General Data

• Instructor: Lawrence Evans

   Rm 240 Physics, Phone 660-2576
   e-mail: lee@phy.duke.edu

• Office Hours:

  Monday 4:00 - 5:30
  Tuesday 2:30 - 3:30
  Wednesday 2:00 - 3:00
  Other times by Appointment

• Text: Modern Physics (2nd Ed) by Serway, Moses and Moyer

• Course Web Site: www.phy.duke.edu/Courses/100/ (Can be reached by "Course Pages" link from department home page: www.phy.duke.edu)

Course Structure

• The scheduled class hours will be devoted mainly to lecture coverage of the material. Questions and discussion are encouraged.

• The lectures will be aided by projected pages from the course web site

• There will be three exams, given during the lecture period, and a comprehensive final exam. Each exam counts 100 points maximum, and the final exam counts 200 points maximum.

• There will be several problem assignments, which will be graded. This material counts a maximum of 100 points.

Scope of course

• “Modern” physics is a term usually meant to include discoveries made in physics since about1895, the time when X-rays, radioactivity and the electron were discovered.

• Since an enormous number of things have been discovered in the century since 1895, a one-semester survey of modern physics must make choices.

• The two most important general developments, relativity and quantum theory, obviously must be included.

• Applications of quantum theory to explain structure and behavior of atoms, molecules and condensed matter will be covered in this course. To discuss the latter a small amount of statistical physics is necessary.

• These are the areas where modern physics has found its most numerous applications in our current technology.

• Nuclear and particle physics, important branches of current physics, will be omitted.

• General relativity, astrophysics and cosmology, also important and interesting areas, will be omitted.

Topics to be Covered

• Special Relativity (Chap. 1)

• Origins of Quantum Theory (Chaps. 2, 3)

• Quantum Mechanics in 1-D (Chaps. 4 - 6)

• Quantum Mechanics in 3-D (Chap. 7)

• Atoms (Chap. 8)

• Statistical Physics (Chap. 9)

• Molecules (Chap. 10)

• Solid State (Chap. 11)

• Lasers (Chap. 11)

Schedule

 

14 - 21 Jan  26 Jan - 4 Feb  9 Feb 11 - 23 Feb 25 Feb - 4 Mar  9 Mar 11 - 23 Mar 25 Mar - 1 Apr 6 - 8 Apr 13 Apr 15 - 22 Apr 27 Apr

Special Relativity Origins of Quantum Theory 1st Exam Quantum Mechanics in 1-D Quantum Mechanics in 3-D 2nd Exam Atoms Statistical Physics Molecules 3rd Exam Solid State Lasers

Homework Assignments

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Exam Keys and Review Questions

These are solution keys to the exams and some review questions for the exams. They are in "pdf" format, and require Adobe Acrobat Reader to download and display them.

Exam 1
Review for Exam 2
Exam 2
Review for Exam 3
Exam 3
Review for Final Exam