Courses

Physics

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  • PHYS 121 Astronomy with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    Celestial motions, stellar structure, cosmology, and related problems including appropriate concepts of elementary physics. Not among the recommended options for science or math majors. Includes laboratory.
  • PHYS 123 Renewable Energy with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    Principles of physics applied to renewable energy technologies. Topics selected from climate, geothermal energy, solar thermal energy, solar photovoltaics, hydroelectricity, wind energy, tidal power and wave energy, and bioenergy. Includes laboratory.
  • PHYS 125 Elements of Physics with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    Principles and applications of physics. Topics selected from mechanics, sound, light, electricity, magnetism, heat, and modern physics. Not among the recommended options for science or math majors. Includes laboratory.
  • PHYS 127 Algebra-Based General Physics 1 with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    First of a two semester sequence in general physics. Topics for Physics 127 include kinematics, forces, conservation of momentum, work and energy, rotational motion, and oscillations. Includes laboratory. NOTE: Physics 127 is not a prerequisite to 128. A student may not receive credit for both Physics 131 and 127. Physics 127 and 128 are offered very rarely; students should generally plan to take 131 and 132 instead.
  • PHYS 128 Algebra-Based General Physics 2 with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    Second semester of a two semester sequence in general physics. Topics for Physics 128 include electricity and magnetism, heat and thermodynamics, and wave optics. Includes laboratory. NOTE: A student may not receive credit for both Physics 132 and 128. Physics 127 and 128 are offered very rarely; students should generally plan to take 131 and 132 instead.
  • PHYS 131 Calculus-Based General Physics 1 with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    First semester of a calculus-based introductory sequence. Topics for Physics 131 include kinematics, forces, conservation of momentum, work and energy, rotational motion, and oscillations. Includes laboratory. NOTE: A student may not receive credit for both Physics 127 and 131.
  • PHYS 132 Calculus-Based General Physics 2 with Lab

    Units: 1

    Fulfills General Education Requirement (Natural Science, Physics (FSNP))

    Description
    Second semester of a calculus-based introductory sequence. Topics for Physics 132 include electricity and magnetism, heat and thermodynamics, and wave optics. Includes laboratory. NOTE: A student may not receive credit for both Physics 132 and 128. Although Physics 127 is an acceptable prerequisite for Physics 132, a calculus-based course such as Physics 131 is recommended.
  • PHYS 201 Einstein's Relativity

    Units: 0.5

    Description
    Focuses primarily on special relativity as it relates to time, space, velocity, momentum, and energy. This course is identical to the first half of PHYS 205, and meets concurrently with it for the first 7 weeks of the semester. Students may not earn credit for both 201 and 205.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 132

  • PHYS 202 Particle/Wave Duality and the Quantum Revolution

    Units: 0.5

    Description
    Introduces ideas of particle/wave duality that are central to understanding quantum mechanics, a major revolution in early 20th century physics. This course is identical to the second half of PHYS 205, and meets concurrently with it for the second 7 weeks of the semester. Students may not earn credit for both 202 and 205. Students are strongly encouraged to take either PHYS 202 or PHYS 205 before taking PHYS 309.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 132

  • PHYS 204 Biophysics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Application of physical law to the biological sciences. Introduces selected concepts and experiments in the field of biophysics. Topics may include but are not limited to diffusion, cell signaling, molecular binding, and computational biophysics.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS131

  • PHYS 205 Introduction to Modern Physics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Introduction to topics in 20th-century physics including special relativity, quantum mechanics, and statistical physics. The first half of this course is identical to, and meets concurrently with, PHYS 201. The second half of this course is exactly identical to, and meets concurrently with, PHYS 202. Students may not earn credit for both 205 and either 201 or 202. Students are strongly encouraged to take either PHYS 202 or PHYS 205 before taking PHYS 309.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS132

  • PHYS 215 Computational Methods in Physics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Uses Mathematica software to introduce students to computational techniques used to solve physics problems, basic programming skills, and analysis of computational data. The course consists of a combination of lectures and computational labs. Computational techniques may include numerical solutions to ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations, Monte Carlo techniques, and high-performance computing. Physical systems may include chaotic systems, air resistance, diffusion, and three-body systems. The course ends with student-led computational projects.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS132

  • PHYS 216 Electronics Laboratory

    Units: 1

    Description
    Laboratory course in basic electronics and instrumentation for the sciences and engineering. Study of DC and AC circuits, resistors, capacitors, inductors, filters, diodes, rectifiers, transistors, operational amplifiers, Boolean algebra and logic, digital circuits, analog-digital conversion, and sensors. This is a very hands-on course with an emphasis on practical applications and troubleshooting, using breadboarding and test equipment as well as circuit simulation software.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 128 or PHYS 132 or permission of instructor

