PHYS221-10S1 (C) Semester One 2010

Waves, Optics and Circuits

11 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 22 February 2010
End Date: Sunday, 27 June 2010
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 7 March 2010
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 23 May 2010

Description

A coherent treatment of wave oscillations in physical systems using differential equations and complex numbers; properties of electromagnetic, mechanical and acoustic waves.

In this course we study the physics of wave oscillations and their applications in different physical systems. The course is roughly divided into three sections as follows:

Circuits:
Discharge of a capacitor, RL circuits, complex impedance, two-element equivalent circuits, AC bridges, RCL circuits, series resonance, bandwidth, Q of a circuit.

Waves:
Simple harmonic motion, free vibrations, damped vibrations, Q factor, frequency response to damping, heavy damping, critical damping, forces oscillations, response functions, power absorption, travelling waves.

Optics:
Combining waves, resolution, diffraction, diffraction gratings, Fresnel diffraction.

Prerequisites

1) PHYS113; (2) PHYS114; (3) MATH102 or MATH108. These prerequisites may be replaced by a high level of achievement in Level 3 NCEA Physics and Mathematics with Calculus or other background as approved by the Head of Department. RP: MATH103 or MATH109

Recommended Preparation

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Jon-Paul Wells

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Assignments 20% Assignments x 10 @ 2% each
Final Exam 60% Final Exam 60%
Test 20% Test 20%

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

Pain, H. J; The physics of vibrations and waves ; 6th ed; John Wiley, 2005.

Course links

Library portal

Notes

TUTORIALS AND ASSIGNMENTS:
Tutorials are held every Tuesday at 1:10 pm except for the first week of each term. If some members of the class have a clash at this time, we will try to find an alternative tutorial time for those people. Note that there is a compulsory test worth 20% of the course marks that will be held at the regular lecture time in the first week of Term 2.

In the tutorials you will be given a set of problems to work on. Discussion and joint-work with other students (as well as the lecturer and tutor) is encouraged in tutorials. Although there is no formal assessment from tutorials, it is in your best interest to attend and participate. If you can become confident in solving tutorial and assignment problems then you should have no problem in passing the test and exam.
Assignments will be handed out most weeks at both tutorial sessions and are usually due in by the beginning of the Tuesday tutorial the following week. Late assignments will be accepted up to a final deadline of 2:00pm Thursday of the week they are due, but will incur a 1/3 reduction in grade. No assignments will be accepted after this deadline.

ASSISTANCE:
Outside of lecture and tutorial times Dr Wells is available to help with any queries. Please see him in his office or contact via email.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $477.00

International fee $2,201.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Physics and Astronomy .

All PHYS221 Occurrences

  • PHYS221-10S1 (C) Semester One 2010