Physics IV [Physics 262]                                     Fall Semester, 2005

    Professor:   Dr. John K. Elwood

Text:  Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Second Edition, Stephen T. Thornton and Andrew Rex, Ó 2000, Saunders College Publishing, ISBN 0-03-006049-4 [required]

    Lecture Times:  T, Th, and F from 1-1:50 pm in Gessner 118

    Course Web Page: Access the course page from my home page at:

      http://www.esu.edu/~jelwood/

   To Chat with John:      email: John.Elwood@po-box.esu.edu
                Office:  Gessner 201
                Office Phone: (570) 422 3408
                Office hours:      Tu    2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    W    10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
                        Th     10:00AM - 11:00 AM and
                            2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
                         F      8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

* and by appointment.  I am usually here! *

Course Description: This course is a continuation of Physics III [Phys 261], and will address a wide variety of topics in modern physics.  Specific topics include wave mechanics, atomic structure, particle accelerators and detectors, nuclear structure, statistical physics, solid state physics, and an introduction to elementary particles.
 
    Course Prerequisites:  PHYS 261 and MATH 240

Special Needs:  Students who are eligible for accommodations are invited to make an appointment to deliver their letter from the Office of Disability Services and to discuss their accommodation requests.
    
Grading:  The points that you earn on Homework, Quizzes, and the Final Exam determine your grade for the course.  They are worth, respectively:

            Homework                35%
            Quizzes [4 @ 10% Each]        40%
            Final Exam                25%
                                      100%

   Your grade will be determined according to the prescription:

        90%-100%            A
        80%-89.9%            B
        70%-79.9%            C
        60%-69.9%            D
           < 60%            E

Homework:  Homework problems will be assigned on Tuesdays and Fridays, and will be due the following Fridays and Tuesdays, respectively, at the beginning of class.  I will collect the homework and grade it, and late homework will be penalized 15% per day [excluding weekends and holidays], to a maximum reduction of 45%.  Homework turned in after the beginning of class on the day it is due will be counted as one day late.  As homework assignments make up a relatively hefty 35% of your grade, it can be quite bad for your health if you start turning them in late, or start dropping them altogether.  I obviously think that it is very important for you to do the homework; otherwise, I wouldn't make it worth so much.  You are free [in fact encouraged!] to discuss homework problems with me and with your classmates.  The written work that you turn in, however, should be yours and yours alone.

Quizzes:  Four Quizzes will be given throughout the course of the semester, with each one covering approximately three weeks worth of material.  As far as the Quizzes are concerned, you will be responsible for all of the material that we cover in class, homework, handouts, and in the assigned readings up to and including the lecture prior to the Quiz date.  If you know in advance that you must miss a Quiz, you can greatly enhance the possibility that I might let you make it up by telling me in advance of the Quiz date.  The Quizzes will be given in class on the following dates: September 16, October 14, November 4, and December 1.  

Final Exam:  The Final Exam is comprehensive, and will be given during, yes, Finals Week.  Any material covered in lecture, homework, handouts and the assigned readings is fair game for the final, although it will likely concentrate most heavily on the latter material in the course.  As mentioned above, it is worth 25% of your grade.
Obtaining Assignments: I will provide reading and homework assignments in lecture as they are assigned.  If you miss these, they will be available in a folder tray on the wall beside my office door (Gessner 201) for at least one week after they have been dispensed in class.  I will also keep a current posting of homework problems on the course website.  





Retention of Student Material/Garbage Reduction Act:  Student exams, homework, and other contributions that are not picked up will be kept for one year after the close of the current term.  That is, all contributed student material may be destroyed at any time following the first week of the Spring 2007 semester.

Good luck in the Class!  May the choice between waves and particles never trouble your heart.  And speaking of particles, let me leave you with this verse by John Updike regarding the elusive neutrinos.  We'll discuss these little beauties soon enough.




    Cosmic Gall

    Neutrinos, they are very small.
        They have no charge and have no mass*
    And do not interact at all.
    The earth is just a silly ball
        To them, through which they simply pass.
    Like dustmaids down a drafty hall
        Or photons through a sheet of glass.
        They snub the most exquisite gas,
    Ignore the most substantial wall,
        Cold-shoulder steel and sounding brass,
    Insult the stallion in his stall,
        And ignoring barriers of class,
    Infiltrate you and me!  Like tall
    And painless guillotines, they fall
        Down through our heads into the grass.
    At night they enter at Nepal
        And pierce the lover and his lass
    From underneath the bed - you call
        It wonderful; I call it crass.




*poetic license notwithstanding, we should point out that there is now very convincing evidence that neutrinos have mass.  When Updike wrote the lines above, they were believed to be completely massless.