Week

Reading Assignment

Your short posts are due by Thursday night (11:55 PM Pacific Time), and your responses to others are due by Sunday night

 1

Read  Harris' Classical Physics Summary

Pages 1-12

Topics of the Week:

Getting Started: Who are you?  What kind of learning matches your preferences best?  How much do you remember about classical physics? 

Try by Sunday 1/25: Biographies, VARK, and our Online Class
Make your posts and replies to others by this date.

by Sunday, 1/25

 2

Finish Harris' Classical Physics Summary

Pages 13 - 30

Read Chapter 1 in Harris Textbook

Topics of the Week:

Online Lectures? Powerpoint? Where's my professor!?!  ... and...

What do you already know - or think you know - about Relativity?

Due Thursday 1/29: Evaluating Online Resources for Modern Physics

completed by 11:55 PM Sunday 2/1 on Blackboard

 3

Chapter 2

Sections 2.1- 2.4

Topics of the Week:

The Twin Paradox

Due Thursday 2/5: Tests of Special Relativity
 

completed by Thursday, 2/5

by 11:55 PM
Sunday, 2/8

 4

Chapter 2

Sections 2.5 - 2.9

Topics of the Week:

General Relativity - The Equivalence Principle

Due Thursday 2/12: GPS, Gravitational Lenses, and LIGO
 

completed by Thursday, 2/12

by 11:55 PM
Tuesday 2/17

note date extended for President's Holiday

  5

Chapter 3

Topics of the Week:

Light as a Particle

Due Thursday 2/19: Antimatter in Medicine!  Positron Emission Tomography

#3b Compton Scattering

completed by Thursday 2/19

by 11:55 PM
Sunday 2/22

 6

Chapter 4

Sections 4.1- 4.5

Topics of the Week: The Uncertainty Principle!?

Due Thursday 2/26: Applications of Uncertainty

#4b Uncertainty Principle

completed by Thursday 2/26

 7

Chapter 5

Sections 5.1- 5.4

Topics of the Week:

Schrödinger's Equation

Due Thursday 3/5: Schrödinger's Cat - Quantum Cruelty to Animals?

#5a Wave Packets

#5b Potential Energy Diagrams

completed by Thursday 3/5

 8

Section 5.5- 5.8

Topic of the Week:

The Calculus of Probabilities in Quantum Physics

Due Thursday, 3/12: Quantum Wells and Dots

#6a Particle in a Box

#6b Potential Well

completed by Thursday 3/12

 9

Midterm Exam 1 addresses concepts and problems from Chapters 1 - 5

The Window opens Sunday 3/15; the exam MUST be completed by Sunday 3/22 at 11:55 PM PDT

(But don't procrastinate - if you wait until the last day and have any problems, you won't be able to take a make-up test!)

*  *  *  *  *

10

3/23-3/29

Chapter 6

Topics of the Week:

Quantum Tunnels

Due Thursday 3/26: The STM - Is it the most important piece of technology ever developed?

#7 Good Online Simulations

completed by Thursday 3/26

HW 7 by Sunday 3/29

 11

Chapter 7

Sections 7.1-7.3

Topics of the Week:

Tests of Quantum Mechanics through Spectroscopy

Due Thursday 4/2: What quantum physics applications are in the news now?

completed by Thursday 4/2

 11

Spring Break!

 12

Topics of the Week:

Hydrogen as proof of the accuracy of Quantum Physics 

Due Thursday 4/16: More simulations and Resource Reviews

Last Day to Withdraw with a "W": 4/19

Please remember it is your responsibility to drop the course by this date if you won't be finishing.

completed by Thursday, 4/16

13

4/20-4/26

Topics of the Week:

The Quantum Periodic Table

Due Thursday 4/23: A new spin on Spin Quantum Numbers

 completed by Thursday 4/23

Topics of the Week:

Statistical Mechanics

Due Thursday 4/30: Researching Lasers
 

completed by Thursday 4/30

Topics of the Week:

Superconductors

Due Thursday 5/7: CCDs, STJs, LET's, and other acronyms

completed by Thursday 5/7

Topics of the Week:

Is controlled fusion possible?

Due Thursday 5/14: Researching Lawrence Livermore's Fusion Projects

completed by Thursday 5/14

Topics of the Week:

Advances in the LHC

Due Thursday, 5/21: Researching the LHC's experiments

The final exam window opens Thursday 5/21. The Exam MUST be completed by Thursday 5/28 at 11:55 PM PDT

completed by Thursday 5/21

 18

Final Exam Week

The Final Exam is comprehensive

The Exam MUST be completed by Thursday 5/28 at 11:55 PM PDT