Mobolaji's Personal Webpage

Instructor: Mobolaji Williams mwilliams@physics.harvard.edu
TA: Rene García rgarc@mit.edu

Lec:	MWF 1:15-2:45pm	Room:	5-233
MW OH:	SUN 1-3PM	Room:	Simmons Common Room
RG OH:	TTh 7-9PM	Room:	Simmons Common Room

Course Information

Syllabus

This course will cover the basic mathematics and physics of oscillatory and wave phenomena.

Content-wise, by the end of the course, students should be able to explain why oscillations appear in many near equilibrium systems, the various mathematical properties of those oscillations in various contexts, how oscillations and waves are related, and the basic mathematical description and properties of a wave.

Skill-wise, students should become adept at translating conceptual understanding into mathematical explanations, writing short programs to solve analytical systems, and developing clear questions about physical systems.

Announcements:

[July 18, 17]: Thank you MITES ’17! It has been very rewarding teaching you all this summer. On my end, I have learned much about teaching and learning, and I hope to apply these lessons in future classes and my own future education. On your end, I hope you have learned much about physics, mathematics, and yourselves. And although MITES is certainly a STEM program, you should not assume that what you have learned in this class is only applicable to a career in STEM. I don’t necessarily hope you all become physicists, mathematicians, and engineers, but I do hope you use what you have learned---about asking questions, the utility of computational methods, and abstracting models from question, to name a few---to inform any work you do in the future. Finally, a major thank you to Rene for all the assistance he gave to me and to you this summer. I know he often worked more than his standard allotted hours, and it is clear to me (and I hope to you all) that your experience in this class would not have been as smooth (cue laughter) without him. It was great having you all as my first class. - mobo [July 12, 17]: Problem set 6 posted. The Problem set is mostly review. Only Problem 6 is due Sunday July 16 at 10 PM under Rene García's door. Final exam next Tuesday. The exam will be open notebook. You can use any notes you have written for yourself. The final exam will cover 1. Using units/limiting cases to check equations and the equations of motion and the corresponding solution properties of 2. Simple Harmonic Oscillators 3. Damped Oscillators 4. Forced Oscillators 5. Coupled Oscillators 6. Bounded Strings [July 5, 17]: Problem set 5 posted; Due Wednesday July 12 at 9 AM under Rene García's door. Problem set 4's new due date is Friday July 7th at 9am under Rene García's door. [June 29, 17]: Lecture notes 07 posted in case you want to review them and get an early start on problem 6 of the assignment. [June 28, 17]: Problem Set 4 posted; Due Wednesday July 5 at 9AM under Rene García's door. Midterm this Friday is an open notebook exam. You can use any notes you have written for yourself. The midterm will cover the equations of motion and the properties of the solutions of - Simple Harmonic Oscillators - Damped Oscillators - Forced Oscillators [June 21, 17]: Problem Set 3 posted; Due Wednesday June 21 at 9AM under Rene García's door. Midterm will be next week Friday (June 30). The format will be a single hour of indivdiual work followed by 30 minutes of group work. [June 16, 17]: Problem Set 2 has been modified to make problem 6c optional and only for extra credit. [June 15, 17]: My (Mobo's) office are currently set for Mondays and Fridays from 12:15pm to 1:15pm, and on Sundays from 1 to 3pm. [June 14, 17]: Problem Set 2 posted; Due Wednesday June 21 at 9AM under Rene García's door. [June 12, 17]: Problem Set 1 posted; Due Wednesday at 9AM under Rene García's door. [June 12, 17]: Welcome to the course web page for Physics III. Throughout the semester, I will post all lecture notes, assignments, solutions, and references on this page. Let's get ready for an intense but ultimately rewarding six-weeks!

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Lecture notes Lec 01, Mon June 12: Introductions, Structure of Physics Lec 02 and 03, Wed June 14 and Fri June 16: SHO, Pendulum, General Oscillations Lec 04, Mon June 19 and Wed June 21: Damped Harmonic Oscillators Lec 05, Fri June 23 and Mon June 26: Forced Harmonic Oscillator Lec 06, Mon June 26 and Wed June 28: Coupled Oscillations Midterm, Fri June 30 Lec 07, Mon July 3 and Wed July 5: Wave Equation and Standing Waves Lec 08, (Supplement): Traveling Waves Lec 09, Fri July 7 and Mon July 10: Electromagnetic Waves Lec 10, (Supplement): Linear Dynamics	Supplementary Notes Sup 01, Presenting Work Sup 02, Algebra Before Numbers Sup 03, Dimensional Analysis and Limiting Cases Sup 04, Learning Derivations
Assingments Problem Set 1: Introduction and Kinematics (Due Wed June 14) Problem Set 2: Simple Oscillations (Due Wed June 21) Problem Set 3: Damped and Forced Oscillations (Due Wed June 28) Problem Set 4: Coupled Oscillations and Fourier Series (Due Wed July 5) (New due date: Fri July 7) Problem Set 5: Fourier Series and Wave Equations (Due Wed July 12) Problem Set 6: Electromagnetism and Review (Due Sun July 16)	Solution sets: Solution set #1 Solution set #2 Solution set #3 Solution set #4 Solution set #5 Solution set #6
Exams Midterm (June 30) Final (Individual) (July 18) Final (Group) (July 18)	Exam Solutions: Midterm Solutions Final Solutions
Mathematica Code numerical_diff_eq.nb (Numerical DE assignmnet ) numerical_diff_eq_soln.nb(Numerical DE solution ) damped_osc_soln.nb (Damped Oscillator solution) fourier_series.nb (Fourier Series assignment ) fourier_series_soln.nb (Fourier Series solution) hare_lynx_euler.nb (Hare and Lynx Euler Method)	Starter problems Starter Problems

Collaboration Policy

Feel free to discuss problems with your classmates, the TA, or the instructor. Also, feel free to consult online resources. However, your final submission must represent your own reasoning and calculation only supplemented by personal resources. At the end of your assignment, list the people you collaborated with and the online resources you referenced.

Useful References

The Physics of Vibrations and Waves by Pain: Comprehensive overview of oscillatory and wave phenomena. This course overlaps with chapters 1-6.

The Physics of Waves by Georgi: Similar to Pain in its scope and mathematical level. This course overlaps with the chapters 1--3 and 5--6.

Oscillations and Waves notes by Morin: Chapters of a book in progress from David Morin. Contains many examples of concepts and solid explanations. This course overlaps with chapters 1-5 and chapter 8.

MIT 8.03 Video Lectures by Lewin: ~ 1 1/2 hr lectures from the MIT course upon which this course is based.