UCT Physics PHY2014F
Course Information 2012
The introductory lecture is in RW James C, 11h00 on Friday 10 February 2012.
Course information is posted on the course website
www.phy.uct.ac.za/courses/phy2014f/2011/
which should be consulted regularly.
PHY2014F (Waves and electromagnetism) is the first semester second year course for
students majoring in Physics for the BSc degree.
The course co-ordinator is
Professor David Aschman,
Room 540, RW James bldg, ph +27 (0)21 6503322.
PREREQUISITES AND CO-REQUISITES
Prerequisites: PHY1004W or (PHY2009S and MAM1043H) or equivalent;
and a full first year mathematics coursem AND
Co-requisites: a full second year mathematics course, eg MAM2000W, or (MAM2004H + MAM2046W).
COURSE STRUCTURE
The course consists of 2 modules and the laboratory section.
The lecturers and tutor will be available for walk-in consultation in their offices, at
times which will be posted on office doors and on the course website.
LECTURE TIMETABLE AND VENUES
See the lecture schedule/timetable.
Lectures will be held in Room C, RW James Building, 4th period 11.00 - 11:50.
SYLLABUS AND TEXTBOOKS
Vibrations and waves:
Simple harmonic motion, phase, damping, forced oscillations and resonance,
coupled oscillators, mechanical waves, normal modes of different systems in 1D and 2D,
Fourier analysis, travelling waves, sound, interference and diffraction.
Prescribed text: A.P. French, Vibrations and Waves, (M.I.T Intro Physics Series, Van Nostrand).
Electromagnetism: Vector calculus (div, grad and curl), Dirac delta functions; electrostatics;
Laplace equation; electric fields in matter; magnetostatics, magnetic fields in matter;
Ohm's law, currents, circuits; electromagnetic induction; Maxwell’s equations,
gauge transformations, Poynting’s theorem. Electromagnetic waves.
Prescribed text: D.J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics (3rd ed Pearson/Prentice-Hall).
Students are required to have access to the prescribed text.
PROBLEM SETS, CLASS TUTOR AND WEBSITE
Each week a problem set will be issued.
Answers must be handed in each Friday at 11.00 am.
The class tutor can provide help to students who have
difficulties with this, or aspects of the course.
LABORATORY
A/Professor Roger Fearick (laboratory co-ordinator) runs the PHYLAB2 laboratory course.
Lab classes are held weekly on Mondays (14.00 - 17.30 pm). The PHYLAB2 attendant is
Mr Leslie Oliver.
COMMUNICATION
The PHY2014F notice board is outside Lecture Theatre C, RW James Building. The
course website will feature handouts, notes etc. There are pigeonholes outside PHYLAB2.
You are required to consult the course website regularly. University regulations require you to receive and check your email on your UCT account
(eg abcxyz001@uct.ac.za).
DULY PERFORMED (DP) REQUIREMENT
In order to qualify for writing the final examination,
the DP requirements must be met by circa 11h00 14 May. This requires
- completion of all laboratory reports
- completion of all proficiency tests
- at least 75% of problem sets handed in
- attendance at all tests
- a class record of at least 40%
ASSESSMENT
There is a sub-minimum requirement of 45% in the final examination.
The pass mark is 50% for the course aggregate,
calculated as:
two class tests 180
essay 20
twelve weekly problem sets 100
laboratory reports 200
final examination 500
Total 1000
EMAIL ADDRESSES
Professor David Aschman david.aschman@uctREMOVE.ac.za
A/Professor Mark Blumenthal mark.blumenthal@uctREMOVE.ac.za
A/Professor Roger Fearick roger.fearick@uctREMOVE.ac.za
Yingwen Zhang yingwen.zhang@uctREMOVE.ac.za
120105.2140/dga
RETURN TO: UCT Physics PHY2014F