PHY 3101 - Modern Physics - Fall 2018


Announcements



Dec. 10 New constants sheet was uploaded over the weekend. It now includes important information on mesons and baryons.

Dec. 6 HW 10 solution was modified to correct an error in problem 3(g).

HW 11 solution will be posted later tonight so that you can study it for the final. We cannot accept any more homeworks after this time.

Formula sheets: You can bring three handwritten formula sheets to the final.

Cosmology page added: We have added a Cosmology page to the main course navigation page to include the guest lectures by Profs. Imre Bartos and Laura Blecha, as well as some other interesting links.

Dec. 3 Bonus 5 was uploaded today.

Final exam topics were posted today.

Nov. 30 Makeup exam announcement For those who missed either Exam 1 or Exam 2, the makeup exam will be held Dec. 6 at 3pm. Come to either Prof. Avery's or Prof. Hirschfeld's offices. Format: same as exams 1 and 2. Coverage: 50% material covered by Exam 1, 50% material covered by Exam 2.

HW 7 & HW 9 scores have been uploaded to Canvas. HW 9 solution updated.

Reminder: course evaluations Please submit course evaluations online.

Nov. 27 Exam 3 (Final) announcement The final exam will be held Dec. 11 12:30-2:30 in CLB 130. Format: multiple choice (practice exam posted today). Coverage: 50% material covered by 1st two exams (up to and including Ch. 11, Solid State Physics); 50% material covered since Exam 2 (Chs. 12-15). Stay tuned for details of which topics you are responsible for.

Homework 11 is now available (7 problems).

Homework 7 grading is not finished because one of our graders has had health issues. We hope it will be completed this week.


Nov. 20 How to calculate your grade We have received numerous inquiries about how to calculate letter grades. Go to the "Course overview" section, where you will find a "Grading scale". For example, a "B+" is between 78 and 83. The "Points" refer to your total score, maximum 100, obtained by adding the various subscores listed under "Grade Components". For example, Exam 1 is 20 per cent of the grade, or 20 points. Exam 1 had a maximum score of 100, so if you got a 72, you add for this grade component 0.72*20 = 14.4 points.

For your homework score, add up the total points you received, add all bonus points, and divide by the total number of points in the regular homework to get a percentage, then multiply by 30 maximum homework points to get your homework score component. You may want to estimate your score on the remaining homework as well.

Similarly, estimate your score on the final ("Exam 3", worth 25 points). A reasonable way is to take the average of the first two exam scores. Then add this component to the total. This is your estimated final score out of 100 points; use it to determine your estimated final letter grade using the Grading scale. If you don't like what you're seeing, study harder for the final!

PH & PA


Nov. 19 Homework 10 has been uploaded with 7 problems (for real, this time).

HITT grades/points through today were uploaded to Canvas this afternoon.

Bonus problem 4 was uploaded to the homework page this afternoon. It is worth 20 pts. Guest lecturers: We will have two guest lectures by members of our department, including one next week. Stay tuned here for more details.

Bonus problem 4 was uploaded to the homework page this afternoon. It is worth 20 pts.

Nov. 13 Exam 2 is still being graded, hope to be finished by Thursday. Solutions have already been posted, with occasional updates.

Homework assignments have been reduced! Homework 9 is now due Monday, Nov. 19. Homework 10 is due Nov. 28, Homework 11 is due Dec. 5, Homework 12 has been canceled.

Bonus problems have all been graded and the scores uploaded to Canvas.

Final exam date/time is not simple. Each section has a different time scheduled, but we cannot write two finals. Our preferred date/time is Dec. 11 12:30-2:30. Please email phy3101@phys.ufl.edu if you have a conflict.

Nov. 10 Homework 9 was uploaded a bit late because of the exam. It has only 7 problems and the due date has been delayed to Friday, Nov. 16.

Nov. 9 Exam 2 should be graded by Wednesday. We will post the solutions over the weekend.

Homework 7 is not graded yet (though HW 8 was graded a few days ago), but we expect it should be done by Monday, Nov. 12.

Nov. 6 Exam 2 formula sheet can be two sheets (double sided), because of the amount of material we are covering.

Nov. 5 Solutions for Practice Exam 2 are now posted under Files->Exam materials. We had previously posted only the exam questions for you to study.

Exam 2 rooms: Period 2 (FLG 220), Period 4 (FLG 230). Exam is 8:20-10:20pm, Thursday, Nov. 8.

Homework 8 solutions are posted under Files->HW solutions.

Review session will be conducted by Prof. Hirschfeld Tuesday, 5:10pm in room NPB 1002 (small Physics lecture hall).

Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 6 (tomorrow!). See the map with precinct locations and their addresses.

Oct. 28 Summary of Exam 2 topics was posted this evening on Canvas under Files-->Exam materials.

HW 7 solutions were posted today.

Election day is Tuesday (tomorrow!). See the map with precinct locations.

Oct. 25 Updated and new lecture notes on statistical physics, Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics and quantum statistics have been posted. Hint: These are useful for HW8.

A practice exam for Exam 2 has been posted on Canvas under Files-->Exam materials (though the material is not identical to the current semester). We will post a file in the next few days on what topics will be included, starting with the Schrodinger equation and up to but not including nuclear physics.

Oct. 24 HW5 and HW6 grades were posted yesterday. Solutions have already been posted.

The schedule is being slightly adjusted to take into account material on multi-electron atoms and statistical physics.

Prof. Avery's office hours are delayed until approximately 2:00pm today because of an off-campus appointment.

