Tulane Quantum Materials Lab

Welcome to General Physics I at Tulane University. This course is intended to apply knowledge of science, engineering, and mathematics to design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret data; to design a process to meet a desired need; to function on multi-disciplinary teams; to identify, formulate, and solve science and engineering problems. In this course we shall cover fewer topics, but in greater depth. The emphasis will be to study what is important today and in the future rather than to cover all topics in the traditional syllabus. The laboratory is an important part of this course.

Text: Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker, 7th Edition

Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday, 3:30-4:45pm; Wednesday, 12-12:50pm; Mech. Eng. 206

Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, 4-5pm in Percival Stern 5024 (or by appointment). You are encouraged to visit with me about the course, your problems, and my research in superconductivity or just to talk.

E-mail: zmao@tulane.edu

We shall begin with Chapter 1 of Fundamentals of Physics and cover much of the material through Chapter 21.

Other Useful Information

1. Lectures and Examinations: The examinations will emphasize the material in lectures and assigned homework, but may cover any topic. Some material covered in class may be omitted. All examinations are required. Unless other arrangements are made with Professor Mao before the exam, zero points are normally given if the exam is not taken. A typical exam may include multiple choice questions and problems. Some questions will be simple, some difficult. For each problem there may be separate spaces provided for “Theory” and “Computation”. All exams are handgraded. Most credit is given for the correct method or “Theory”. The correct answer is worth only a few points. It is the responsibility of the student to communicate answers clearly. Please try to present work so clearly that mistakes become obvious. Make up exams are only given for officially excused absences (see below).
2. Final Examination: The final examination is comprehensive. It is mandatory and will be given only at the scheduled time.
3. Laboratory: The departmental policy is a student must pass the lab to pass the course. A passing lab average is 59%. The lab manual can be purchased in the Copy Center in Bruff Commons. The labs are self-contained. Students must come prepared for each lab. Some labs may not be ‘in sequence’ with the lecture. The web site:http://lab.phy.tulane.edu/ contains general information about the introductory physics labs. The first lab (‘Vector Forces’) will be the week of January 24-28. There will be no labs the first week of class (January 10-14) or the week of January 18-21 because of the Martin Luther King holiday. Every student must attend the correct section (Tuesday or Wednesday in Stern 2020). Each student should bring a scientific calculator, ruler with centimeter scale, protractor, textbook and a floppy disk. Each student is required to write a short (150-200 word) pre-lab before coming to class as an introduction to their lab report. There will also be a short quiz before each lab to insure the student is properly prepared for the lab. There will be a quiz and a pre-lab is required at the first lab. More detail is given in the lab manual about lab grading. Make up labs are only given for officially excused absences. An official excuse is defined as: (a) illness with a doctor’s note or a dated medical excuses policy form from the student health center, (b) a family emergency such as a serious illness or death in the immediate family or (c) official Tulane business. Make up labs will be the week of April 18-22. Documentation will be required to do a make-up lab. Only two make-up labs will be allowed. Lab supervisor: Dr. A. Dayle Hancock, Physics Department, contact information: Office: 4059 Stern, Phone:(504)865-5086, e-mail: hancock@lab.phy.tulane.edu
4. Homework and In-Class Problems: Two types of homework will be assigned weekly: (a) End-of-chapter problems (listed below, 5%); (b) problems assigned through the Web-based Mastering Physics (5%). The homework is intended to give understanding and experience in solving problems in physics. This experience and effort will help assure success in the exams, whereas simply obtaining the answers to the problems is not likely to be of help at exam time. Credit for homework is given to encourage practicing and thinking about physics on a regular basis. Credit for homework problems is usually worth one full letter grade. End-of-chapter homework problems are due at the beginning of class on Thursday; problems assigned through the Mastering Physics are also due on Thursday. Problems may be passed in before then, but will not be accepted later. In-class problems will also be done with your participation in class.
5. Professional Integrity: In General Physics high professional standards, including ethical standards, are promoted. Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on the exam, paper, or project; failure in the course; and/or expulsion from the university. For more information refer to the “Honor Code” in the Tulane catalogue.

