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Phys 4C Light and Modern Physics - 2005 Spring

Course syllabus: please read carefully.

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

Phone: 278-8426
Also: 278-2371

Office hours (between January 19 and May 19):
MWF 1-2, MW 4:30-5:30, Th 11-12 and at other times too, but please make an appointment first.

Office: McLane Hall, Room 11, in the new Building J (or "J-wing").
This is across the outdoor "hall" from McLane 149, 151, and 161 (near the Women's Room).

You don't need an appointment to come to office hours. This is time set aside for you, when I'll be in.


Please feel free to contact me, if you have any problems whatsoever 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!


Course Description (from the CSUFresno 2004-2005 General Catalog): (3 credits). Prerequisites: Phys 4B, Math 77. 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 34132 (Section 03), TuTh 9:30-10:45 p.m., McLane 162.

Required Course Text: Physics for Scientists & Engineers, Volume 2, 6th Ed., by Serway & Jewett.

If you can't afford books: You may borrow a copy of the text from the Circulation Desk at Madden Library (278-4024), for two hours at a time. Making copies can be useful for homework assignments.

Course web page: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/phys4c.html .

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

Exam Practice Questions are available on the text's web site, at: http://www.brookscole.com/cgi-wadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=0534408427&discipline_number=13.

Course grades will be awarded for the following final percentages:
85.0-100% = A; 70.0-84.9% = B; 55.0-69.9% = C; 40.0-54.9% = D; 0-39.9% = F.

These percentages will be computed from the following:

A favorite pastime is to try and determine a ``running'' grade (i.e. trying to figure out a grade based on a single exam or some subset thereof). Given the fact that there are many contributors to the final grade this isn't very useful. The above grading scale will not be moved: how you do doesn't depend on how anyone else in the class does. If there is a dispute in the grading of the exams, the final exam or for the final grade then you can present your case to me one time during my office hours, after class or at some other time that we can arrange. If after this you still feel that your exam, final exam or overall grade deserves another look you can write down your reasons for me to reconsider my grading. This written request must be typed and must be a minimum of 1/2 page single space for exam or final exam questions, and a minimum of 1 page single spaced for the overall grade. I expect that most of these rules will never be used, since the single face to face meeting is usually enough to figure out whether the grade should be changed or not.

  • 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 web site before the exams.

  • Make-Up Mid-Term Exams or Final Exam: I'm sorry, but I cannot give make-ups for Mid-Term Exams, nor can I give Mid-Term Exams or Final Exams in advance. I have too many students for it to be humanly possible for me (because I cannot be in two places at once). Also, I can never be sure that a makeup or advance exam was really fair, since it must be different from the regular exam. If you must miss a Mid-Term Exam for a compelling reason (e.g., job interview or illness documented by a physician's note), the part of the course grade that mid-term exam would have counted will be voided, and the rest of the grade will be counted as 100%. If you must miss the final exam for a very compelling reason (e.g., illness documented by a physician's note), you will receive a grade of I (incomplete) for Phys 4C for the semester. It will then be your responsibility to contact the university administration in a timely fashion, and make the necessary arrangements to remove the I grade. See the California State University, Fresno General Catalog for regulations concerning the I grade. Only students who can document very compelling reasons to miss final exams (e.g. with a physician's note) will be eligible for incompletes: other students missing the final exam will get a 0% on the final exam.



  • How to do well in this course: Physics is different from most subjects you may have taken. It is impossible to learn physics by ``cramming.'' Here are some tips and advice that should help you with the course.


    TENTATIVE Course Schedule (updated 2005 April 4). Always do the readings before class:

