| Week of | Monday | Tuesday | Thursday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 0 Sept. 25 |
Review of classical physics (Ch. 1 textbook)
Classical relativity (2.1) | ||
| Week 1 Oct. 2 |
Michelson-Morley experiment
(sects. 2.2, 2.3 in textbook) |
Special relativity postulates; time dilation, length contraction (sect. 2.3, 2.4) | Simultaneity, Lorentz transformations, velocity addition, examples (2.5, 2.6) |
| Week 2 Oct. 9 | Quiz 1 | Relativistic momentum, kinetic energy, total and rest energy (2.7, 2.8) |
Momentum and energy conservation fission, fusion (2.8, 2.9, 13.4, 13.5) |
| Week 3 Oct. 16 | Review of relativity | Interference and diffraction; photoelectric effect (3.1, 3.2) | Thermal radiation, classical and quantum (3.3) |
| Week 4 Oct. 23 | Quiz 2 | Compton effect; other photon processes (3.4, 3.5, 3.6) | Particles or waves; de Broglie waves (4.1, 4.2) (4.3, 4.4) |
| Week 5 Oct. 30 | Uncertainty relations, Heisenberg (4.3, 4.4) |
Wave packets (4.5, 4.6)
Probability interpretation of quantum waves (4.7, 5.3) |
Schrodinger equation; free particle solution; infinite well (5.3, part of 5.4) |
| Week 6 Nov. 6 | Quiz 3 | Schrodinger equation; finite well; 2D well (5.3, 5.4) | Harmonic oscillator (5.5) |
| Week 7 Nov. 13 | Steps and barriers; tunneling (5.6) | Atoms, Thomson model, Rutherford experiment (6.1, 6.2, 6.3) |
Atomic spectra (6.4)
Bohr model of the atom (6.5) |
| Week 8 Nov. 20 | Quiz 4 | Bohr model, correspondence principle (6.6, 6.7, 6.8) | Thanksgiving holiday |
| Week 9 Nov. 27 | Hydrogen atom (7.1, 7.2) | Hydrogen atom (7.3, 7.4, 7.5) | Electron spin, Zeeman effect (7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9) |
| Week 10 Dec. 4 | Quiz 5 | Many-electron atoms; periodic table (8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5) | Molecules, covalent bond (9.1, 9.2); Course review |