Physics 5D

Introduction

• Physics 5D is a 2 unit class that gives an introduction to thermodynamics and kinetic theory. This has uses in many areas of science, such as physics, chemistry, biology, as well as material science and engineering.

Textbook

• Halliday and Resnick, Part 1, "Classic Edition". For those students that do not already have this, xeroxed copies of the relevant material are available at the Bay Tree bookstore.
• For a short introduction to probability, I've put a bunch of notes up on www.statistics-help-online.com which contains an introduction to concepts in probability. Probability distributions are used starting in chapter 24 of Halliday and Resnick, and averages are used starting in chapter 23.

Online resources and demos

• To understand the origin of the Maxwell Boltzmann distribution, see these simulations. In particular this shows the convergence in a hard disk simulation as the number of particles gets large.
• To see demos of a variety of classical mechanics simulations, I've written a versatile applet called javamechanics that lets you play around with a lot of different physical situations.

Grades and Evaluations

• Student evaluations will be based on their performance in the following two tasks. These tasks and their relative weights in determining the students' ultimate ranking are given below:
  • 4 Quizzes, 30 minutes each, at the beginning of class on Oct 10, Oct 24, Nov 7, and Nov 21.
    • Weight 18% each.
  • Final In class closed book final exam on Tuesday Dec 5, 7:30PM-10:30PM
    • Weight: 28%.

  Each quiz will be closed book but will contain at least one problem closely related to a homework problem. For the final exam students will be allowed to bring an 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of paper containing any information they please. The final will be comprehensive. Calculators are allowed in the exams. Homework is not turned in, but it is essential to complete in order to pass the quizzes.

Schedule

Homework 1 for quiz on 10/10/06

Haliday and Resnick Chapter 21, problems 1, 2, 9, 14, 15, 16, 19, 24 (ans: 9.1 s), 25.

Homework 1 solutions (pdf)

Homework 2 for quiz on 10/24/06

Haliday and Resnick Chapter 22, problems 3, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20(ans: 1.17 ^oC), 21, 32(ans: (b)-20J), 33.

answer: 32 (a):

+	+	+
+	0	+
-	-	-

Homework 2 solutions (pdf)

Homework 3 for quiz on 11/7/06

Haliday and Resnick Chapter 23, problems 2 (ans: 22.47 liters), 4 (ans: 103.3 cm³), 7, 9, 15, 26, 29, 39(ans:(a) T= 336 ^oK), 43, 53.

Homework 3 solutions (pdf)

Homework 4 for quiz on 11/21/06

Haliday and Resnick Chapter 24, problems 1, 4 (ans: 15cm), 8, 13, 14 (ans:(a) a=2N/(3v_o)(b) N/3 (c) 11v_o/9), 19, 20 (ans:(a)0.35m/s (b)3.61*10⁶rev/s ), 25, 26.

Homework 4 solutions (pdf)

Homework 5

Haliday and Resnick Chapter 25, problems 1, 3, 4, 5, 19, 23, 24 (ans:(a) 6915J (b) 23.1 J/K (c) 0 ), 25, 28.

Homework 5 solutions (pdf)

Last year's Physics 5D final (2005) (pdf) and solutions (pdf)

This years Physics 5D final (2006) and solutions for all 4 versions (pdf)

---

Quizzes:

• The quizzes are not tricky and you should not expect any surprises. The purpose of them is to ensure that students have adequately understood the material by doing the homework. Completing the homework is not optional. A student should not expect to pass the class if they're not able to do the assigned problems. Because the quizzes will be very similar to the homework, their performance on them is expected to be a good measure of their ability to do the homework problems.

Missing Exams:

• There are no makeup exams scheduled. Missing an exam is only acceptable for medical reasons or extraordinary circumstances. If you believe the latter to be the case, you must notify (email) the instructor before the exam, otherwise your case will not be considered. Your note should give a detailed reason for your absence. Medical reasons, such as having a fever, are acceptable, and you should not attempt an exam under such conditions.

Cheating:

• Any student found cheating will automatically receive a zero on their test. A score of zero on any test results in a fail grade for the course as a whole. Students who take any test in earnest will receive at least one point for their efforts. Any incident of cheating will be investigated vigorously which can result in very serious consequences for the students involved. A student that is aware of any incident of cheating must report it to the instructor immediately.