Phys 4C Light and Modern Physics

Phys 4C Light and Modern Physics - 2021 Spring

Course syllabus: please read carefully.

Instructor: Professor Ringwald
E-mail: ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @

Phone: (559) 278-8426

Also: (559) 278-2371

Office hours (via Zoom, send email, or phone me, between January 21 and May 6):
MoTuWeTh 5:30-7 p.m.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any problems in this course, or if you're doing well, and just want to talk. It's in my interest, and I care, that you do well.

Health Screening: Students who come to campus for face-to-face classes will be required to complete a daily health screening which will include temperature checks. If you have experienced COVID-19 symptoms and/or have tested positive within the past 10 days; or if you have had close contact (less than 6 feet for longer than 15 minutes while unmasked) with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patient within the past 14 days, you are not allowed to come to campus. Please complete the campus online reporting form. A campus official will reply to provide guidance and information.

Safety Measures: Consistent with the Governor's order and updated state public-health guidelines, face masks or cloth face coverings are required to be worn in public spaces on-campus and during in-person classes to reduce possible exposure to COVID-19 and prevent the spread of the virus. Physical distancing must be practiced by maintaining 6 feet of distance between individuals. Good hygiene of hand washing for a minimum of 20 seconds or using hand sanitizer is required. Please avoid touching your face with unclean hands. Disposable face masks will be provided to anyone who arrives to campus without one.

Please see the university website for the most updated information: www.fresnostate.edu/coronavirus

Course Description (from the Fresno State 2020-2021 General Catalog): (3 credits). Prerequisites: Phys 4B with a grade of C or better, Math 77 with a grade of C or better. Maxwell's equations, geometrical optics; electromagnetic radiation; physical optics; introduction to special relativity; quantum physics; and the physics of atoms, nuclei, and the solid state.

Lecture meeting times and location: Schedule 35266 (Section 03), but in-person meetings have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All class functions will be conducted in virtual asynchronous mode, with videos of classes posted to YouTube and linked to the Course Schedule (see below).

Iclickers or clickers are NOT required for Phys 4C. I never use them! I also never use Mastering Physics.

Required Course Texts, which should be available in Kennel Bookstore:

Physics: California State University, Fresno

Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 2,

MAKE SURE your copy has Chapters 33 to 43!

Recommended Course Texts, all of which are excellent sources of worked examples:

Schaum's Outline of Optics

Schaum's Outline of Modern Physics

Schaum's Outline of Mathematics for Physics Students

Course webpage: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/phys4c.html . This is not on Canvas: I do all my own web programming.

The Homework Assignments are available on the course webpage, at: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/hw4c.html.
Solutions to the homework assignments will be posted to the course webpage the day after they are due.

Course grades will be awarded for the following final percentages:
85.000-100% = A; 70.000-84.999% = B; 60.000-69.999% = C; 50.000-59.999% = D; 0-49.999% = F.

These percentages will be computed from the following:

which will be a take-home exam due by email by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, which Professor Ringwald will email to students on Tuesday, May 11.

Do the homework, even though it won't be graded this semester. If you don't, you won't know the material on the exams, which count a lot.

A favorite pastime is to try and determine a ``running'' grade (in other words, trying to figure out a grade based on a single exam or some subset of it). Since there are many contributors to the final grade, this isn't very useful. The above grading scale will not be moved: how any student's grade is determined doesn't depend on any other student's grade.

Professor Ringwald will be happy to fix any errors that occur in the grading. If after any errors are fixed, students still want to contest their grades, the students are required to do it in writing. This written request must be typed and must be a minimum of half a single-spaced page of 12-point type for exam or Final Exam questions, and a minimum of one single-spaced page of 12-point type for the overall grade. It is to be submitted one time, either to Professor Ringwald during his office hours, or to his mailbox in McLane 173.

Mid-Term Exams and the Final Exam: There will be two Mid-Term Exams which will be given on the dates in the course outline below. The Mid-Term Exams will consist of some concept questions as well as some problems that must be worked out in detail. The Final Exam will follow the format of the Mid-Term Exams, although it will be longer. Example Mid-Term Exams and Final Exams will appear on this website before the exams.

How to do well in this course: Physics is different from many subjects you may have taken. It requires intelligent reasoning, not merely memorizing. It is impossible to learn physics by ``cramming.'' Here is advice that should help students with the course.