How to Study

1. Read the text or other material before class. Then you will know where the difficult points are and can ask better questions.
2. Take clear notes and soon after class make sure that you will be able to understand them at the end of the course.
3. Plan to spend several days doing the homework. Some of these problems are hard. A few of the problems assigned are used on Ph.D. exams.
4. After the homework has been discussed, check to see if you can do related problems on your own. The exam problems will often not be the same as the homework. It is harder to do problems on your own than to understand the instructor.
5. If well prepared, you will not have to study for the exams, but simply review the relevant material. It is very rare that anyone who keeps working in this course receives a final grade below C-.
6. Come rested to the exams. Professional athletes do not spend the night before preparing for a game. Why should your professional standards be below athletes or rock stars?
7. Go over the exam key to see what you missed, so you do not make the same mistake again (e.g., on the next test).
8. Look for what you don’t know, rather than what you do know.
9. Hopefully you are preparing to do something you like to do and to do it well. Replace the attitude, I should be trying harder, with I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing right now.

End-of-Chapter Homework Problems

• Chapter 1 (Measurement): P: 8,9,10,47.
• Chapter 2 (1D Motion): P: 3,7,12,28,52,64.
• Chapter 3 (Vectors): P: 1,14,18,20,31,74.
• Chapter 4 (Motion in 2 & 3 D): P: 1,5,15,23,56,87,115.
• Chapter 5 (Force I): P: 1,20,31,40,51,63,67.
• Chapter 6 (Force II): P: 7,8,26,37,45,49,51,104.
• Chapter 7 (KE, Work): P: 13,22,32,43,45,50.
• Chapter 8 (PE, E Conservation): P: 2,7,17,22,26,40,52,106.
• Chapter 9 (Center of mass, Linear momentum): P: 16,20,32,39,43,49,57.
• Chapter 10(Rotation): P: 6,18,29,41,46,55,107.
• Chapter 11 (Rolling, Torque, Angular Momentum): P: 18,25,40.
• Chapter 13 (Gravity): P: 1, 4,7,16,31
• Chapter 15 (Oscillations): P: 5,9,17,25, 37,51
• Chapter 16 (Waves I): P: 3,4,7,11
• Chapter 18 (Temperature and Heat): — to be assigned if we cover this.
• Chapter 19 (Gas Kinetics): — to be assigned if we cover this.

Welcome to General Physics II at Tulane University. This course is intended to develop problem solving skills and to prepare university students for professional careers in science and engineering, as well as to provide an understanding of the basic principles of physics. This section may differ slightly from other sections of General Physics II at Tulane University. We shall include some topics in modern physics. There will be somewhat less emphasis on classical optics, mechanics and thermodynamics. In this course we shall cover fewer topics, but in greater depth. The emphasis will be to study what is important today and in the future rather than to cover all topics in the traditional syllabus. The laboratory will be an integral part of this course.

Text: Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker, 7th Edition

Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday, 9:30-10:45am; Wednesday, 3:00-3:50pm; Mech. Eng. 206

Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, 4:00–6:00pm in  (or by appointment).

E-mail: zmao@tulane.edu

Other Useful Information

1. Lectures and examinations: The examinations will emphasize the material in lectures and assigned homework, but may cover any topic. Some material covered in class may be omitted. All examinations are required. Unless other arrangements are made with Professor Mao before the exam, zero points are normally given if the exam is not taken. A typical exam may include multiple choice questions and problems. Some questions will be simple, some difficult. For each problem there may be separate spaces provided for “Theory” and “Computation”. All exams are handgraded. Most credit is given for the correct method or “Theory”. The correct answer is worth only a few points. It is the responsibility of the student to communicate answers clearly. Please try to present work so clearly that mistakes become obvious.
2. Final Examination: The final examination is comprehensive. It is mandatory and will be given only at the scheduled time.
3. Laboratory: The departmental policy is a student must pass the lab to pass the course. A passing lab average is 59%. The lab manual can be purchased in the Copy Center in Bruff Commons. The labs are self-contained. Students must come prepared for each lab. Some labs may not be ‘in sequence’ with the lecture. The web site: http://lab.phy.tulane.edu/ contains general information about the introductory physics labs. The first lab (‘Electric Fields’) will be the week of January 24-28. There will be no labs the first week of class (January 10-14) or the week of January 18-21 because of the Martin Luther King holiday. Every student must attend the correct section (day, time and room number). Each student should bring a scientific calculator, ruler with centimeter scale, protractor, textbook and a floppy disk. Each student is required to write a short (150-200 word) pre-lab before coming to class as an introduction to their lab report. There will also be a short quiz before each lab to insure the student is properly prepared for the lab. There will be a quiz and a pre-lab is required at the first lab. More detail is given in the lab manual and web site about lab grading. Make up labs are only given for officially excused absences. An official excuse is defined as: (a) illness with a doctor’s note or a dated medical excuses policy form from the student health center, (b) a family emergency such as a serious illness or death in the immediate family or (c) official Tulane business. Make up labs will be the week of April 18-22. Documentation will be required to do a make-up lab. Only two make-up labs will be allowed. Lab supervisor: Dr. A. Dayle Hancock, Physics Department, Tel: (504) 865-5086 email:hancock@lab.phy.tulane.edu

