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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: hmb@phy.ilstu.edu

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

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5. “Mathematics is physical nature’s language.”

Once we discover basic physical concepts and a law connecting them, we can find mathematical expressions for the concepts and the law.

Physical laws, as equations, lead to precise predictions for experiments.