Syllabus for Modern Physics
PHYS1027
Current Lecturer
Prof. Sheng Ju Email: jusheng@suda.edu.cn
Course Time
2nd Semester
Lectures: 3 sessions/week, 50min /session. 18 weeks.
Course Description
Modern Physics is a branch of physics including relativity, quantum physics, and their applications. The course aims to provide students with: (1) Basic concepts of relativity and quantum mechanics including relativity, quantization of charge, light, and energy, the nuclear atom, the wavelike properties of particles and the Schrodinger Equation. (2) Application of quantum mechanics and relativity including molecular structure, spectra solid state physics, nuclear physics, particle physics astrophysics and cosmology.
Prerequisites
General Physics I (PHYS1025), Calculus (00071012)
Textbooks
H. D Young and R. A. Freedman, Sear and Zemansky's University Physics with Modern Physics, 12th Edition, Pearson Education, 2008 (chapter 37 - 44).
Kenneth S. Krane, Modern Physics, 3nd edition, Wiley, 2012.
Paul A. Tipler, Ralph Lewellyn, Modern Physics, 6th revised international edition, W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd, 2012.
Main Contents and Course Calendar:
Week | Teaching Contents | Sessions | Objectives |
1 | Relativity of simultaneity, time intervals and length | 3 | Know how the length of an objects changes due to the object’s motion. Know how the velocity of an object changes due to the object’s motion. |
2 | Lorentz transformation and relativistic momentum and energy | 3 | Know how the theory of relativity modifies the relationship between velocity and momentum. Solve problems involving work and kinetic energy for particles moving at relativistic speeds. |
3 | Photoelectric effect | 3 | Understand Einstein’s photon picture of light explains the photoelectric effect. |
4 | Bohr model and spectra | 3 | Know how Bohr’s model of electron orbits explained the spectra of hydrogen and hydrogenlike atoms. |
5 | 3 | De Brogile’s proposal that electrons, protons, and other particles can behave like waves. Know how the Heisenberg uncertainty principle imposes fundamental limits on what can be measured. | |
6 | Wave function and Schrodinger Equation | 3 | The wave functions that describe the behavior of particles and the Schrodinger equation that these functions must satisfy. |
7 | Particle in a box | 3 | Calculate the wave functions and energy levels for a particle confined to a box. |
8 | Potential wells and barriers | 3 | Analyze the quantum-mechanical behavior of a particle in a potential well. |
9 | Mid-term exam | 3 | Review and exam |
10 | Atomic structure | 3 | Describe the states of a hydrogen atom in terms of quantum numbers. |
11 | Molecules bonds and spectra | 3 | How magnetic fields affect the orbital motion of atomic electrons. |
12 | Structure of solids and energy bands | 3 | Energy band theory; Free-electron model; Semiconductor |
13 | Nuclear binding, nuclear structure | 3 | Key properties of atomic nuclei, including radii, densities, spins and magnetic moments. |
14 | Nuclear stability and radioactivity; activities and Half-lives | 3 | The most important ways in which unstable nuclei undergo radioactive decay. How the decay rate of a radioactive substance depends on time. |
15 | Particle accelerators and detectors; particles and interactions | 3 | Use accelerators and detectors to probe the properties of subatomic particles The four ways in which subatomic particles interact with each other. |
16 | Expanding Universe and beginning of time | 3 | The evidence that the universe is expanding and that the expansion is speeding up. |
17 | Review | 3 | Review all the lecture materials |
18 | Final exam | 3 | Final exam |
Marking Scheme:
Homework | Quiz | Midterm | Final exam |
10% | 10% | 20% | 60% |
