PHYSICS 360 COURSE SYLLABUS: WINTER 2013
Instructor: Branton J. Campbell (branton_campbell@byu.edu)
Office: N261 ESC, Phone: 801-422-5758
Website: http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/campbell/physics360
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES
Physics 360 is designed to introduce you to the core concepts of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics and to
help you develop sufficient physical intuition and quantitative experience to apply these concepts to problems
relevant to modern science and technology. Specific learning outcomes include:
1. Use statistical arguments to explain thermodynamics from first principles, including heat flow and the
increase of entropy. Apply these to solve quantitative problems in thermodynamics.
2. Use thermodynamic potentials, e.g. the Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies, to predict equilibrium states in
physical systems and predict phase transformations.
3. Use simple models to explain physical phenomena in a variety of systems, including: classical and quantum
ideal gases, magnetic systems, solids
RESOURCES
1. Required Textbooks: Thermodynamics (World Scientific, Aug 2010, hardcover) by H. J. Kruezer and I.
Tamblyn, and Statistical Mechanics: A Survival Guide (Oxford University Press, Sep 2001, paperback), by
A. M. Glazer and J. S. Wark.
2. Course website: This site contains links to course and grade administration features, updated class
schedules, and announcements. Please check it often.
3. CIDs: All quiz, homework, lab, and exam grades are recorded according to a class identification (CID)
number. Your number has been chosen for you and mailed to your Route Y address. Memorize your CID
and record it on all submitted work where you would normally put your name. Work submitted without CID
numbers will not be graded.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Reading assignments for each class period are included on the course schedule. Please read these assignments
before class and come prepared to discuss your questions. We will not have time in class to present all of the
material from the text book, but will instead concentrate on the more difficult concepts and examples of their
application. This allows us to use class time more effectively, but it also requires that you come prepared with the
necessary background.
HOMEWORK
Homework is always due in the boxes before the beginning of class on the day that it appears in the course
schedule. Homework must be completed on the forms provided. Draft a solution on scratch paper, and then
copy the final product onto the homework form. Always show as much of our work as you can easily fit into the
space provided. Your homework solutions are the primary product of your work as a student and are indicative
of your abilities. Please be neat and well organized. Messy HW won’t receive full credit, even if everything else
is correct.
Homework should be turned in to the "Physics 360" slot in the homework-submission case on the third floor of
the ESC (near the 105/106 tutorial lab). Homework will be returned in the adjacent homework-return bins. Do
not write your name on your homework assignments, but instead write your CID number. Homework without a
CID will be graded and returned to the “Unknown CID” bin, but not recorded.
Official solutions to a homework problem set will available for review during Office/TA hours soon after its
submission deadline. You are welcome to make hand-written copies of official solutions for your own personal
use. But you are not permitted to distribute official homework solutions to anyone else in any form, or to obtain
copies of them from anyone else in any form. It is difficult to prevent the circulation of solution sets. But I want
to be clear that I treat their unapproved distribution and use as a form of academic dishonesty.
LATE WORK
Homework and quizzes will not be accepted late and cannot be made up. No exceptions – please don’t ask for
one. Your lowest 3 homework scores will be dropped and your lowest 4 quiz scores will be dropped. This
accommodation is intended to provide a convenient solution for unexpected travel, emergencies, illnesses, alarmclock failures, university-sanctioned absences, flat tires, weather-related delays, lack of parking spaces, tardiness,
forgetfulness, etc. It would be best not to waste dropped scores on easily preventable circumstances.
COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS
Some of the homework problems will likely require numerical calculations and plots. I recommend the
Mathematica software package for computational problem solving, though Maple and Matlab are also popular
among our students and available in our computer labs. Our computer lab access policies are explained at
http://www.physics.byu.edu/ComputerSupport/ComputerAccounts.aspx.
