PHY 228: Optics, Relativity, and Thermal Physics Professor: Joseph Brill, CP381, 7-4670, [email protected] Class Time: MWF 12, CP220 Office Hours: W,R 10:30-11:30 Website: http://www.pa.uky.edu/~brill/PHY228/ Required Text: Physics For Scientists and Engineers (9th Ed.) Serway and Jewett (Cengage Learning)
PHY 228 is the second course in our introductory sequence (PHY 231-228-232-361) for physics majors. As such, it requires knowledge of Mechanics (as covered in PHY 231) and elementary calculus (as covered in MA 113), with MA 114 as a co-requisite. Topics to be covered include geometric optics, relativity, and thermodynamics.
Lectures will be meant to complement the text, highlighting certain points and giving different ways to view the physics, so you should read the appropriate sections of the text, listed in the attached syllabus, before coming to class. Therefore, you must obtain either an online copy and/or hard-copy of the text. The online copy is available through “webassign”, using the “class key”: uky 6890 1038. The webassign website is: https://webassign.net/ . Instructions for enrolling in webassign for this class are on our course website, listed above; this includes the case if you previously purchased a “multi-semester” pass to webassign. If you’d also like a hardcopy, the publisher has made a soft-cover “hybrid” version available at reduced cost. Both the “webassign only” and “webassign plus hybrid” are available at the UK bookstore. Note that assignments will NOT be given on webassign, although suggested problems to help you prepare for exams may be placed there.
Quantitative success requires doing problems. Homework assignments will typically cover three lectures and are due as listed in the schedule. We will go over the assignments in class on the days they are due, so homework should be turned in at the beginning of class. (Late homeworks will only be accepted in the case of emergencies.) Some homework problems will involve the straight forward use of equations we derive (or assume); the goal of these problems is to make sure that you understand how to use these equations and also to help you appreciate the magnitudes of different quantities involved. Other homework problems will probe your understanding of the physics more deeply. While you are encouraged to discuss course material including homework problems with each other, you must work the homework problems independently after any such discussions. Note that exam questions will generally resemble homework problems, so the best way to prepare for exams is to do the homework and similar problems.
The class website will contain copies of homework assignments and some class notes (i.e. powerpoint lectures and figures). Homework solutions will not be put on the website, however, but will be placed in a notebook on reserve in the Science Library.
Although the material we cover in special relativity is covered in our text, you may be interested in reading a more in- depth discussion in the Feynman Lectures on Physics (Volume I: Chapters 15-17). An online version of this text is available (for free!) at http://www.feynmanlectures.info/. (Soft cover copies of the Fenman Lectures volumes are also available from Amazon and other distributors for ~ $40 each.)
GRADES: Your grade for the course will be determined as follows: Hour exams (2 x 100 ) ….. 200 pts Homework ………………. 50 pts Final Exam ……………… 150 pts. Total …………………….. 400 pts
with letter grades corresponding to A 340, B = 280 – 339, C = 220 - 340, D = 160 - 219, E < 160. (Extra credit points for class participation will be considered for students just below a grade cutoff.)
The exam dates are shown on the attached schedule. You should bring a calculator for doing arithmetic, calculating roots and trig functions, etc., but you may not use it for storing programs or equations; also texting or emailing will not be permitted during exams. If you must miss an hourly exam with a valid university excuse, a make-up exam will be scheduled. If you are doing satisfactory work but must miss the final exam with a valid university excuse, you will receive an “I” for the course and must make arrangements to take a make-up final at a later date.
COURSE EVALUATION: Our Department has developed an online course evaluation system that allows you to anonymously but thoroughly discuss how you feel about the course. This gives us important insight into how well the course has functioned and what changes should be made. The evaluation window will be open (and the link announced) at the end of the semester. Your HW grade will be increased by 5 pts. (10%) if you complete the evaluation.
Tentative Schedule
Mondays Wednesdays Fridays 1/14 Introduction 1/16 Electromagnetic Waves Electric and Magnetic Fields 34.7, 35.1-35.3 1/19 MLK Birthday 1/21 Reflection & Huygen’s 1/23 Refraction Princ. 35.4, 35.6 35.5 1/26 Dispersion & TIR 1/28 Homework #1 Due 1/30 Mirrors 35.7, 35.8 Homework Review 36.1, 36.2 2/2 Mirror Ray Diagrams 2/4 Lenses 36.3-36.4 2/6 Homework #2 Due 36.2 Homework Review 2/9 Lens Ray Diagrams 2/11 Camera and Eye 2/13 Optical Instruments 36.4-36.5 36.6-36.7 36.8-36.10 2/16 Homework #3 Due 2/18 Galilean Rel. & Mich.- 2/20 Optics Exam Homework Review Morley Expt. 39.1-39.2 2/23 Relativity & Time 2/25 Length Contraction 2/27 Homework #4 Due Dilation 39.3-39.4 39.4 Homework Review 3/2 Lorentz Transformation 3/4 Velocity and Momentum 3/6 Relativistic Energy 39.5 39.6-39.7 39.8 3/9 Homework #5 Due 3/11 Special Relativity 3/13 Special Relativity Exam Homework Review Review 3/16 Spring Break 3/18 Spring Break 3/20 Spring Break 3/23 Temperature and 3/25 Thermal Expansion & 3/27 Heat & Calorimetry Thermometers 19.1-19.3 Ideal Gas 19.4-19.5 20.1-20.2 3/30 Homework #6 Due 4/1 Latent Heat & Work 4/3 First Law 1 Homework Review 20.3 – 20.4 20.5-20.6 4/6 Heat Transfer 4/8 Homework #7 Due 4/10 Molecular Speeds 20.7 Homework Review 21.1, 21.5 4/13 Ideal Gas Heat Caps. 4/15 Engines & Heat Pumps 4/17 Homework #8 Due 21.2-21.4 22.1-22.2 Homework Review 4/20 Carnot Engines 4/22 Engines and Entropy 4/24 Entropy & 2nd Law 22.3-22.4 22.5-22.6 22.7-22.8 4/27 Homework #9 Due 4/29 General Relativity 5/1 Thermodynamics Review Homework Review
Final Exam: 2 Hours: Thermodynamics (Chapters 19-22): Monday May 4, 1 – 3p.m.