Block 6, 2006-2007

Text

The text for the course is Thermal Physics by Daniel V. Schroeder. The book’s approach is to cover the main concepts briefly in the first few chapters then to revisit each topic with more rigor in the later chapters. Appropriate applications are explored along the way.

Online Course Information

All documents related to the course are on the course web page at http://faculty1.coloradocollege.edu/~kmlang/06-07/PC349/Index.html.

Class Schedule

The lecture and problem solving portion of the course will meet every weekday from 9 AM until about 12 PM unless otherwise agreed upon or noted on the schedule. 

Reading and Problem Assignments

Reading and homework assignments are listed in the course schedule. Before class on the day reading and problems are assigned you should:

1. Do the assigned reading, i.e. the reading assigned for Tuesday should be read before morning class on Tuesday.  As you go through the text, I suggest you read with a pencil and paper handy to fill-in steps in derivations and jot down questions to ask in class. 

2. Read and make a first attempt at the assigned problems for that day, i.e. before Tuesday's AM class you should read and attempt problems assigned for Tuesday. 

In class we will discuss the topics in the readings and then go over problems together.   We will not generally work problems all the way to their end, but rather discuss them conceptually and talk about strategies for completing them.  The goal is for everyone to be "unstuck" by the end of class with a good idea of how to finish the problems.  I will participate in the discussions and answer questions about the problems, but will not provide solutions.  You will learn the most by struggling with problems and figuring them out yourself.  I encourage you to work in groups on the problems; however, you should make sure that you understand the solutions to the problems yourself. 

After class you should finish all the homework problems assigned for that day.  I will generally be available in my office in the afternoon for questions and assistance in finishing the homework.  Feel free to come in whenever you see my door open.

Homework will be collected three times during the block.  Each time I will collect one randomly chosen assignment and you won't know which assignment until the moment it is collected.  You must turn in the assignment at that time.  No late homework will be accepted.  Grades for each homework problem will be determined as follows according to the following scale:

0 = 0% = little to no effort or a completely wrong answer indicating a complete lack of understanding.
1 = 80% = some effort but answer is substantially wrong, missing important concepts or incomplete.  indicates lack of understanding of the material.
2 = 100% = a good answer, substantially correct and complete and indicating a substantial effort and understanding of the material.
3 = 105% = a superlative answer in every aspect.  completely correct and indicating a thorough understanding of all concepts.  this grade will be given rarely to exceptional answers.

You must be neat and clear in your homework solutions.  If I cannot tell what you have done, then I cannot adequately gauge your understanding and this will be reflected in your grade.

Solutions to the homework problems will be posted after the assignment collection date.

Exams

There will be one exam during this course on Friday of week 2.  During this exam you will be allowed to refer to your textbook, your notes, and your homework problems.  That is to say that you can use your textbook plus anything in your own handwriting.  You are not allowed to refer to my solution sets during exams.   The exams will consist of 'intuitive' questions answered in words as well as more traditional problems for you to work out.  All work on the exams should be your own.   Unlike the homework, working together on exams  is not permitted and you are on your honor to complete them by yourself.  There will be no makeup exams so if you miss the exam you will fail the course. 

The exam will be graded on a partial credit basis.  In grading problems, emphasis will be put on using the correct concepts, methods and formulas appropriate for the problem.  To enhance your partial credit, make sure that your work is neat and clearly explained so I can follow it.  The exams will also include some 'essay' questions which require you to explain with words situations and concepts.  These essay questions will be graded on both content and expression (just because this is physics, doesn't get you out of writing well!).

Conference

The first three days of week three we will attend a conference in Denver.  Each year the American Physical Society has two large conferences which together cover all the topics in physics.  The "March meeting", which we will attend, primarily covers solid state physics and related topics.  Solid state physics is one of the primary applications of the concepts and tools you have acquired in this class.  This conference will give you a chance to see how your coursework is related to current physics research.

