Handbook

COREQUISITE: Recommended: MTH2032 or MTH2040

Note: supporting mathematics studies are required for progression towards the Astrophysics and Physics majors

PREREQUISITE: one of PHS1022, PHS1002 and one of MTH2010, MTH2015, ENG2005.

PROHIBITION: PHS2022

Lectures – The unit consists of two topics: Electromagnetism and optics. Lecture notes and/or slides for each topic will become available via Moodle, and you are encouraged to read ahead of the lectures. Problems sets highlighting consequences of the theory and giving you practice in applying it are also available on Moodle. The standard of problems and assignments is largely typical of that required in the examinations. Solutions to select problems, assignments and past exams will be posted on Moodle at appropriate times during semester, enabling you to check your progress.

Problem-solving workshops – These allow you to practise working through real problems in an environment where you are able to enrich your learning through discussions with your peers, TAs and lecturer. Assessment activities will take place during all these workshops.

Laboratories – The laboratories serve a dual purpose: they help you develop a range of experimental, analytical and communication skills, and they reinforce and extend topics covered in lectures.

Computational workshops – The number of real-life problems solvable on a whiteboard is limited. Most analysis, both in industry and in physics research, involves computer modelling. The workshops introduce you to the modern discipline of computational physics and foster deeper understanding of the corresponding lecture material in an enjoyable manner. You will use visual graphing, dynamic interactive displays, symbolic/analytic problem solving and numerical computation to explore a wide variety of problems in great depth, and create some new computer code along the way. The platform is Wolfram’s Mathematica. You will work independently, but collaborative discussions are encouraged and further assistance is provided by in-class TAs.

• Applies to all offerings

• Applies to all offerings

• Applies to all offerings

The workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours spread across the semester (roughly 12 hours per week) - approximately an even mixture of attendance at scheduled activities and self-scheduled study time. Learning activities comprise a mixture of instructor directed, peer directed and self-directed learning, which includes face-to-face and online engagement.

David J. Griffiths' "Introduction to Electrodynamics", 4th edition, is recommended for the Electromagnetism topic.

Eugene Hecht's "Optics", 5th edition, is recommended for the Optics topic.

Students are expected to regularly check Moodle and their University email accounts for announcements. Students will need to access Moodle to download course notes, upload assessment activities and complete quizzes. Coursework material will primarily be in PDF format, but may occasionally be Microsoft Office documents or other common formats (JPG, MP3, etc.). Note that you can install Microsoft Office 365 via http://intranet.monash.edu.au/esolutions/software/catalogue using your Authcate credentials.

Experimental laboratory classes make use of python – we encourage use of the freely available Anaconda distribution (for installation instructions see the Python revision Moodle book). Computational workshops are based on Mathematica (for installation instructions see the Monash Software Catalogue).