PHYS 234 Physics for Life Sciences II

Notes: All of the reading assignments also appear as WebAssign assignments. You can either follow these links, or go to WebAssign and do the corresponding assignment. Some WebAssign problems simply take you to the page you need to read and involve no credit; others have follow-up questions you must answer to get the points. Reading assignments are due at 11:59 pm the night before each lecture.

 

Class	Reading
Week 1
Lect 1	--
Lect 2	6.4.1 Energy at the sub-molecular level 6.4.2 Atomic and Molecular forces
Week 2
Lect 3	Interlude 2: The Micro to Macro Connection 7. Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics 7.1 Kinetic theory: the ideal gas law 7.2 The 1st law of thermodynamics 7.2.1Organizing the idea of energy
Lect 4	7.2.2Enthalpy 7.2.3Thermodynamic equilibrium and equipartition 7.3.1The 2nd law of thermodynamics: a probabilistic law
Week 3
Lect 5	7.3The 2nd law of thermodynamics 7.3.2Implications of the second law of thermodynamics: entropy 7.3.2.1Why entropy is logarithmic 7.3.2.2Consequences of the second law of thermodynamics 7.3.2.3A way to think about entropy -- sharing
Lect 6	7.3.2.4Entropy and heat flow 7.3.3.1Motivating the Gibbs free energy 7.3.3.2Gibbs free energy
Week 4
Lect 7	7.3.4.1Boltzmann distribution 7.3.4.2Boltzmann distribution and Gibbs free energy 4.2.4Electric forces 4.2.4.1Charge and the structure of matter
Lect 8	4.2.4.2Polarization 4.2.4.3Coulomb's law 4.2.4.3.1Coulomb's law -- vector character 4.2.4.3.2Reading the content in Coulomb's law 4.2.4.4The electric field
Week 5
Lect 9	8.1The electric field 8.1.1The concept of field (technical) 8.1.2Making sense of the idea of field Energy sharing model
Lect 10	MIDTERM 1
Week 6
Lect 11	8.2The electric potential 8.2.1.1A simple electric model: a line of charge 8.2.1.1.1Line charge integral (technical) 8.2.1.2A simple electric model: a sheet of charge
Lect 12	8.4.2The capacitor
Week 7
Lect 13	8.5Electric current 8.5.1Quantifying electric current 8.5.2Resistive electric flow: Ohm's law 8.5.3Ways to think about current: A toolbox of models
Lect 14	8.5.4Kirchoff's principles 8.5.5Electrical energy and power
Week 8
	OCTOBER BREAK
Lect 15	8.3.1Screening of electrical interactions in salt solution 8.3.1.1Debye length 8.3.2Nernst potential
Week 9
Lect 16	9.Oscillations and Waves 9.1Harmonic Oscillation 9.1.1Mass on a spring 9.1.1.1Hanging mass on a spring 9.1.1.2The pendulum
Lect 17	9.1.2Damped Oscillators 9.1.2.1Damped oscillators - the math (technical) 9.1.3Driven harmonic oscillators: resonance 9.1.5Quantum Oscillators -- discrete states
Week 10
Lect 18	9.2Waves in 1D 9.2.1Waves on an elastic string 9.2.2Wave pulses 9.2.2.1Propagating a wave pulse - the math
Lect 19	9.2.3Wave speed 9.2.4Superposition of waves in 1D
Week 11
Lect 20	MIDTERM 2
Lect 21	9.2.5Sinusoidal waves 9.3.1The nature of sound 9.3.2Analyzing sounds
Week 12
Lect 22	10Three models of light
Lect 23	10.1The ray model of light 10.1.1Basic principles of the ray model
Week 13
Lect 24	10.1.2Flat mirrors 10.1.3Curved mirrors 10.1.3.1Curved mirror equations 10.1.4Lenses
Lect 25	10.1.4.1Lens equations
Week 14
Lect 26	10.2The wave model of light 10.2.1Electromagnetic radiation and Maxwell's rainbow 10.2.3Two-slit interference
	Thanksgiving
Week 15
Lect 27	10.2.4Diffraction 10.2.4.1Interference from two wide slits
Lect 28	10.3The photon model of light 10.3.1Basic principles of the photon model 10.3.1.1Reconciling the wave and photon model - sort of
Week 16
Lect 29	10.4Color and light 10.5.1Visual implications
Lect 30	---

Edited by K. P. Ritchie June 2016