We will have a short class meeting over the weekend prior to the conference to discuss material that will help you understand some of the talks.  I will assign some articles to read that will help with understanding the talks.  We will also have short class meetings- of perhaps an hour or so- each day we are at the conference to discuss interesting talks or topics. 

During the conference we will stay two nights at a hotel near the conference center in Denver.  Housing, transportation, and conference registration will be provided by the college.  Meals will be the responsibility of each student.  There are several meals/receptions at the conference that will help provide sustenance.

Final Paper and Presentation

The final project for the course will be a paper and presentation on a topic relating to talks you see at the conference. Early in the block you should start thinking about your topic.  A potential list will be provided to you, but you can also look for inspiration at the list of conference talks to be found at http://www.aps.org/meetings/march/baps.cfm.  A one page summary of your final paper/presentation topic is due at the class meeting over the weekend before the conference.

To aid in choosing your topic, you should read some basic articles about a few different subjects of potential interest.  You should do this before the conference since the talks at the conference are fairly specialized, so without some background it is going to be difficult for you to understand them.  Good basic articles are to be found in journals such as Physics Today, Scientific American, and Physics World.  Websites such as http://physicsweb.org/ are also be helpful in this regard.  Review articles in journals such as Reviews of Modern Physics, Reports on Progress in Physics, and Physics Reports provide a greater level of detail but should still be accessible to you.  Once you have chosen your topic, you can look focus your reading in that area.  Then important overview articles can be found in a more abbreviated form in journals such as Nature, Science and Physical Review Letters.  These articles tend to be fairly dense and may be difficult to understand without some background from the previous categories of more accessible articles.  Finally, once you have a few articles on a topic, the articles cited therein provide suggestions of additional articles that may be helpful.

The best place to begin looking for articles is using a physics database of articles such as Web of Science, which CC subscribes to.  Begin by searching by topic in the more accessible journals that I mention above.

The final paper should describe your topic in sufficient detail and at such a level so as to convey to your classmates the fundamentals of the topic.  That is, it should start at the level of sophistication that we achieve at the end of the course and expand from there.  Your paper should contain qualitative descriptions and diagrams to explain the topic.  In addition, your paper should be include at least one calculation or derivation of some sophistication (preferably using some of the calculational tools we developed in the course).  This calculation may also be numerical, ie a computer simulation or calculation using Matlab, Excel, or some other computer package.  This calculation may elaborate on some particular point in the paper with the remainder of the paper being a qualitative description of the topic, or it may be the focal point of the paper itself, with the remainder of the paper devoted to leading up to it and explaining its results.  Your paper should be of sufficient length to satisfy the criteria described above.  There is not a set length limit- either upper or lower bound- but I suggest that 10-20 pages is range that should convey an adequate amount of information.  Your paper is due the final Wednesday of class at 9 AM.

In addition to the paper, you will give a presentation to your classmates on the final day of class that is a summary of the highlights of your paper.  Your talk should be of the same format as those you see at the conference- namely a ten minute talk which will be followed by two minutes of question and answer.  Naturally you will not be able to cover the entirety of your paper in the talk.  Rather the talk should present a short background section followed by several of the most important points you discuss in your paper, preferably, although not necessarily including the calculation you present in the paper.

Your talk should be prepared in Power Point and is due by 9 AM on the last day of class.  Please bring it in a format that is easy to transfer to a central computer- that is bring it on a flash key, put it on a network drive, or put it on a cd.  Please do not bring it on your own laptop computer.  The central computer we will use is a PC, so if you prepare your talk on a Mac, be sure to test it on a PC before class to make sure all the images transfer.

Honor Code

Science is a social enterprise, and I encourage you to work with your peers on homework and studying for exams, etc. You should, however, be certain that you have your own understanding of every problem assignment, and of course, your work on your exam and paper should be your own. I’ll ask you to sign the honor pledge to that effect.

Grades

Grades will be determined by averaging individual grades together with following weights.