Do the homework yourself. Not only does it count in the grading of the course, but it should let you know how well your understanding the material. Doing the homework will also prepare you for the Mid-Term Exams and Final Exams. Don't expect verbatim homework problems, however. Please do the homework problems on 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper. If you like, you may fold your papers in half, so that other students won't be able to see what scores you got, but be sure to write your name, Physics 4C, the date, and the assignment number on the upper half of the outside. Any homework not bearing a student's name will not be accepted.
Read the material in the text before you come to lecture. It's much harder to understand a lecture if one doesn't know at least roughly what the lecture will cover. Also, if you find something obscure in the reading, then you can ask Professor Ringwald about it during lecture. The readings are indicated in the course outline.
Plan to spend a minimum of 12 hours a week outside of class on this course. This course requires significantly more time in order to understand the material than most other courses.
As soon as something is unclear please ask Professor Ringwald to clarify it, by email.

TENTATIVE Course Schedule (updated 2021 April 20). Always do the readings before class:

Week	Tu	Th	Read by Tuesday of next week
1	1/19: No class	1/21: Introduction; Maxwell's equations (Chapter 33)	Chapter 33
2	1/26: Electromagnetic waves (Chapter 33)	1/28: Electromagnetic waves (Chapter 33)	Chapters 33 and 34
3	2/02: Electromagnetic radiation (Chapter 33)	2/04: Geometrical optics: reflection and refraction (Chapter 34)	Chapter 35
4	2/09: Image formation: mirrors (Chapter 35)	2/11: Image formation: lenses (Chapter 35); Homework #1 due (on Chapter 33)	Chapters 35 and 36
5	2/16: Practical optics (microscopes and telescopes) (Chapter 35)	2/18: Interference of light waves (Chapter 36); Homework #2 due (on Chapter 34)	Chapters 36 and 37
6	2/23: Interference of light waves (Chapter 36) and also click here	2/25: Diffraction (Chapter 37); Homework #3 due (on Chapter 35)	Chapter 37; also re-read Chapters 33-35.
7	3/02: Diffraction (Chapter 37)	3/04: Mid-Term Exam 1 (on Chapters 33-35)	Chapters 37 and 38
8	3/09: Polarization (Chapter 37)	3/11: Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (Chapter 38); Homework #4 due (on Chapter 36)	Chapter 38
9	3/16: Relativity (Chapter 38)	3/18: Relativity (Chapter 38); Homework #5 due (on Chapter 37)	Chapters 38 and 39
10	3/23: Relativity (Chapter 38)	3/25: Quantum physics (Chapters 39.1-39.2) (Thermal radiation and the Photoelectric Effect); Homework #6 due (on Chapter 38)	-
-	3/30: Spring Break	4/01: Spring Break	Chapters 39 and 40
11	4/06: Quantum physics (Chapters 39.3-39.8) (The Compton Effect, de Broglie waves, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle)	4/08: Quantum mechanics (Chapters 40.1-40.6) (The Schroedinger equation); Homework #7 due (on Chapter 39)	Chapters 40 and 43
12	4/13: Quantum mechanics (Chapter 40.2) (The QM Particle in a Box);	4/15: Nuclear physics (Chapter 43); Homework #8 due (on Chapter 40)	Chapter 43; also re-read Chapters 36-40.
13	4/20: Nuclear physics (Chapter 43)	4/22: Mid-Term Exam 2 due by 11:59 p.m. on 4/23 (on Chapters 36-40)	Chapter 41
14	4/27: Nuclear physics (Chapter 43)	4/29: The Bohr model of the H atom (Chapters 41.1-41.3); Homework #9 due (on Chapter 43)	Chapter 41
15	5/04: QM atoms (Chapters 41.4-41.8); Homework #10 due (on Chapter 41)	5/06: No class	Re-read Chapters 33-41 and 43.

Please note:

Always show all work in all exams and course assignments, especially anything involving mathematical calculations, including the units. Not showing all work, and the correct units, will be cause for the grader to take off points. Also make sure to write the correct number of significant digits, also called significant figures: this error looks bad, and writing more than two excessive digits will be grounds for one point being deducted, for each instance.

