Schedule

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

Notes:

1. This schedule is tentative and subject to change. See WebAssign for the actual Reading Assignments to be completed before class on the corresponding day.
2. Seminars suitable for review (for bucket point credit) are listed here.

Office hours:

1. Nick Darnton, W 11 AM-12 PM, Howey Interaction Zone (S105, next to front office)
2. Bo Lee, W 6-7 PM, Howey Interaction Zone (S105)
3. Hemaa Selvakumar, Th 3-4 PM, MoSE (Molecular Science and Engineering building) 2100F
4. JC Gumbart, F 10-11 AM, CULC (in our classroom or a nearby empty room; if no one comes, I will stay until 10:15 and then go to my office in Howey W202)

Date	Class	Reading	Lectures
Week 1
1/8	1	College FB > Physics?	No class
1/10	2	5.3 Heat and temperature (review) 5.3.2 Thermal properties of matter (review) 5.3.2.1 Thermal energy and specific heat (review)	Course introduction; Thermal energy and heat flow
1/12	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
1/15		No reading	Martin Luther King Jr. Day
1/17		Snow day!
1/19	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
Week 3
1/22	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	Degrees of Freedom
1/24	6	No reading	Energy Sharing and Distributions
1/26	7	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
Week 4
1/29	8	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	Free energy; Free energy examples
1/31	9	7.3.4 How energy is distributed: Fluctuations 7.3.4.1 Boltzmann distribution 7.3.4.2 Boltzmann distribution and Gibbs free energy	The Boltzmann distribution, fluctuations, and entropy
2/2	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	Recap: Electric charge and force; Electric fields
Week 5
2/5	11	8.1 The Electric field 8.1.2 Making sense of the idea of field	Electrostatic potential
2/7	12	6.2.3 Electric potential energy 8.2 The electric potential	Electrostatic potential: Examples
2/9	13	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: TEST 1 Tues. 2/13, Howey L1
2/12	14	No reading	Review for test
2/14	15	8.4.1 Two parallel sheets of charge 8.4.2 The capacitor 8.3.3 Dielectric constant	Capacitors; Dielectrics
2/16	16	8.3.1 Screening of electrical interactions in salt solution 8.3.1.1 Debye length 8.3.2 Nernst potential	Electrostatics in a fluid
Week 7
2/19	17	8.5.1 Quantifying electric current 8.5.2 Resistive electric flow: Ohm’s law	Electric current
2/21	18	8.5.3 Ways to think about current: A toolbox of models 8.5.5 Electric energy and power	Resistors
2/23	19	8.5.4 Kirchhoff’s principles Resistors in series Resistors in parallel	Circuits
Week 8
2/26	20	No reading	More on circuits
2/28	21	No reading	Capacitors in circuits
3/2	22	Batteries in series and parallel A complex network	More on circuits
Week 9
3/5	23	9. Oscillations and waves 9.1 Harmonic oscillation 9.1.1 Mass on a spring	Harmonic oscillation
3/7	24	9.1.1.1 Hanging mass on a spring 9.1.1.2 The pendulum 9.2 Waves in 1D	Oscillations in other systems
3/9	25	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: TEST 2 Tues. 3/13, Howey L1
3/12	26	No reading	Review for test
3/14	27	No reading	Waves (cont.)
3/16	28	9.2.3 Wave speed 9.2.5 Sinusoidal waves Making sense of sinusoidal waves 9.2.4 Superposition of waves in 1D 9.2.4.2 Standing waves	Superposition of waves; standing waves
		SPRING BREAK
Week 11
3/26	29	No reading	The ray model of light
3/28	30	10 Three models of light 10.1.1 Basic principles of the ray model 10.1.2 Flat mirrors	Refraction
3/30	31	10.1.3 Curved mirrors 10.1.3.1 Curved mirror equations	Curved mirrors
Week 12
4/2	32	No reading	Curved mirrors (cont.)
4/4	33	10.1.4 Lenses 10.1.4.1 Lens equations 10.2.1 Electromagnetic radiation and Maxwell’s rainbow	Lenses
4/6	34	10.2.2 Huygens’ principle and the wave model 10.2.2.1 The math of Huygens’ principle 10.2.3 Two-slit interference	Lenses (cont.)
Week 13
4/9	35	No reading	Huygens’ model and two-slit diffraction
4/11	36	10.2.4 Diffraction 10.2.4.1 Interference from two wide slits	Single-slit diffraction
4/13	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	The photon model
Week 14: TEST 3 Tues. 4/17, Howey L4
4/16	38	No reading	Review for test
4/18	39	10.4 Color and light 10.4.1 Visual implications 6.4.1 Energy at the sub-molecular level	Vision
4/20	40	11 The wave model of matter 11.1 Quantum oscillators – discrete states 11.2 Quantum string 11.3 Fluorescence	Energy quantization
Week 15
4/23	41	No reading	REVIEW
Exam Week
5/2	FINAL EXAM	Time: 6:00-8:50 PM	Location: TBD