected to read the chapters listed in the course schedule prior to each lecture. There will be LONCAPA based quizzes on the reading assignments posted after each lecture with a due date at noon on the day of the following lecture. The reading quizzes will provide an opportunity to communicate to the instructor problems with physics understanding of the material covered in the reading assignment priori to the lecture; a special care will be taken by the instructor to address these problematic topics during the lecture. These reading quizzes will contribute to the 7% of the quiz grade contribution.Textbook
Modern Physics:
Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers
by Thornton and Rex,
third edition, Thomson Learning,
ISBN 0-534-41781-7.
Note that the Modern Physics textbook comes together with a support web site which contains a number of useful resources for the course. Of particular interest are computer simulations, some of which will be used at the lectures. The link to the web site is provided here.
Thermodynamics:
Physics for Scientists and Engineers
by Fishbane, Gasiorowicz and Thornton,
third edition, Prentice Hall,
ISBN 0-13-035299-3.
Only chapters 17 through 20 from the “Physics for Scientists and Engineers” will be used for the PHY215 course. If you already own the second edition of any of the above text books, you can use it for the PHY215 course.
