Physics III

Winter 2003

Course Overview



Instructor: Dave Feldman Email: dave@hornacek.coa.edu
Office: Second Floor, Turrets Annex Phone: x249, 276-5284
Mailing List: physics2@hornacek.coa.edu Office Hours: Stop by whenever I'm around, which is a lot. Feel free to email or call to set up a time.
Tutors: None Help Sessions: Wed, 6:30 - 8:00, TAB.


Course Overview

As our text we will use The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics by Dan Styer. I expect that we'll cover most of the chapters in this book.

We will also make use of Spins and Quantum Measurement. This is a short book written by Professor David McIntyre. These materials have been developed for a Spins and Quantum Measurement, a new, novel course at Oregon State University. Thanks to David for making these notes available. I'll give you photocopies of these in a few weeks.

There will also be several photocopied articles that we'll read.

I have several goals for this course:

  1. I want you to gain a firm understanding of the main ideas of quantum mechanics.
  2. I want to help you improve your quantitative literacy, problem solving skills, mathematical confidence, and technical writing.
  3. I want you to think critically about science and reality.
  4. I want you to gain experience writing and explaining physical and mathematical phenomena carefully and precisely.


Evaluation

Your evaluation will be roughly based on the following: I will assign grades (for those who so opt) by following the guidelines in the COA Course Catalog. I do not have any quota of A's, B's, etc.


Policies and Stuff: First Draft

  1. The final version of this and related documents can be found on the course web page, http://hornacek.coa.edu/dave/Teaching/Physics.3.W03.
  2. Homework will be due Fridays at the end of the day. More than one unexcused late homework assignment will likely result in me mentioning this in your narrative evaluation and may result in a lowering of your grade.
  3. If your HW is substantially late, I may not be able to grade it fully. I'll check off that you did it, but I might not have time to make as many comments and suggestions as I normally do.
  4. You are strongly encouraged to work together on homework. You can also consult me, class tutors, other faculty, friends, and family. However, the homework you hand in should represent your own understanding. This means that if your friends get a homework problem and you don't understand how they did it, you shouldn't photocopy their solution and turn it in.
  5. There will be some sort of a final thing. It could be a synthetic final problem set, a final paper, or something else. We will discuss this sometime around week 3 or 4.
  6. I will almost always assign reading for each class. You should do the reading, and come prepared with written questions. Click here for details.
  7. More than two missing homework assignments will result in a grade no higher than a C.
  8. As I plan on sending out homework assignments and other information via email, it is important that you check your email regularly.
  9. I expect you to attend class.
  10. Academic misconduct -- cheating, plagarizing, etc. -- is bad. Any cases of academic misconduct will result in a judicial hearing, as per pp. 14-15 of the COA handbook. Possible consequences range from failure of the assignment to expulsion. For more, see the revised statement on academic integrity passed by the faculty last winter.


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Web page maintained by dave@hornacek.coa.edu.