  • PHYS 221 Intermediate Laboratory

    Units: 1

    Description
    Experiments in classical and modern physics emphasizing independent work. Six laboratory hours per week.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 132

  • PHYS 231 Optics Laboratory

    Units: 1

    Description
    Focuses on optics. Includes the study of (1) ray optics: lenses, system of lenses, lens aberrations (2) scalar wave optics: diffraction, interference (3) polarization of light: states of polarization, polarizers, wave retarders. Emphasizes the relation between experiment and theory through hands-on experience. Data analysis and its theoretical interpretation is a central part of the course. Upper level laboratory course for science majors, emphasizing independent work. Consists of six laboratory hours per week. Students, working in pairs, will spend approximately 2 weeks on each of 6-7 experimental projects.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 132

  • PHYS 250 Cosmology

    Units: 1

    Description
    Application of physics to contemporary understanding of the structure, evolution, and origin of the Universe as a whole. Topics include observational evidence for the Hot Big Bang cosmological model, dark matter, dark energy, and the physics of the early Universe, including cosmological inflation. Introduces the fundamentals of general relativity to develop models of the Universe with spacetime curvature.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 201 or PHYS 205

  • PHYS 260 Mathematical Methods in Physics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Selected mathematical topics needed for upper-level work in physics. Topics taken from vector calculus, matrices, calculus of variations, orthogonal functions, and complex analysis.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 132 and MATH 212

  • PHYS 303 Classical Mechanics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Mathematical analysis of physical laws pertaining to dynamics of particles and rigid bodies. Introduction to moving coordinate systems and Lagrange's and Hamilton's methods.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS260

  • PHYS 305 Electricity and Magnetism I

    Units: 1

    Description
    A full treatment of electrostatics (electric field and potential, and Gauss' law), magnetism, electric and magnetic fields in matter, and induced fields, as well as a brief introduction to electromagnetic waves. A particular focus will be on solving boundary value problems in both Cartesian and spherical coordinates. The course will develop and use Maxwell's equations in their differential forms, and will make extensive use of concepts in multivariate calculus.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS260

  • PHYS 306 Electricity and Magnetism 2

    Units: 1

    Description
    Selected advanced topics in electromagnetism, including electromagnetic waves in materials, guided waves, radiation, and relativistic electrodynamics.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS260

  • PHYS 308 Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Statistical methods applied to description of physical systems. Statistical calculation of thermodynamic quantities, laws of thermodynamics, statistical distributions, and classical and quantum statistics of ideal gases. (Same as Chemistry 308.)

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS260

  • PHYS 309 Quantum Mechanics

    Units: 1

    Description
    Wave mechanics and quantization; Schroedinger equation for variety of potentials; hydrogen atom in detail; perturbation methods. (Same as Chemistry 401.)

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS 260 or CHEM 310

  • PHYS 310 Quantum Mechanics 2

    Units: 1

    Description
    Wave mechanics and quantization; Schroedinger equation for variety of potentials; hydrogen atom in detail; perturbation methods. (Same as Chemistry 401)

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS309

  • PHYS 381 Research

    Units: 0.5

    Description
    Laboratory or independent study. 0.5 units requires six hours per week. Available for 0, .25, or .5 units. May be taken multiple times, up to a maximum of 2.0 units.
  • PHYS 397 Junior Seminar 1

    Units: 0.25

    Description
    Required of all third-year physics majors. Does not count in units required for minor.
  • PHYS 398 Junior Seminar 2

    Units: 0.25

    Description
    Required of all third-year physics majors. Does not count in units required for minor.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS397

  • PHYS 406 Summer Undergraduate Research

    Units: 0

    Description
    Documentation of the work of students who receive summer fellowships to conduct research [or produce a creative arts project] in the summer. The work must take place over a minimum of 6 weeks, the student must engage in the project full-time (at least 40 hours per week) during this period, and the student must be the recipient of a fellowship through the university. Graded S/U.

     

    Prerequisites

    Approval by a faculty mentor.

  • PHYS 479 Special Topics

    Units: 0.25-1

    Description
    Topics include particle and nuclear physics, solid state, modern optics, relativity, field theory.
  • PHYS 497 Senior Seminar 1

    Units: 0

    Description
    Required of all senior physics majors. Does not count in units required for minor.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS398

  • PHYS 498 Senior Seminar 2

    Units: 0.5

    Description
    Required of all senior physics majors. Does not count in units required for minor.

     

    Prerequisites

    PHYS497