PHYS 3540 - Modern Physics (with Lab)

Goals: To understand the developments of the late 19th and early 20th century in the field of physics.

Content: Relativity, the discovery of the electron, the quantum nature of light, the wave nature of particles, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and Schrödinger wave mechanics. The lab will introduce the computer control of instrumentation, computer data acquisition, and computer modeling of data. Students will perform several famous Modern Physics experiments and will do a semester-long project to plan a modernized version of one of the seminal experiments in Modern Physics.

Taught: Spring term

Prerequisites: PHYS 1240 and MATH 3720 or co-registration

NOTE: Students must concurrently register for a lecture and a corresponding 0-credit lab section of this course.

Credits: 4