Academic Planner

JIF 103
Physics I
Practical 1a
Academic Session 2014/2015
Video Conference (tentative)
Session

Date

Time

Topics

Relativity of Time

Relativity of Length

Relativity of Simultaneity

Momentum and Energy-mass

Particle Nature of Light

Matter Waves

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JIF 103/4 - PHYSICS I / PRACTICAL 1a

COURSE MANAGER:

ASSOC. PROF. DR. FARIDAH IBRAHIM

COURSE CONTENT
This course is divided into two parts, i.e theoretical part and laboratory work.

1. Theoretical part
This theoretical part of this course is about classical relativity, special relativity and
Modern Physics.
You need to be open-minded as you go along this course. Some of what you are
going to learn might be contrary to your common sense or rather what you normally
observe daily.
To guide you on the specific topics, you will be using the book Concepts of Modern
Physics by Arthur Beiser. Here are the topics;

Concepts of Modern Physics by Arthur Beiser

Chapter 1 Relativity
How spacetime and momentum changes with speed?
Is there any equivalence between mass-energy.
Chapter 2 Particles Properties of Waves
What is meant by light being particle-like?
Chapter 3 Wave Properties of Particles
What is meant by particles being wave-like?
Chapter 4 Atomic Structure
What is an atom?
What happens when an electron jumps from one level to the other?

2.

Laboratory Work

As this course has laboratory component, you are going to carry-out 3

experiments, all of which will be done during the intensive course, i.e

Experiment 1: Uncertainty Analysis

Experiment 2: Exploring Motion
Experiment 3: Light interference
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These experiment will give you the basic skills in doing laboratory work and
how to write laboratory reports. You can download the laboratory guideline
and sheets from the e-portal in Setember.
Please ensure that all your laboratory reports be completed and submitted to
the course manager at the end of the intensive course. Grade F will be given
if you fail to meet this deadline.

VIDEO CONFERENCING SESSIONS

To help you make sense of this course, you are required to attend six video
conferencing sessions throughout the academic year, 4 sessions before the
intensive course and 2 after the intensive course. