Rodney Dunning's Home Page | Teaching | PHYS 321 | Syllabus

PHYS 321 Course Syllabus, Fall 2006

Instructor: Dr. Rodney Dunning
Office: New Science Building, 208B
Phone/voice mail: x2931
Email: dunningrb@longwood.edu
Office hours: Monday - Friday (except Wednesday), 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Course Description: A study of the special theory of relativity and elementary quantum theory. Prerequisites: PHYS 101, 102 or PHYS 201, 202. Corequisite: MATH 261.

Texts:

  1. Thomas A. Moore, A Traveler's Guide to Spacetime, McGraw-Hill, 1995.
  2. Arthur Beiser, Concepts of Modern Physics, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Course Objectives:

  1. To develop a strong conceptual understanding of the special theory of relativity and elementary quantum mechanics, and to apply that understanding to a variety of basic problems in both fields.
  2. To develop an elementary understanding of the analytical and computational techniques used in modern physics research.
  3. To develop a qualitative understanding of the experimental evidence that supports modern physical theories.

Course Schedule:

  1. Aug 28 to Oct 2: Special relativity
  2. Oct 6 to Oct 30: Quantum theory, part 1
  3. Nov 3 to Dec 6: Quantum theory, part 2

Exam Schedule:

You cannot make up a missed exam under any circumstances. If you miss an exam with an appropriate excuse (see below), I will shift the weight of that exam onto the other exams, including the final. If you miss the final exam, move to South America and change your name.

Course Requirements:

Grading policies: Your grade in this course is calculated from an absolute scale, according to the following weights:

• Three exams, 50%
• Lab, 20%
• Homework, 15%
• Final exam, 15%

The three exams are weighted equally. Half of your lab grade comes from a type-written formal lab report that you complete near the end of the term. If you receive a failing grade in lab, you will automatically fail the course.

Your final course grade will depend on the cutoffs for the exams, but a ten-point scale is guaranteed:

• 90 to 100 → A
• 80 to 89.999... → B
• 70 to 79.999... → C
• 60 to 69.999... → D
• 59.999 or below → F

The ten-point scale provides the default cutoffs for the exams. If an exam proves particularly difficult, I will use an eleven- or perhaps twelve-point scale for that exam. At the end of the term, I average the cutoffs for the exams, homework, and lab (using ten-point scales for the latter two) to get the cutoffs for the course. In practice, the letter-grade cutoffs for the course will drop below the traditional cutoffs by about 0.7 points per letter-grade division.

Your course grade does not depend in any way on the performance of the other students. You are not competing with anyone. There is nothing in principle that prevents every student in the class from earning an A at the end of the term.

Your final grade is final—no work may be handed in for additional credit after the final exam. There is no extra credit of any kind in this course. Plus and minus grades are assigned at my discretion.

Requests to regrade an exam or lab report must be made within 24 hours after you receive the grade back. Accounting errors can be fixed at any time. I will keep your exams but you can look over them as much as you wish. At the end of the semester, I will return them to you. I will keep your final exam until you graduate—you can pick it up then.

A grade of incomplete will be awarded only to allow missing work to be made up (assuming excused absences) and only if all other work is satisfactory (C or higher) and only if advance arrangements have been made with me about the work to be completed and the deadline for completing the missing work.

Homework policies: Two homework problems will be due at the beginning of each class period, and will come from the material scheduled for that day. You must complete each reading assignment before class meets in order to complete the daily homework problems and be prepared for the class meeting. If you cannot or will not complete each reading assignment before coming to class, drop this course.

Homework problems will be graded according to the following rubric:

• good effort; correct results and reasoning → 5 points
• good effort; minor errors → 4 points
• fair effort → 3 points
• fair effort; modest to serious errors of reasoning → 2 points
• poor effort; → 1 point
• blank, not turned in, or didn't attend class → 0 points

A "good effort" means the following:

Homework must completed in pencil or black ink. I will grade the problems and hand them back at the next class meeting, at which time my solutions to the problems will be made public. You may resubmit any homework problem for additional credit under the following constraints:

  1. You must resubmit the problem within one week of it being returned to the class.
  2. You must use green or purple ink to make corrections.
  3. Your correction must explicitly locate your error of reasoning or algebra--you cannot simply paraphrase my solution.
  4. The corrected score cannot exceed the initial score by more than two points.

I will not accept initial solutions to homework problems if you are late to class or absent, but you may submit a "corrected" solution for a maximum of two points credit.

Attendance policy: Attendance in this course is not optional. If you do not plan on attending class, drop this course.

If you have four or more unexcused absences from class (10% of the class meetings) your course grade will be dropped by one letter grade. If you have more than ten absences from class (25% of the class meetings), excused or unexcused, you will automatically fail this course. It is you responsibility to sign the attendance sheet at the beginning of each class. Signing on behalf of someone who is absent is an Honor Code violation.

Appropriate excuses: Appropriate excuses for missing class, lab, or an exam (not the final) include such things as the following:

  1. A medical professional not related to you has ordered you to stay home or in the hospital
  2. You are required to attend an official University function such as a scheduled athletic competition (practices do not count)
  3. You are required to appear in court

Documentation will be required to substantiate any excuse. Examples of inappropriate excuses include the following:

  1. Family and church activities
  2. Greek functions of any kind
  3. Exams, papers, and projects in other courses
  4. Athletic practices
  5. Self-diagnosed illnesses
  6. Sick friends
  7. Sick, dying, or recently-deceased pets

Classroom policies: I expect you to be on time for each class, and prepared to participate. Questions during class are welcome at all times. Never hesitate to ask a question during class.

Our class meetings are reserved for this course only. Do not work on other coursework, read the newspaper or anything else, sleep, use your cell phone, pack up your things before class ends, or engage in any behavior that disturbs me or the other students. In particular, do not engage in conversation while I'm speaking, unless it's very brief, quiet, and course-related. If you do any of these things, you will be told to leave. If you cannot follow these rules, drop this course.

How to Succeed in This Course: Modern physics is a difficult subject. To process the material, you need to bite off small pieces. Putting things off for several days and trying to catch up is a recipe for failure.

To do well in this course, do the following:

Getting Help and Getting in Touch: I keep regular office hours,

          Monday - Friday (except Wednesday), 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
          208B, New Science Building

You never need an appointment to visit me during my office hours. Just show up. I can meet with you at other times if my office hours are not convenient. Please talk to me about any concerns you have regarding the course, or other issues. I am happy to speak with you at length about any of your questions. To make an appointment for a meeting outside of my regular office hours, please send e-mail to dunningrb@longwood.edu.

Honor code: Your signature on all submitted work is a statement of your understanding of and compliance with the Honor Code. Suspected violations of the Honor Code will be referred to the Honor Board. A conviction by the Honor Board will result in a grade of F for this course.