Schedule (Spring 2017)

Class time: MWF 9:05 – 9:55   Class location: Clough 102

Notes:

  • This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Reading Assignments are online; commentary in WebAssign is due at 9 PM the evening before the lecture.
  • You can find an overview of the text readings for this class (plus readings I am not assigning) at Working Content II.

Date Class Reading Lectures

Week 1

1/9 1 Course introduction
1/11 2 5.3 Heat and temperature
5.3.2 Thermal properties of matter
5.3.2.1 Thermal energy and specific heat
5.3.2.2 Heat capacity
5.3.2.3 Heat transfer
Thermal energy and heat flow
1/13 3 Interlude 2: The Micro to Macro Connection
7. Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics
7.1 Kinetic theory: the ideal gas law
7.2 The 1st law of thermodynamics
First law

Week 2

1/16 No reading Martin Luther King Jr. Day
1/18 4 7.2.1 Organizing the idea of energy
7.2.2 Enthalpy
7.2.3 Thermodynamic equilibrium and equipartition
7.2.3.1 Example: Degrees of freedom
Building up to Enthalpy
1/20 5 Why do we need a 2nd Law?
7.3.1 The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics: A Probabilistic Law
7.3.2 Implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Entropy
Energy Sharing and Distributions

Week 3

1/23 6 7.3.2.1 Why entropy is logarithmic
7.3.2.3 A way to think about entropy — sharing
7.3.2.2 Biological consequences of the 2nd Law
7.3.2.4 Example: Entropy and heat flow
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
1/25 7 7.3.3 Motivating free energy
7.3.3.1 Gibbs free energy
7.3.3.1.1 Example: Free energy of an expanding gas
Entropy: Examples
1/27 8 7.3.4 How energy is distributed: Fluctuations
7.3.4.1 Boltzmann distribution
7.3.4.2 Boltzmann distribution and Gibbs free energy
Free energy

Week 4

1/30 9 No reading Free energy examples
2/1 10 4.2.4.1 Charge and the structure of matter
4.2.4.3 Coulomb’s law
4.2.4.3.2 Reading the content in Coulomb’s law
The Boltzmann distribution, fluctuations, and entropy
2/3 11 8.1 The Electric field
8.1.2 Making sense of the idea of field
Recap: Electric charge and force; Electric fields

Week 5: TEST 1 Tues. 2/7

2/6 12 6.2.3 Electric potential energy
8.2 The electric potential
Electrostatic potential
2/8 13 No reading Electrostatic potential: Examples
2/10 14 8.2.1 Motivating simple electric models
8.2.1.1 A simple electric model: a line charge
8.2.1.1.1 Line-charge integral
8.2.1.2 A simple electric model: a sheet of charge
Charged lines and sheets

Week 6

2/13 15 8.4.1 Two parallel sheets of charge
8.4.2 The capacitor
8.3.3 Dielectric constant
Capacitors
2/15 16 8.3.1 Screening of electrical interactions in salt solution
8.3.1.1 Debye length
8.3.2 Nernst potential
Dielectrics
2/17 17 8.5.1 Quantifying electric current
8.5.2 Resistive electric flow: Ohm’s law
Electrostatics in a fluid

Week 7

2/20 18 8.5.3 Ways to think about current: A toolbox of models
8.5.5 Electric energy and power
Electric current
2/22 19 8.5.4 Kirchhoff’s principles
Resistors in series
Resistors in parallel
Circuits
2/24 20 No reading Review for the test

Week 8: TEST 2 Tues. 2/28

2/27 21 No reading Review for the test
3/1 22 No reading More on circuits
3/3 23 Batteries in series and parallel
A complex network
More on circuits

Week 9

3/6 24 9. Oscillations and waves
9.1 Harmonic oscillation
9.1.1 Mass on a spring
Harmonic oscillation
3/8 25 9.1.1.1 Hanging mass on a spring
9.1.1.2 The pendulum
9.2 Waves in 1D
Oscillations in other systems
3/10 26 9.2.1 Waves on an elastic string
9.2.2 Wave pulses
9.2.2.1 Propagating a wave pulse – the math
Waves

Week 10

3/13 27 9.2.3 Wave speed
9.2.5 Sinusoidal waves
Making sense of sinusoidal waves
Waves (cont.)
3/15 28 9.2.4 Superposition of waves in 1D
9.2.4.2 Standing waves
Superposition of waves
3/17 29 No Reading Standing waves (cont.)

SPRING BREAK

Week 11: TEST 3 Tues. 3/28

3/27 30 No reading review for test
3/29 31 No reading The ray model of light
3/31 32 10 Three models of light
10.1.1 Basic principles of the ray model
10.1.2 Flat mirrors
Refraction

Week 12

4/3 33 10.1.3 Curved mirrors
10.1.3.1 Curved mirror equations
10.1.4 Lenses
Curved mirrors
4/5 34 10.1.4.1 Lens equations
10.2.1 Electromagnetic radiation and Maxwell’s rainbow
Curved mirrors (cont.)
4/7 35 10.2.2 Huygens’ principle and the wave model
10.2.2.1 The math of Huygens’ principle
Lenses

Week 13

4/10 36 10.2.3 Two-slit interference
10.2.4 Diffraction
10.2.4.1 Interference from two wide slits
Huygens’ model and two-slit diffraction
4/12 37 10.3 The photon model of light
10.3.1 Basic principles of the photon model
10.3.1.1 Reconciling the wave and photon model – sort of
Single-slit diffraction
4/14 38 10.4 Color and light
10.4.1 Visual implications
The photon model

Week 14: TEST 4 Tues. 4/18

4/17 39 No reading Review for Test 4
4/19 40 6.4.1 Energy at the sub-molecular level
11 The wave model of matter
Vision
4/21 41 11.1 Quantum oscillators – discrete states
11.2 Quantum string
11.3 Fluorescence
Energy quantization

Week 15

4/24 42 No reading REVIEW

Exam Week

5/1 FINAL EXAM Time: 6:00-8:50 PM Location: Howey L3