Physics 2213B Modern Physics Honors Section

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Physics 2213B Modern PhysicsHonors Section
Professor Elisa Riedo Howey Physics Building Room
N107 4-6580 elisa.riedo_at_physics.gatech.edu
Class time MWF 10 -11 Office hours Monday
11.00 -12.00 Or email me. Or call me.
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Welcome to Modern Physics!
Modern Physics will take you from the 19th
century up to the 21st! Its all the ideas that
have changed the world!
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Some more information
Class web page http//www.physics.gatech.edu/rese
arch/riedo/Teaching/Modern_Physics/web_page.htm
I have a list of your email addresses, but feel
free to send me an email with your GA Tech email
address. And itd be nice if youd also include
your major, telephone number, and anything else
youd like to tell me. This way, I can tailor
the course to your needs and let you know if we
have to, say, cancel a class.
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Course required text Modern Physics for
Scientists and Engineers (3rd ed.)
by Thornton Rex
For problems, you will find plenty of problems on
the book
Other helpful books
3,000 Solved Problems in Physics (Schaum's Solved
Problems) by A.Halpern The Feynman Lectures on
Physics by Richard Phillips Feynman (Author)
Physics by Marcelo Alonso (Author), Edward Finn
(Author) Thermal Physics by C. Kittel and H.
Kroemer (Freeman)
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My lectures will be a mix of PPT slides and White
board!
All my Power Point lectures will be on my web
site http//www.physics.gatech.edu/research/riedo
/Teaching/Modern_Physics/web_page.htm (click on
Lectures).
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Homework
Homework (4) will be due in class (beginning or
end of the class) on the date indicated in the
calendar (see web page) I'll try to grade and
return the homework within a few days. No late
homework are accepted. You can work with
others on homework (I encourage you to do so!),
but write it up yourself.
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Quizzes
There will be 4 "one-hour" quizzes, but only 3
will be used for your grades. If you miss one you
do not need any justification, the other 3
quizzes will be automatically considered. If you
do all 4 quizzes, the best 3 scores will be
considered. The quiz dates are indicated on the
calendar 4 Quiz (all Mondays) ? 3 for
grades So if youre sick or just having a bad
day on 1 quiz day, dont worry.
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Final Project
There will be no final, but there will be a term
project. It will involve creating a PowerPoint
lecture on an advanced Modern Physics subject of
your choice. It will be a 15 minutes
presentation (plus 5 minutes of questions) and
you will present it in class, the week before
dead week, during dead week or during the final
exam schedule (YOU CHOOSE).
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Grading
Homework (4) ? 15 Quiz (4, but 1 can be
dropped) ? 60 Final Project ? 25
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No ones perfect. So we give lots of partial
credit.
But you must say what youre doing! Write a lot
of text in addition to equations in your homework
and quizzes.
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The Importance of Having Class
You should come to class because theres a lot
that Ill say that wont be in the Power Point
files. And which will be on the quizzes.

• In the past, people who have skipped a lot of
  classes have received very bad grades.
  Conversely, people whove come to most or all of
  the classes nearly always receive As and Bs.

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Understanding the ideas of each lecture requires
the knowledge of the previous lectures.
If you keep up, you wont end up looking like
this the night before the quizzes!
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Modern Physics has very some unintuitive ideas.
In fact, this course will hit you with more than
any other course youll ever take. The goal is
simply to expose you to them, and later courses
will cover them on more detail.
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Program
 The birth of modern physics TRex Ch 1 (1
lecture)  Special relativity 1, 2, 3
TRex Ch 2 (6 lectures)  The basis of quantum
mechanics TRex Ch 3 (3 lectures)  The Bohr atom
TRex Ch 4 (3 lectures)  Quantum mechanics
1 2 TRex Chs 5, 6 (9 lectures)  The hydrogen
atom TRex Ch 7 (3 lectures)  Atomic physics
TRex Ch 8 (3 lectures)  Statistical physics
TRex Ch 9 (6 lectures)  Molecules and solids
TRex Ch 10 (6 lectures)
 Semiconductor Theory and Devices Ch 11
Nuclei and nuclear interactions TRex
Ch 12 13 (optional reading) Particle physics
TRex Ch 14 (optional reading) General relativity
TRex Ch 15 (optional reading) Cosmology TRex Ch
16 (optional reading)