Exams: There will be two Mid-Term Exams and a comprehensive Final Exam. The material for these exams will come from the lectures and assigned reading and, especially, the homework probelms. If any student must miss the Final Exam for a very compelling reason (such as an illness documented by a physician's note), that student will receive a grade of I (incomplete) for Phys 4C for the semester. It will then be that student's responsibility to contact the university administration within the first 15 working days of the next semester to make the necessary arrangements to remove the I grade. See the California State University, Fresno General Catalog for regulations concerning the Incomplete (I) grade. Only students who can document very compelling reasons to miss Final Exams (such as with a physician's note) will be eligible for incompletes: other students missing the final exam will get a 0% on the Final Exam.

Students with Disabilities: Upon identifying themselves to the instructor and the university, students with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodation for learning and evaluation. For more information, contact Services to Students with Disabilities in Madden Library (559-278-2811).

Honor Code: Members of the California State University, Fresno academic community adhere to principles of academic integrity and mutual respect while engaged in university work and related activities. Students should: (a) understand or seek clarification about expectations for academic integrity in this course (including no cheating, plagiarism and inappropriate collaboration); (b) neither give nor receive unauthorized aid on examinations or other course work that is used by the instructor as the basis of grading. (c) take responsibility to monitor academic dishonesty in any form and to report it to the instructor or other appropriate official for action. Instructors may require students to sign a statement on exams and assignments that �I have done my own work and have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work." (This section on the honor code was a required syllabus policy statement by Fresno State.)

Cheating and Plagiarism: Cheating is the actual or attempted practice of fraudulent or deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material (i.e., their intellectual property) so used as one's own work. For more information on the University's policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Class Schedule (Legal Notices on Cheating and Plagiarism) or the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations).

Do the homework yourself: you will gain the maximum benefit from it this way. Remember: you NEED to practice doing these problems yourself for the exams, which count for most of the course grade.

Computers: At California State University, Fresno, computers and communications links to remote resources are recognized as being integral to the education and research experience. Every student is required to have his/her own computer or have other personal access to a workstation (including a modem and a printer) with all the recommended software. The minimum and recommended standards for the workstations and software, which may vary by academic major, are updated periodically and are available from Information Technology Services (http://www.fresnostate.edu/adminserv/technology/) or the University Bookstore. In the curriculum and class assignments, students are presumed to have 24-hour access to a computer workstation and the necessary communication links to the University's information resources.

Disruptive Classroom Behavior: The classroom is a special environment in which students and faculty come together to promote learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom are maintained. Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning process, creating an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their identities, and to develop and understanding of the community in which they live. Student conduct which disrupts the learning process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from class.

Copyright Policy: Copyright laws and fair use policies protect the rights of those who have produced the material. The copy in this course has been provided for private study, scholarship, or research. Other uses may require permission from the copyright holder. The user of this work is responsible for adhering to copyright law of the U.S. (Title 17, U.S. Code). To help you familiarize yourself with copyright and fair use policies, the University encourages you to visit its copyright webpage: http://www.fresnostate.edu/home/about/copyright.html For copyright Questions & Answers: http://libguides.csufresno.edu/copyright

Intellectual Property: As part of your participation in virtual/online instruction, please remember that the same student conduct rules that are used for in-person classrooms instruction also apply for virtual/online classrooms. Students are prohibited from any unauthorized recording, dissemination, or publication of any academic presentation, including any online classroom instruction, for any commercial purpose. In addition, students may not record or use virtual/online instruction in any manner that would violate copyright law. Students are to use all online/virtual instruction exclusively for the educational purpose of the online class in which the instruction is being provided. Students may not re-record any online recordings or post any online recordings on any other format (e.g., electronic, video, social media, audio recording, web page, internet, hard paper copy, etc.) for any purpose without the explicit written permission of the faculty member providing the instruction. Exceptions for disability-related accommodations will be addressed by Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) working in conjunction with the student and faculty member.

Contact Information for Chair: If there are questions or concerns that you have about this course that neither you nor I are not able to resolve, please feel free to contact the Chair of the Department of Physics to discuss the matter:

Professor Douglas Singleton
Department of Physics
Email: dougs[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @
Phone: (559) 278-2523

This syllabus and schedule are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances. If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to check on announcements made while you were absent. Your being registered in, and not dropping, this Phys 4C lecture section that Professor Ringwald is teaching means that you accept all the above terms on this syllabus.

Go to the Phys 4C webpage. Go to Professor Ringwald's home page.

Last updated 2021 April 20. Webpage by Professor Ringwald (ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @)
Department of Physics, California State University, Fresno. Please read this disclaimer.