PHYSICS 460 PHYSICS 460, FALL 2009

(updated Nov. 19, 2009)

MIDTERM EXAM:

The midterm exam will have an in-class portion, which will take place on October 22, and a take-home portion, which will be available online from October 22, and be due a week later, on October 29, in class. The material covered on the midterm will be the material of chapters 7 through 9, section 9.3.
The exam will be open book. You can use the textbook, you own notes, and your own homework solutions and the solution sets I handed out. You cannot use any other material. In particular, for the take-home part, you cannot use Mathematica or any other such program, and you should not look anything up using internet. You should also not consult with anyone else.

  • course syllabus: (postscript) (pdf)


    Sofar, we have covered the material of the textbook:
    chapter 7,
    chapter 8,
    chapter 9, sections 9.1 (reading assignment), 9.2-5
    chapter 10, sections 10.1, 10.2.1, 10.3
    chapter 11, section 11.1

    Homework is due each week before the physics main office closes on Thursday, in my mailbox.

  • homework set #1; due: September 10
    Problems 7.1 parts (a) and (b), 7.3 of the textbook.

  • homework set #2; due: September 17
    Problems 7.8, 7.18, and 7.20 of the textbook. In problem 7.18, for simplicity, take s=a. For problem 7.20, refer back to example 5.6 and equation (5.86).

  • homework set #3; due: September 24
    Problems 7.32a,b, 7.34, and 7.54 of the textbook.

  • homework set #4; due: October 1
    Problems 8.2, 8.6 and 8.8a,b of the textbook. In problem 8.6 assume that the B field exists only between the plates of the capacitor.

  • homework set #5; due: October 8
    Problems 9.2, 9.9 and 9.12 of the textbook.

  • homework set #6; due: October 15
    Problems 9.14 and 9.16 of the textbook. For the plot in problem 9.16, use Mathematica, Matlab, or any other plotting program.

  • homework set #7; due November 5
    Problems 9.20, 9.21, 9.37(a,b,c) and 9.24 of the textbook.

  • homework set #8; due: November 19
    Problems 10.8, 10.9(a) and 10.13 of the textbook.

  • homework set #9; due: December 3
    Problems 11.3, 11.9 and 11.10 of the textbook. For problem 11.3, start with the observation that for an Ohmic resistor, P=I^2R.