Undergraduate - UnitPHS1022 - Physics

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Organisational Unit	School of Physics and Astronomy
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Eric Thrane

Synopsis

This unit forms part of main-stream physics and provides foundations in rotational dynamics, the gravitational field, electrostatics, magnetism and quantum physics. Together these topics underpin interactions in our universe at sub-atomic to cosmic scales. Electrostatics explores the electric field, potential and energy for various situations, and the behaviour of capacitors and dielectrics. Magnetism covers the relation between currents, magnetic fields and induced emfs, inductance, LCR resonance, and introduces Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic waves. Quantum physics includes wave particle duality for matter and light, quantisation, wave-functions and probabilities, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, hydrogen atom, and the particle-in-a-box model.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Explain and understand concepts taught in the unit such as fields, electromagnetic phenomena, and quantum mechanics;

Apply their knowledge to solve problems related to these concepts;

Evaluate and appraise novel situations in terms of fields, electrostatics, magnetic interaction and quantum effects;

Execute experiments involving simple apparatus and analyse, interpret and evaluate the results arising from them;

Present and communicate results of others and one's own experimentations in a scientific form.

Assessment

Examinations (One x 3 hours): 58%
Laboratory work: 25%
Tests/Assignments: 17%
Students must achieve a pass mark in the laboratory work to achieve an overall pass grade.