Go to home page for Ph12b
Course description: An introductory course in statistical mechanics.
Class meetings:
Tuesday and Thursday 10:30-11:55 am in 269
Lauritsen, starting April 3, 2012.
Feedback: If you want to send a
comment about the course, click here.
Instructor: John Preskill, 206
Annenberg, X-6691, preskill@caltech.edu.
Office hours by appointment
Recitation leaders:
Michael Beverland, mbeverla@caltech.edu,
office hours Tuesday 4pm, 119 Downs, or by appointment
Javier Duarte, jduarte@caltech.edu, office hours Wednesday 9:30 pm, 267 Lauritsen, or by appointment
Recitation sessions:
Michael Beverland: Tuesday 3 pm, 119 Downs
Javier Duarte: Wednesday 8:30 pm, 269 Lauristen
Graders:
Du Pei, dpei@caltech.edu
Kung-Yi Su, ksu@caltech.edu
Textbook: Thermal
Physics (2nd
edition) by Charles Kittel and Herbert Kroemer
We will cover most of the first 10 chapters of Kittel and
Kroemer, plus part of Chapter 14 and some supplementary material.
Grading: Grades will be based on weekly problem sets (40%), a midterm (20%), and a final exam (40%).
Homework: Problem sets will be posted on this page on Thursday, and will be due in the Physics 12c IN-box outside 264 Lauritsen at 5:00 pm the following Thursday. Graded homework will be returned to the Physics 12b OUT-box in 264 Lauritsen by the following Monday morning. Solution sets will be posted on this page.
Extensions:
-- Unexcused late homework will be accepted for half credit up until
one week after the due date; there is no credit if your assignment is more than
one week late.
-- If your homework will be late for a good reason, you may request an
extension before the assignment is due by sending email to that week’s grader.
-- One extension, for up to one week, is allowed without question (your silver
bullet). Please put a note at the top of your problem set indicating that you
are using your silver bullet.
Honor Code: Discussion with others is encouraged, but the work you hand in must be your own. In particular, do not use homework solutions from previous years or exams and exam solutions from previous years.
Lectures
(tentative schedule):
Video of lectures (recorded in 2011) available here.
Sam Elder’s typed lecture notes (2010).
Ombudsfolks:: Aniruddha Bapat (Dabney), Ishan Khetarpal (Avery/Fleming/Ruddock), Randall Lin (Lloyd), Marec Serlin (Lloyd), Malvika Verma (Blacker), Eugene Vinitsky (Ricketts), Julia Ziac (Fleming). Suggestions, comments, and complaints about the course can be conveyed through an ombudsperson, or through the comment form on this page. (Does someone from Page want to volunteer?)
Homework
assignments:
(Du grades the odd numbered problem sets, Kung-Yi grades the even numbered
ones.)
Problem
Set 1, due Apr 12. Solutions
Problem
Set 2, due Apr 19. Solutions
Problem
Set 3, due Apr 26. Solutions
Problem
Set 4, due May 3. Solutions
Problem
Set 5, due May 17. Solutions
Problem
Set 6, due May 25. Solutions
Problem
Set 7, due Jun 5. Solutions
Problem
Set 8, due Jun 8. Solutions
Exams:
Midterm
exam, due May 10. Solutions
Fifty-seven exams were received. The median was 92 and the mean was 88. Twelve
students scored 100.
Final
exam, due Jun 15. Solutions
Fifty-five exams were received. The median was 76 and the mean was 76. Two
students scored 100; ten scored above 95.
Grades:
Final grades were determined using the formula Grade = 0.4(Homework) +
0.2(Midterm) + 0.4(Final).
The median final grade was 87 and the mean was 82.
The ranges for letter grades were:
A+ 97-100
A 91-96
A- 85-90
B+ 80-84
B 74-79
B- 68-73
C+ 60-67
C 50-59
C- 45-49
There were 7 A+’s, 14 A’s, 12 A-’s, 6 B+’s, 12 B’s, 2 B-’s. 1 C+, 1 C- (Total=55).
Please fill
our the TQFR survey form. The feedback you provide is very helpful.
Have a great summer!