Physics 218, Fall 2001
Waves and Thermodynamics
Welcome to Cornell's Physics 218, the third semester of the Honors physics
sequence, on waves and thermodynamics. Lectures this semester are being
given by Prof. James Sethna 11:15 - 12:05 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays in Rockefeller 230. Sections will be taught by Surachate
Limkumnerd (Yor) in Rockefeller 127, Tuesdays 1:25-2:15 (section 2) and
Wednesdays 2:30-3:20 (section 1). We will have four
labs, which will start on September 10,
taught by Lawrence Lyon on Monday evening 7:30-10:30 (section 1) and
Thursday afternoons 1:30-4:30 (section 2).
Staff
James Sethna,
sethna@lassp.cornell.edu,
http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/sethna/sethna.html, 255-5132, Clark 521.
Surachate (Yor) Limkumnerd,
sl129@cornell.edu,
Rockefeller 81, 255-6036.
Lawrence Lyon,
ldl2@cornell.edu, (607) 423-3045,
Clark 115.
Course Information
This course is where you learn how to derive your own physical laws. Since
this is an honors course, I'll attempt to introduce current methods of
theoretical physics at appropriate places in the course.
I've made up a tentative schedule for the course,
describing the topics and reading for each lecture.
The prelims will be held in class, and are tentatively scheduled for Friday
October 5 (the day before spring break), and Wednesday November 7. The
final will be held Tuesday December 18, from 9-11:30; the room
has not been announced as of 8/27/01. The four labs
are tentatively scheduled in two clumps: between
September 10 and 20, and then between October 11 and 22. There will also
be computer homework, using the programs
pythag and
huygens: you can download these for
Macs,
Windows, or
Linux.
Section will count for 20% of your grade, split between homework and quizzes.
Homeworks will be due on Monday in class, and (depending when the TA's
homeworks are due) will be returned in section on Tuesday and Wednesday.
No late homeworks will be accepted, but we will drop the lowest two
homework scores: those with reasons for missing more than two homeworks
should talk to the instructor. The two prelims will count for 20% each,
and the final will count 40%. The labs in this course are pass-fail (make
sure you get a signature from the lab instructor), but
missing a lab will count directly against your final grade (one grade
level for each missed lab). Go to your assigned lab unless you've checked
with the lab instructor.
Further information
Web page last modified: November 2, 2001
James P. Sethna,
sethna@lassp.cornell.edu.
Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity,
now available at
Oxford University Press
(USA,
Europe).