    Week Tu Th Read by Tuesday of next week
    1 1/18: No Class 1/20: 1/18: Introduction; E/M waves (Chapter 34) Chapter 34
    2 1/25: E/M waves (Chapter 34) 1/27: E/M waves (Chapter 34) Chapter 35
    3 2/01: Geometric optics (Chapter 35) 2/03: Geometric optics (Chapter 35);
    HW 1 due (on Chapter 34)
    Chapter 36
    4 2/08: Image formation: mirrors (Chapter 36) 2/10: Image formation: lenses (Chapter 36);
    HW 2 due (on Chapter 35)
    Chapter 37
    5 2/15: Interference of light waves (Chapter 37) 2/17: Interference of light waves (Chapter 37);
    HW 3 due (on Chapter 36)
    Review Chapters 34-36
    6 2/22: Review for Mid-term Exam 1 2/24: Mid-Term Exam 1 (on Chapters 34-36) Chapter 38
    7 3/01: Interference of light waves (Chapter 37) 3/03: Diffraction and polarization (Chapter 38);
    HW 4 due (on Chapter 37)
    Chapter 39
    8 3/08: Diffraction and polarization (Chapter 38) 3/10: Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (Chapter 39);
    HW 5 due (on Chapter 38)
    Chapter 39
    9 3/15: Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (Chapter 39) 3/17: Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (Chapter 39)
    HW 6 due (on Chapter 39)
    -
    - 3/22: Spring Break 3/24: Spring Break Chapter 40
    10 3/29: Quantum physics (Chapter 40) 3/31: Holiday Chapter 41
    11 4/05: Quantum physics (Chapter 40) 4/07: Quantum mechanics (Chapter 41) Chapter 42
    12 4/12: Quantum mechanics (Chapter 41) 4/14: The Bohr model of the H atom (Chapter 42.1-42.3);
    HW 7 due (on Chapter 40)
    Chapter 42
    13 4/19: Atomic physics (Chapter 42) (QM H atom) 4/21: Atomic physics (Chapter 42)
    (Ang. momentum);
    HW 8 due (on Chapter 41)
    Review Chapters 37-41
    14 4/26: Multi-electron atoms (Chapter 42) 4/28: Mid-Term Exam 2 (on Chapters 37-41) Chapters 43, 44, 45, and 46
    15 5/03: Nuclear structure (Chapter 44);
    Nuclear fission and fusion (Chapter 45);
    Particle physics (Chapter 46)
    5/05: Molecules (Chapter 43);
    HW 9 due (on Chapter 42)
    Chapter 43
    16 5/10: Solids (Chapter 43)
    HW 10 due (on Chapter 44)
    5/12: OPTIONAL Review;
    OPTIONAL HW 11 due (on Chapter 43).
    Re-read Chapters 34-45


    Please note:

  • Class Attendance:
    All students are required to attend all class sessions. All students are also expected to arrive for class on time, and to attend to the end of all class sessions. Doing otherwise is disruptive, in large classes like this. Please check your schedule and work out problems at the beginning of the semester. If you must miss a class for a compelling reason (e.g. job interview or illness documented by a physician's note), it is your responsibility to get the notes from another student. It is also your responsibility to check on announcements made while you were absent. To do this, check the notes taken by another student: I may or may not remember everything offhand.

    Don't miss class. Listening to lectures and participating in discussions are much more effective than reading someone else's class notes. Active participation is even better: it will help you retain what you are learning.

  • Always do the reading assignments before class. Class time is valuable: it is much better spent in informed, active discussion among us all than in just me talking. It always amazes me: the students who get "A"s are almost always the ones who keep up with the reading. The ones who don't, almost always are the ones who don't.

  • Don't be shy about asking questions in class, or during office hours. Remember that the only "dumb" question is the one you didn't ask, that fouled you up later because you didn't ask it. This is especially so in this class: there are some mighty strange things out there in the Universe.

  • Note taking: Everything I write during class, on the chalkboard or on overhead transparencies, is of primary importance for exams. Copy it into your own notes, which you may put between pages in the loose-leaf folder the Class Notes are in. Students who get grades of "A" often re-copy and re-organize their notes, after class. This makes learning active, and more thorough.

  • All students are required to turn off all beepers, pagers, and portable phones while classes are in session.

  • I often use e-mail to communicate with students, and please feel free to send e-mail to me. However, all assignments must be handed in as paper copies during class, including homework, lab assignments, paper titles and summaries, and papers.

  • NO late assignments can be accepted. Sorry, but it's just not possible, for classes this size. Assignments are due at the beginning of the class period specified by the due date, and will not be accepted at any time after the end of class.

  • Always show all work in all course assignments, especially in homework involving mathematical calculations, including the units. Not showing all work, and the correct units, will be cause for points to be taken off.

  • All students are required to keep all course materials for the duration of the course. Retain all copies of all work you have done in all your classes, ever. Hang on to your textbooks, too: even the real stinkers can serve as bad examples.

  • If a student wishes to withdraw from Phys 4C, the Dean of the College of Science and Math may require written substantiation of the serious and compelling reasons for a withdrawal.

  • Students with Disabilities: The Department of Physics cooperates with the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with physical, perceptual, or learning disabilities (cf. Americans with Disabilities Act and Section of 504, Rehabilitation Act). Students with disabilities must present their written accommodation request to Dr. Ringwald within the first two weeks of class.

  • 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. All exams will be closed book and as such you may not use any notes or books during the exam, without the written permission of the instructor. Calculators may be used for the exams.

    Sorry, but Dr. Ringwald cannot give make-ups for mid-term exams, nor can Dr. Ringwald give mid-term or final exams in advance, not even for students who have legitimate reasons for being absent (e.g. job interviews, illness documented by a physician's note, deaths in the immediate family that can be documented), or for students who are participating in University-sponsored activities, such as athletics or theatre. If any student must miss a mid-term exam, the part of the course grade for which that mid-term exam would have counted will be voided, and the rest of the grade will be counted as 100%.