EXAMS
There will be four untimed midterm exams administered in BYU Testing Center. Midterm exams will become
available on the dates associated with the exam reviews conducted in class (see the class schedule), and will
remain available until closing time on the following class day (exact Testing Center opening and closing times
are available via RouteY/MyBYU). Graded midterm exams will be redistributed in class. Do not accidentally
miss an exam -- there will be no late exams given except in verifiable emergencies. The final examination will
be available in the testing center throughout the final exam period, and will be administered and weighted like a
midterm exam; but it will be comprehensive in scope and will not be returned to you.
COLLABORATIVE WORK
Studying and doing homework in groups is encouraged. Helping others to learn material that you have already
mastered is encouraged. Simply giving out or accepting solution sets, on the other hand, is not acceptable. Do
not share homework solutions with other students with whom you did not collaborate in producing them.
READING JOURNAL
As you read and study for this class, you should keep a reading journal, thought it will not be graded. While
reading, outline the important concepts, work through example problems, find the missing steps in the
derivations in the book, etc. The act of writing helps you process and retain the material that you are learning.
To encourage you to keep a good reading journal, you will be permitted to refer to it during midterm and final
exams, provided that it is entirely handwritten (with your own hand) in a new (never-been-used) composition
book -- absolutely no photocopied or printed materials.
GRADES
Many students want to see how they are doing and more importantly to know that we have recorded their scores
properly. Scores can be accessed confidentially on the course website using your CID and the last four digits of
your BYUID. They will be updated every evening after the first two weeks of school.
If you feel that your work was unfairly or incorrectly graded, or if you notice other problems with your grades,
you should either submit a written appeal to the homework submission box or visit your instructor during their
office hours. Any appeal should be started within one week after you receive the graded work or after a prior
appeal is returned.
Final grades are determined according to the following breakdown:
Homework
Exams
TOTAL POSSIBLE:
Score 93%
89% 85%
Grade A
AB+
81%
B
77%
B-
73%
C+
69%
C
50%
50%
100%
65%
61%
CD+
57%
D
50%
D-
University Policies
Academic Honesty Policy
The first injunction of the BYU Honor Code is the call to be honest. Students come to the university not only to
improve their minds, gain knowledge, and develop skills that will assist them in their life's work, but also to build
character. President David O. McKay taught that "character is the highest aim of education" (The Aims of a BYU
Education, p. 6). It is the purpose of the BYU Academic Honesty Policy to assist in fulfilling that aim. BYU
students should seek to be totally honest in their dealings with others. They should complete their own work and
be evaluated based upon that work. They should avoid academic dishonesty and misconduct in all its forms,
including but not limited to plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, cheating, and other academic misconduct.
BYU Honor Code
In keeping with the principles of the BYU Honor Code, students are expected to be honest in all of their
academic work. Academic honesty means, most fundamentally, that any work you present as your own must in
fact be your own work and not that of another. Violations of this principle may result in a failing grade in the
course and additional disciplinary action by the university. Students are also expected to adhere to the Dress and
Grooming Standards. Adherence demonstrates respect for yourself and others and ensures an effective learning
and working environment. It is the university's expectation, and my own expectation in class, that each student
will abide by all Honor Code standards. Please call the Honor Code Office at 422-2847 if you have questions
about those standards.
Preventing Sexual Discrimination and Harassment
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an
educational program or activity that receives federal funds. The act is intended to eliminate sex discrimination in
education and pertains to admissions, academic and athletic programs, and university-sponsored activities. Title
IX also prohibits sexual harassment of students by university employees, other students, and visitors to campus.
If you encounter sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, please talk to your professor; contact the
Equal Employment Office at 801-422-5895 or 1-888-238-1062 (24-hours), or http://www.ethicspoint.com; or
contact the Honor Code Office at 801-422-2847.
Students with Disabilities
Brigham Young University is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that reasonably
accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability which may impair your ability to
complete this course successfully, please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities Office (422-2767).
Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified, documented disabilities.
Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the SSD Office. If you need assistance or if you feel
you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through
established grievance policy and procedures by contacting the Equal Employment Office at 422-5895, D-285
ASB.