Course Syllabus

Course Description:

[INSTRUCTORS: We have included the C-ID descriptor here as a place holder. As with all sections, feel free to keep this information, replace it with your local course description, or remove this section entirely.]

This course, intended for students majoring in physical sciences and engineering, is part of a three-semester course whose contents may be offered in other sequences or combinations. Core topics include optics and modern physics. 

Student Learning Outcomes:

[INSTRUCTORS: We have included the C-ID outcomes here as a place holder. As with all sections, feel free to keep this information, replace it with your local Student Learning Outcomes, or remove this section entirely.]

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Analyze basic physical situations involving reflection and refraction, and use this analysis to predict the path of a light ray.
2. Analyze situations involving interference and diffraction of light waves, and apply these to situations including double slits, diffraction gratings, and wide slits.
3. Apply concepts from special relativity to analyze physical situations, including time dilation, length contraction, and the Lorentz transformation. Solve basic problems involving relativistic momentum and energy.
4. Apply basic concepts of quantum mechanics to analyze basic physical setups, including a particle in a box and simple atomic models.

Laboratory Course Objectives:  At the conclusion of the laboratory component of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Analyze real-world experimental data, including appropriate use of units and significant figures.
2. Relate the results of experimental data to the physical concepts discussed in the lecture portion of the class.

Course Content:

[INSTRUCTORS: Insert course content.]

• Geometric Optics
• Lenses, Mirrors and Optical Instruments
• Wave Optics / Physical Optics
• Selected Topics from Modern Physics (Not all of these topics are required but covering all of them is recommended)
  • Special Relativity
  • Quantum Mechanics
  • Atomic Physics
  • Condensed Matter/Solid State
  • Nuclear Physics
  • Particle Physics
• “Floating Topics” which may be included in this semester
  • Fluids
  • Mechanical Waves
  • Laws of Thermodynamics
  • Heat Engines
  • Kinetic Theory
  • Entropy
  • Properties of EM Waves
  • Simple Harmonic Motion
  • Geometric Optics
  • Lenses, Mirrors and Optical Instruments

Textbook:

Great news: your textbook for this class is available for free online!
University Physics, Volume 3 from OpenStax, ISBN 1-947172-03-4 

You have several options to obtain this book:

• View online (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
• Download a PDF (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
• Order a print copy (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) 
• Download on iBooks (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) 

You can use whichever formats you want. Web view is recommended -- the responsive design works seamlessly on any device.

Important Notes:

• All first week assignments need to be completed and submitted by the due date to avoid possibly being dropped from the class.

• Any student needing accommodations should inform the instructor. Students with disabilities who may need accommodations for this class are encouraged to notify the instructor and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) [link to your college's DSPS website] early in the quarter so that reasonable accommodations may be implemented as soon as possible. Students may contact the DRC by visiting the Center (located in room A205) or by phone (541-4660 ext. 249 voice or 542-1870 TTY for deaf students). All information will remain confidential.
• Academic dishonesty and plagiarism will result in a failing grade on the assignment. Using someone else's ideas or phrasing and representing those ideas or phrasing as our own, either on purpose or through carelessness, is a serious offense known as plagiarism. "Ideas or phrasing" includes written or spoken material, from whole papers and paragraphs to sentences, and, indeed, phrases but it also includes statistics, lab results, art work, etc.  Please see the YourCollegeName handbook for policies regarding plagiarism, harassment, etc. [link to your college's academic honesty policies]