How to Study

1. Read the text or other material before class. Then you will know where the difficult points are and can ask better questions.
2. Take clear notes and soon after class make sure that you will be able to understand them at the end of the course.
3. Plan to spend several days doing the homework. Some of these problems are hard. A few of the problems assigned are used on Ph.D. exams.
4. After the homework has been discussed, check to see if you can do related problems on your own. The exam problems will often not be the same as the homework. It is harder to do problems on your own than to understand the instructor.
5. If well prepared, you will not have to study for the exams, but simply review the relevant material. It is very rare that anyone who keeps working in this course receives a final grade below C-.
6. Come rested to the exams. Professional athletes do not spend the night before preparing for a game. Why should your professional standards be below athletes or rock stars?
7. Go over the exam key to see what you missed, so you do not make the same mistake again (e.g., on the next test).
8. Look for what you don’t know, rather than what you do know.
9. Hopefully you are preparing to do something you like to do and to do it well. Replace the attitude, I should be trying harder, with I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing right now.

Homework

• Chapter 21 (Electric Charge) :P: 1,8,13, 24,29,66
• Chapter 21 (Electric Charge) :P: 1,8,13, 24,29,66
• Chapter 22 (Electric Fields): P: 1, 8,19,22,24,30,44
• Chapter 24 (Electric Potential): P: 5,9,13,22,31,41,57
• Chapter 25 (Capacitance): P: 2,8,17,26,34,43
• Chapter 26 (current and resistance): P: 7,16,31,37,41,43
• Chapter 27 (Circuits): P: 5, 6,19,27,31,52
• Chapter 28 (Magnetic fields): P: 3,8,11,17,35,71,82
• Chapter 29 (Magnetic fields due to current): P: 4,8,15,17,31,38,81
• Chapter 30 (Induction and Inductance): P: 2,7,15,31,42,72
• Chapter 32 (Maxwell’s equation) : P: 29,39,45,71
• Chapter 33 (Electromagnetic wave): P:8,11,13,23
• Chapter 35 (Interference): P:,13,20,25, 26, 55,72, 85
• Chapter 38 (Photons and matter waves): P: 4,11,18, 47, 62, 75

Zhiqiang Mao. Materials science plays a critical role in modern society; many of the new products critical to the nation’s economy will come only through the development and commercialization of new materials. This course will give a brief overview of exciting areas in contemporary material science, i.e., superconducting materials, magnetic materials, and nanomaterials. Superconducting materials are those materials which have zero resistance below certain temperatures; it had been predicted that extensive applications of superconductors in technology would result in a new revolution in industry. Magnetic materials have been extensively used in industry, especially in generation and distribution of electrical power, information processing, and magnetic storage; they have had huge impact on the nation’s economy. Nanomaterials are those materials at a very small scale, roughly 1-100 nanometers. Materials at such a small scale have many fascinating properties and great potential for application; study of these materials has become one of core areas of materials science. The topics covered in this course will mainly focus on the basic properties of these materials, their application in industry, as well as perspectives on their development. This course will include seven lectures and three labs. In the labs, students will have opportunities to gain hands-on experience in preparation and characterization of superconducting, agnetic and nanomaterials.