Oct. 9 Exam 1 grades were posted this evening.

Oct. 8 Homework 5 due date: After some discussion with students, we have pushed back the due date for HW to Wednesday, Oct. 10.

Homework 6 and Bonus problem 3 are now posted.

Exam 1 grading is continuing and we expect to have the grades completed later this week. HW6 will be posted this afternoon. Bonus problem 2 will be posted later today.

Computer session Wednesday & Thursday: Bring your laptop and we will work on Python examples together. We will use room 2165, the seminar room at the far end of my corridor, Wednesday 5-6:30 and Thursday 5-6:30.

Oct. 3 HW3 and HW4 scores were uploaded to Canvas today. Exam 1 solutions were posted this morning on Canvas under Files-->Exam materials. We expect to take about a week grading Exam 1.

HITT clickers not registered: The following clickers are accumulating points but are not registered to anyone. The remotes are 843385 (Period 2), 814138 (Period 4), 840239 (Period 4). If you have 0 HITT points in Canvas this means that your HITT remote is not registered. Please do this ASAP.

Oct. 2 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics

Programming session: We will have another programming session Thursday, Oct. 4. at 5:30pm in room NPB 2205. We will send email to the class about this on Oct. 3.

Oct. 1 Homework 5 is now available. (Corrected file v2 8:45am Oct. 2, please download again if you got the file Oct. 1).

Sep. 26 Exam 1 room is Flint 50. The exam takes place from 8:20-10:20pm on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Exam materials, etc. are described on the Course overview page.

HW #4 solutions will be posted this Friday at 4pm. We will not give credit for any HW turned in after that time.

Sep. 23 A practice exam for Exam 1 has been posted on Canvas under Files-->Exam materials. Note that a few questions from that exam are based on a different textbook and have not been covered yet.

Sep. 21 Homework 4 due date has been moved to Sep. 26 (Wednesday) so that we can cover more material on which the HW is based.

Sep. 17 Important: Bonus problem 2 had an error and was fixed today. Please download the new version from the homework page. We extended the due date to Sep. 27 (Thursday).

Sep. 15 Important: Bonus problem 2 was modified with additional uploading instructions that must be followed. Please download the new version from the homework page.

Sep. 14 Bonus problem 2 has been uploaded to the homework page.

Sep. 12 Exams 1 and 2 will be held Oct. 2 (Tuesday) and Nov. 8 (Thursday) from 8:20-10:20pm, rooms TBA. One handwritten formula sheet (front and back) will be allowed for each exam.

Sep. 11 Bonus problem 1 is due Wednesday, Sep. 12 at 9pm. Instructions were emailed to everyone about how to upload the files.

HITT points through Sep. 10 have been uploaded to Canvas. If you have 0 points, it means you have not registered your clicker using the instructions on the HITT page.

Sep. 3 Office hours: As stated in class last week, Prof. Avery is away this week. Prof. Hirschfeld has already emailed the class that he will have extra office hours Tuesday (Sep. 4) from 12 - 2PM.

Aug. 31 The computer session Wednesday & Thursday: were successful in bringing people together, helping one another and discussing some programming examples. We will do this again, perhaps the week of Sep. 10 since I (Avery) will be away next week. Bonus problems 1 due date is pushed back two days to Sep. 12.

Aug. 29 Computer session Wednesday & Thursday: Bring your laptop and we will work on Python examples together. We can meet outside my office (room 2029) but we will use room 2165, the seminar room at the far end of my corridor. We will do this today 5-7 and Thursday 5-7.

Aug. 28 Homework 1 has been been modified to eliminate an ambiguous problem. Please download the new version from the homework page. We sent an email to the class about this today.

Bonus problem 1 is now available on the homework page.

The textbook is now in the UF bookstore.

Aug. 26 Homework 2 has been posted to the homework page.

Aug. 24 Lecture notes are posted for the first two lectures in Files-->Lecture notes (we will normally not announce that here).

Aug. 23 Homework 1 has been posted to the homework page. We are working on a bonus assignment now.

Textbook: We have been told that the textbook could be in by Friday, but there is no guarantee. In the meantine, we have already posted pdf files of the first two chapters in e-Learning in Files-->Lecture materials.

HITT: We have placed more detailed instructions on how to set the HITT channel in each room on the HITT page.

Aug. 22 Welcome to PHY3101! Please note the following points.
  • Read the Course overview page, which describes important aspects of the course, including lecture location/time, material covered, textbook, grading components, how we use e-Learning, test accommodations, etc.
  • Read the Programming page to learn about the programming tools you will learn in this course.
  • We will use HITT clickers as we did in Physics 1 and Physics 2. Please purchase a clicker if you do not have one already. You will need to register the clicker for this course as described on the HITT page.
  • The class schedule shows the lecture schedule, exam dates, and homework due dates.
  • Please read Chapter 1. We have also placed some introductory materials on e-Learning under "Files-->Lecture materials". We also put the indivifual chapters of a free Modern Physics textbook under Files-->OpenStax reference.
  • There is a problem wth the textbook at the UF book store; the wrong hardback book was put on the shelves. New books were ordered on Monday and should arrive very soon. Note that the correct version of the All Access electronic book is available and is much cheaper. Update: We just placed the first two chapters of Krane under Files-->Lecture materials.
  • EMAIL (IMPORTANT!): Please do not use Canvas mail in e-Learning to send us email. Email should always be addressed to phy3101 AT phys.ufl.edu and not to our home accounts. We keep class correspondence in a single area that is easy for both of us to read and respond to.


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