Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10.10am-11.00am,
Rockefeller Hall 110.
Section: Thursday, 3.35pm-4.25pm, Rockefeller Hall 112.
Professor: Itai Cohen,
508
ic64@cornell.edu.
Office hours: Monday 11.00am-noon, Tuesday 3:30pm-4:30pm,
and by appointment.
Teaching Assistant: Philip
Kidd
office, tel. 4-4521
pbk3@cornell.edu.
Office hours: Thursday 2:35-3:35pm and Friday 1:25-2:25pm
Course webpage: http://cohengroup.ccmr.cornell.edu/courses/phys341/phys341.htm
Literature:
Statistical and Thermal Physics, F. Reif,
McGraw Hill, 1965.
Why Things Break, Mark E. Eberhardt, Three Rivers Press, 2003.
Additional or alternative literature:
Introductory Statistical Mechanics,
R. Bowley and M. Sanchez Second Ed.
Reasoning about Luck: Probability and its uses in Physics, V. Ambegaokar, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity: A Broad View of Statistical Physics,
J. P. Sethna,
Elementary Principles of Statistical Mechanics, J. W. Gibbs,
Statistical Mechanics: A concise introduction for Chemists, B. Widom, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
These books are held on reserve in the Physical Sciences Library (Clark Hall).
Course syllabus and reading assignments
Homework: Approximately 11 weekly homework
assignments.
Homework is due on Mondays and will be handed back on the following Thursday.
Quizes: Bi-weekly quizes will be held in section.
Prelims: In class, October 20th and
November 24th.
Final exam: Monday, December 15, 9:00-11:00am.
Makeup exams will be oral unless the original exam date conflicts with a religious holiday or students have made alternative arrangement with the instructor.
Final grade: based on homework (15%), bi-weekly quizzes and participation (10%), one class project (20%), two prelims (40%) and a final examination (15%).
Academic Integrity: Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity. You are allowed to discuss the subject and the homework problems with others. However, you should write up the homework by yourself and acknowledge all sources including a list of people you worked with. Moreover, only you will be held responsible for all the content you submit.
http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html
Socratic Teaching Method: Class participation is mandatory. Everyone is expected to participate in discussions relating to reading materials, homework, exams and lectures.
Guaranteed Recipe for Success:
1) Take notes during lecture and sections.
2) After each lecture but before the next lecture review your notes. Identify
the parts you do not understand.
3) Come to each lecture and discussion section with specific questions.
4) Keep up with the reading so that you have some familiarity with each topic
prior to hearing about it in the lecture
5) Find at least one "partner" in the class with whom you can meet at
least once or twice a week to discuss materials from the lectures, the reading
assignments and the homework.
6) Take the homework assignment seriously. Do not try to do the whole
assignment the night before it is due. Some version of the homework questions
will appear on the exams.