171.201: Special Relativity and Waves

Fall Semester, 2006

Overview

Instructor

Schedule

Texts

Course Requirements and Grading

Note Regarding Homework

Policy on Collaboration

Statement regarding Ethics

Homework Assignments

Custom Problems

Old Exams

Overview

Special Relativity and Waves is the third course in the four-semester introductory sequence for physics majors. The course will be divided into two parts. In the first three weeks, we will study the theory of special relativity. The remainder of the course will be devoted to a detailed treatment of the physics of waves. A good grasp of wave phenomena is crucial for understanding much of classical physics and is essential for the study of quantum mechanics.

Instructor

Prof. Robert Leheny

Bloomberg 353

6-6442

leheny@pha.jhu.edu

Office hours: Tuesdays 3-5

Class Schedule

Lectures: MTW 11-12

Section 1: Th 12-1, Bloomberg 278

Section 2: Fri. 2-3, Bloomberg 278

Texts

Required Texts: 1. R. Resnick, Introduction to Special Relativity.

2. H. J. Pain, The Physics of Vibrations and Waves.

Recommended Texts: E. F. Taylor and J. A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics.

A. Einstein et al., The Principle of Relativity,

A. P. French, Special Relativity.

D. Bohm, Special Theory of Relativity.

A. P. French, Vibrations and Waves.

F. J. Crawford, Waves.

H. Georgi, The Physics of Waves

Requirements and Grading

Requirement	When	% of grade
Homework	Weekly	20
1st Midterm exam	Wed., Oct. 11 (tentative)	20
2nd Midterm exam	Wed., Nov. 15 (tentative)	20
Final Exam	Tues., Dec. 19	40

Note Regarding Homework

Homework will be due on Wednesdays in class. Submitted homework should not only report the answers to the problems but also demonstrate clearly the steps taken in their derivation. Solution sets will be available in Section. In addition to written homework problems, the waves portion of the course may include experimental exercises. The experiments are typically quite simple but offer important insights into wave phenomena. Students will be provided with a kit that the items needed for the experiments. These exercises are not meant to be extensive laboratory efforts. However, they are required, and students will be asked to submit informal reports of the experiments as part of their homework. In most cases these reports need be only a short paragraph along with the results of any quantitative measurements.

Policy on Collaboration

Working through the homework problems is crucial to learning the material in this class. All students are expected to attempt each problem individually; however, collaboration on homework is not discouraged, provided that each student contributes substantially to the effort. Students who do not make a serious effort on the homework will not learn the material and will find success on the exams difficult. Each student should write his or her final submitted homework solutions independently.

Statement regarding Ethics

The strength of the university depends on academic and personal integrity. In this course, you must be honest and truthful. Ethical violations include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying, facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition.

Homework Assignments

Assignment	Reading	Problems	Due Date
#1	Resnick, Ch. 1 (skim) & Ch. 2	Resnick 2.12, 2.18, 2.25, 2.35, 2.40, 2.44	Wednesday, Sept. 20
#2	Resnick, Appendices A & B, Ch. 3.1-3.4	Resnick 2.8, 2.32 (For part (b) of 2.32, use theta = 15 degrees rather than the angle quoted in the problem.), A.3, A.5, A.8, 3.1	Wednesday, Sept. 27
#3	Resnick, Ch. 3.5-3.7 & 4.1-4.3	Resnick 3.23, 3.27, 3.33, 3.34, 3.35, 3.41, 4.7	Wednesday, Oct. 5
#4	Pain, Chs. 1 - 3, omit pp. 17-25.	Pain 1.10, 2.2, Custom Problems 1-5	Wednesday, Oct. 18
#5	Pain, Ch. 4, omit pp. 96-97	Pain 4.3, 4.4, 4.7, 4.10, 4.12, Custom Problem 6	Wednesday, Oct. 25
#6	Pain, Ch. 5, pages 107-128	Pain 5.1, Custom Problems 7-12	Wednesday, Nov. 1
#7	No additional reading	Pain 5.4, 5.5, Custom Problems 13-17	Wednesday, Nov. 8
#8	Pain, Chs. 6 & 10	Pain 5.19, 6.4, 10.15 (In 10.15, also sketch the result and determine the full width at half maximum of the peak.), Custom Problems 18-21	Wednesday, Nov. 22 (no penalty for work submitted by Monday, Nov. 27.)
#9	Pain, Ch. 7 pages 171-187, Ch. 9 pages 239-251	Pain 6.7, 7.3, 7.4, 9.2, 9.13	Wednesday, Nov. 29
#10	Pain, Ch. 8 pages 199-208, 217-221	Pain 8.21, 8.23, Custom Problems 22-26	Wednesday, Dec. 6
#12	Pain, Ch. 12	Pain 12.4, 12.10, Custom Problems 27-29	Monday, Dec. 11 (no penalty for work submitted by Wednesday, Dec. 13.)