Dr. Phil's Home · Last Update: 27 Aprill 2004

PHYS-309 (3)

Modern Physics (3 credits)

WMU Spring Semester 2004

MTu ThF 10:00-10:50am · 1110 Rood Hall

Registration Call Number = 48499

Office Hours (GRADING WEEK) · Syllabus (Adobe Acrobat .pdf file) · Booklist (all 107 titles) (click here for full handout as .pdf file)

Lost and Found items, look here

All Quizzes turned in now.

Finals...Done, Papers...Done, Quizzes...Done, Grades...Done!

Spring 2004 Semester Final Exam Solution (Click here for a copy) (212KB)

Here's what Dr. Phil was complaining about in class one day -- see the section on Spherical co-ords and read the footnote at the end... Our textbook does Spherical co-ords "wrong".

Handout - What They Didn't Teach in Math

Sample Exam 1's: Titanic, Above the Planet Gamma..., Train Collision

Important NOTE: If the Train Collision problem is giving you goofy results, it is because in trying to make the collision point easier, I "broke" the problem. The coordinate transformation equations you were given are designed so that the two origins for S and S' are co-axial (x=x'=0, y=y'=0, etc.) at time t=t'=0. Use this definition and adjust the problem as needed and it "should" work. Isn't this fun?

Sample Exam 2's: Galileo-deBroglie-Heissenberg, "I've been working on the work function..."

Sample Exam 3's: The Wall, Going to the Well Once Too Often, Hope College Physics 270 Take-Home Exam 3

Sample Final Exams: Dit-Dit-Dit (Uuo and Turbonium), Hope College Physics 270 Take-Home Sample Final, Relativistic IRS Form 1040c

This week in PHYS-309 at 10:00am

Quiz 8-10-11-12 Solution (click here for a copy)

Quiz 4-5-6 Solution (click here for a copy)

Course Descriptions from the WMU Undergraduate Catalog

via Registrar’s Web Site (http://sims.wmich.edu)

PHYS 309 Introductory Modern Physics – 3 hrs. – Fall, Spring

This course, with PHYS 205/206 and PHYS 207/208, completes the sequence making up the introductory courses in physics with calculus. Topics include special relativity, quantum physics, and atomic, nuclear, and solid state physics. This course consists of three lectures per week. Prerequisite: PHYS 207 and MATH-272 or MATH-230.

PHYS 310 Introductory Modern Physics Lab – 1 hr. – Fall, Spring

A laboratory course which includes exercises related to the topics covered in PHYS 309. Corequisite: PHYS 309.

Significant Dates:
Apr. 22 Thu	- Final Exam 10:15am-12:15pm (2 hours)
Apr. 23 Fri - End of Spring Semester
Apr. 27 Tue - Grades Due at Noon