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Physics 206
Complete syllabus ( in pdf )
is posted on the course web site:
http://www.phy.ilstu.edu /~hmb/phy206 /phy206.html
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Instructor: Hiroshi Matsuoka
Office: Moulton 313B Phone: (438) 3236 e-mail: [email protected]
Office hours: 2 - 3 p.m. (MWRF) or by appointment.
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‘53 : Born in Tokyo, Japan.
‘78 : B.Eng. in Materials Eng. (U. of Tokyo) Grad school (Physics, U. of I)
‘85 : Ph.D in theoretical high energy physics
‘85-’90 : Research associate at Argonne Nat. Lab U. of Houston Nagoya U., Japan
‘90- : ISU (theoretical statistical physics)
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Business Admin. 3 Chemistry 3 Theatre 3 Communication 2 Philosophy 2 Others 10 Sophomores 8 Juniors 5 Seniors 11
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Texts (Required) “Chaos: Making a New Science” by James Gleick “Physics 206 Class Notes” by Matsuoka (PIP: Packet #3)
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Course content Recent developments in “nonlinear science” in the cultural context of the latter half of the 20th century Especially, the recognition of “deterministic chaos” in a wide variety of natural phenomena
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Course objectives
1. The role played by the human culture in the evolution of science
2. Impacts that scientific ideas have on the wider culture
3. A basic understanding of nonlinear science, especially deterministic chaos
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Course structure I. At home before each class • Reading an assigned portion of the text
II. Class • A 3-min multiple-choice reading quiz at the beginning of class
• Lecture/demonstrations
• In-class hands-on labs
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III. At home and/or in the computer studio lab (Moulton 309) • Homework questions
IV. A 50-minute quiz after each chapter
V. A 2-hr comprehensive final exam
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Reading assignment & reading quizzes
• Reading assignment: on the course web site
• At the beginning of class: a 3-min multiple-choice reading quiz
• Extra points
• No make-up reading quiz
• Answers: given in class right after the quiz
• Answers: also on the web site
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6 in-class hands-on labs
• One lab with the lowest score will be dropped
6 homework sets
• Homework sets will be posted on the web site
• Answers are given in class
• No late homework accepted
• The set with the lowest score will be dropped
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Quizzes
• A 50-min quiz after each chapter
• 5 quizzes + an “optional” extra quiz
• The quiz with the lowest score among the 5 quizzes will be dropped.
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• If you take the optional extra quiz and your score is better than your lowest score from the kept 4 quizzes, the optional quiz will replace the quiz with
the lowest score.
• No make-up extra quiz
• Tentative dates: “Class schedule” in the course syllabus
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• Closed notes and closed book
• A list of equations and constants: included
• Cheating on a quiz -> a zero for that quiz that cannot be dropped
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• In general, no make-up quiz. If an officially justifiable circumstance forces you to miss a quiz, contact me within one week after the missed quiz.
If you fail to contact me within that one week, no make-up quiz.
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Final Exam: (The date and time will be
announced later)
• The 2-hour final exam will cover topics covered in the 5 quizzes
• Cheating -> a zero point for the exam
• Closed notes and closed book
• A list of equations and constants: included
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On the course web site • Announcements including schedule changes. • Reading assignment • Links to the web sites mentioned in Class Notes • Reading quiz that you have taken and its answers
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• Homework problems • Solutions for Homework problems • As the semester goes by, older “pdf” files will be taken off the web site.
Download files ASAP.
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Grades • Regular points (100 points) Homework 25 points In-class labs 5 points Quizzes 50 points Final Exam 20 points • Extra points from reading quizzes: at most 3 points Your extra points = 3 (Your Total)/(Total Max)
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• Grading scale (subject to change) A above 90.0 points B above 80.0 points C above 70.0 points D above 60.0 points
Important dates
January 27 (M): the last day to withdraw w/o WX
March 7 (F): the last day to withdraw w/ WX
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Physicists’ view of nature (Class notes#1)
Based on collective experiences accumulated over centuries 1. “Physical nature is understandable.”
Behind seemingly complex physical phenomena, we find regularities that can be summarized by simple statements we call laws.
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Using laws, we can explain a wide variety of phenomena. Physicists equate the simplicity of laws with the beauty of nature.
Example: Newton’s laws of motion
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2. “Universal laws.” Various natural phenomena can be understood in terms of the same set of laws.
This universality of laws allows us to understand nature systematically.
Example: Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation
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3. “Only experiments and observations can establish physical laws.”
Physics is an empirical science.
Physical laws cannot be chosen arbitrarily.
Example: Einstein’s special relativity: time runs slowly for a fast moving particle. Verified in the Lab.
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4. “From a few basic laws to many results.”
There are a “limited” number of basic laws, from which many results logically follow.
Example: Newton’s laws of motion in mechanics