Curriculum -- Physics 3600 (Summer 1999)
 
Teacher:       Robert Kern Curtis
 
Text:          PHYSICS (5th Ed.) by Douglas C. Giancoli ISBN 0-13-611971-9
 
Supplementary:
               Brief article about physics and Thales of Miletus.
               Explanation of vacuum tubes and how they work.
 
 
The nature of physics; theory; scientific method; hypotheses; laws, etc.
 
Mathematical tools; scientific notation; SI prefixes; Greek alphabet;
approximations in measurements; rounding and rules of significant figures;
manipulating algebraic equations; collecting and displaying data.
 
Describing motion; velocity; acceleration; kinematics for constant
acceleration.
 
Dynamics; Newton's Laws of Motion; Newton's Law of Gravity; Kepler's Laws.
 
Vectors and their addition by graphing and by x and y components.
 
Projectile motion; periodic motion; simple harmonic motion.
 
Impulse; momentum; change in momentum; conservation of momentum; energy
and work; conservation of energy; machines.
 
Temperature; thermal energy; four laws of thermodynamics; entropy; changes
of state; states of matter; gas laws.
 
Sound and waves; wave properties; light; light and matter; reflection,
refraction, diffraction and interference of light; mirrors and lenses.
 
Electrical charges; electrical forces; Coulomb's Law; Current and circuits;
Ohm's Law; Kirchhoff's Laws; electrical energy; magnets; magnetic forces;
Lenz's Law; magnetic fields and electric currents and emf; electric and
magnetic fields.
 
Quantum theory; matter waves; Bohr model of the atom; current model of
the atom.
 
Conduction of electricity in solids; electronic devices: vacuum tubes;
semiconductors; diodes; transistors.
 
Radioactivity; sub-atomic particles; fundamental forces; the nucleus,
quarks, gluons and all that; nuclear reactions; nuclear energy; astrophysics
and cosmology.