    This is really the only possible solution, since it takes about eight hours of Dr. Ringwald's time to prepare one of his cheat-proof exams, each of which must be different for every student who wants a make-up exam or an exam in advance (since in the past students who were allowed to take make-up and advance exams did attempt to abuse the privilege by attempting use the situation to cheat). It is therefore quite impossible for Dr. Ringwald to give make-up exams or exams in advance without very substantial additional cost in his time (and Dr. Ringwald is already working well over 100 hours per week, thank you very much, mainly creating opportunities for good students). (If students at Fresno State never cheated, this might not be such a difficult problem, but sadly, cheating is common enough to require serious steps to be taken to prevent it.) Scheduling make-up exams or exams in advance, in classes as large as Phys 4C, is also not humanly possible: during Dr. Ringwald's first semesters at Fresno State he did allow make-up and advance exams, and quickly found it impossible to accomodate every student who wanted them, because there simply aren't enough hours in the week for it: this left no choice but to end the practice altogether of giving make-up exams and exams in advance. Even with smaller classes, one can never be sure that a makeup or advance exam was really fair, since it must be different from the regular exam.

    If any student must miss the final exam for a very compelling reason (e.g., an illness documented by a physician's note), that student will receive a grade of I (incomplete) for PSci 21 for the semester. It will then be that student's responsibility to contact the university administration in a timely fashion, and make the necessary arrangements to remove the I grade. See the California State University, Fresno General Catalog for regulations concerning the I grade. Only students who can document very compelling reasons to miss final exams (e.g. with a physician's note) will be eligible for incompletes: other students missing the final exam will get a 0% on the Final Exam.

    The above paragraph means that if any student's parents or anyone else buys that student a plane ticket or otherwise arranges for that student to leave the Fresno area at the end of the term, the party who bought the ticket or make these arrangements is responsible for knowing when the Final Exam for this course is (listed above), and that students are not allowed to miss the Final Exam for this course for any reason other than an illness documented by a physician's note, or else that student will get a 0% on the Final Exam.

    If for any reason a student leaves the classroom while an exam is being given, the student may not re-enter the classroom as long as that exam is still taking place. The student's leaving the exam will be taken to signify that the student has finished that exam. This includes trips to the bathroom, so plan ahead.

    Since during exams Dr. Ringwald needs to supervise exams, he will not be able to discuss students' grades or assignment deadlines or to accept assignments during exams, until the exam is over. Dr. Ringwald will be happy to answer any questions about the content of the exam in progress, however.

    When taking exams, every student is required to sit in the assigned seat listed in the seating chart given on the front cover of the exam. Not doing so, without the explicit permission of the instructor, will earn a 0% for the exam.

    All students are required to remove hats and sunglasses during all exams, because they have in the past been used to aid cheating. Calculators may be used for the exams. Students may not use calculators, pagers, cell phones, or any other devices that can communicate outside the classroom during exams. This constitutes cheating, and any students caught cheating, in this or any other way, will receive an F in the entire course.

  • Conduct, Cheating, and Plagiarism: Please refer to the Policies and Regulations section of the University Catalog for the University policies governing conduct, cheating, and plagiarism.

    Students should NOT collaborate with others on their homework assignments. I used to encourage this, but too many students abused the privilege. Do the homework yourself: you will gain the maximum benefit from it this way. Remember: your grade in this class doesn't depend on how any other student does.

    Any student turning in homework that is an exact or near duplicate of the instructor's homework solutions will receive an F in the course, because it is obviously plagiarized from homework solutions that are dishonest for students to have. Remember: you NEED to practice doing these problems yourself for the exams, which count for most of the course grade.

  • Dr. Ringwald will be photographing this class several times, to get to know the class, and during exams, to prevent various forms of cheating.

  • There may be opportunities for Extra credit, which Dr. Ringwald will announce throughout the semester. As with a university education in general, extra credit is a privilege, not an entitlement. Dr. Ringwald therefore reserves the right to abrogate any or all extra credit, without warning and for any reason, including disruptive classroom behavior, arriving late or leaving early during class or at extra credit activities, carrying out the extra credit assignments incorrectly or getting incorrect answers, turning in a class paper at the beginning of class and then walking out, asking Dr. Ringwald to excuse deadlines because of family emergencies and then refusing to provide documentation, etc. Extra credit points will be worth the same amount as percentages on the Mid-Term Exams. If the Mid-Term Exams and the extra credit exceed 100%, the extra credit will not be forgotten: it will be applied to the grade in general, by an amount equal to percentages on the Mid-Term Exams.

  • 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 for which Dr. Ringwald is the instructor means that you accept all the above terms on this syllabus.


    Go to Dr. Ringwald's home page

    Last updated 2005 April 6. Web page by Dr. Ringwald (ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @)
    Department of Physics, California State University, Fresno