Syllabus Application
Basic Concepts of Physics for Scientists and Engineers
PHYS 113
Instructor(s) Information
Mehmet Ali Alpar
- Email: alpar@sabanciuniv.edu
Yuki Kaneko Göğüş
- Email: yuki@sabanciuniv.edu
Lecturer:
Mehmet Ali Alpar
alpar@sabanciuniv.edu
http://people.sabanciuniv.edu/~alpar
Office: FENS-2048
Tel: 9510
Lab Coordinator:
Yuki Kaneko
yuki@sabanciuniv.edu
https://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/yuki/
Office: FENS-1003A
Tel: 9709
Office Hour: Make an appointment at calendly.com/yuki-kaneko/office-hour
Course Information
Catalog Course Description
Course Learning Outcomes:
| 1. | Formulate and solve the equations of motion (Newton's 2nd Law) |
|---|---|
| 2. | Explain conservation laws and apply them to evaluate various situations |
| 3. | Relate macroscopic properties (pressure and temperature) of the ideal gas to microscopic motion properties (force and kinetic energy) |
| 4. | Describe the physical meaning of entropy in terms of microstates and the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics |
| 5. | State the meaning of the laws of electromagnetism and apply them in simple situations |
| 6. | Relate oscillating fields to the propagation of electromagnetic waves |
| 7. | Relate the basic properties of matter to quantum mechanics in terms of wave-particle duality |
| 8. | Collect data in the laboratory and analyze them by applying the theories and formulations learned in lectures |
Course Objective
Course Contents
Observing and understanding the workings of nature and expressing this understanding in models and mathematical language is
fundamental to the study of science and technology. This course introduces the basic concepts of physics and the methods of modeling
and solving problems in science. The subjects to be covered are (mathematical content is noted in parentheses):
1. Mechanics: Newton's Laws of Motion. Energy Momentum and Angular Momentum. The Kepler problem. The study of systems
near stable equilibrium: harmonic oscillators. Periodic motion; (the sinusoidal functions). Exponential damping and growth (the
exponential function).
2. Statistical physics: The ideal gas law derived from mechanics. Meaning of temperature and pressure. Boltzmann defnition of
entropy based on the number of possible states (probability), with one simple example, the partitioning of a gas of N molecules
into two half volumes: In a macroscopic system (large N), the most probable situation is much much more probable than anything
else- the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
3. Electromagnetism: Electric and magnetic felds. The concepts of hux and circulation. Maxwell’s Equations and applications in the
simplest geometry of two parallel plates (simple line and surface integrals). Electromagnetic wave propagation (the wave
equation).
4. Quantum Physics: The Bohr model of the atom. Wave-particle duality and the Uncertainty Relation are needed to understand the
properties of matter: What determines the size and structure of an atom? Relation between wavelength and system size. Why is there a Periodic Table ? The Pauli Principle.