Welcome to Physics 2251 for the fall of 2023!
Course: Introduction to Relativity and Quantum Mechanics (Modern Physics) Offered: MTThF 1:15-2:30 Martin 323 Professor: Peter Sheldon Martin 316, x8488 (Office), 434-238-5681 (Cell) Text: 1. Required: Modern Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd edition or newer, Stephen T. Thornton and Andrew Rex (Brooks/Cole): I can sell or rent you the text. Purchase is $25 and rental is $15 plus $10 deposit I will return to you when you return the text to me (I would really like to get the book back if you are not going to use it again). The text is also available at the College ebookstore, and can be found used on many book sites.
2. Required: WebAssign homework service (subscribe and pay $39.95 through class Moodle site.)
3. You need Access: Halliday, Resnick, Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, from 1115/116 OR OpenStax University Physics
Course Comments: This course looks at modern physics as it was discovered from all the 20th century players - Einstein, Bohr, Planck, Heisenberg, DeBroglie, etc. It covers the most exciting topics and discoveries which has brought physics to the state in which it is today. We will see how the classical description of light and matter which is adequate for our everyday experience is not actually correct, and will follow along with the discoveries which led to particle-wave duality and quantum mechanics. This course will review the classrical physics of rotational motion and osciallations and waves, and will identify problems that led to the modern topics of relativity and quantum mechanics. We will visit some topics from your General Physics text, spend some time with relativity, and will then pick and choose our way through the Modern Physics text to culminate with a justification and description of quantum mechanics, covering much of chapters 1-5. We will treat the subject with mathematical rigor and will use computers both for solving problems and for simulation purposes.
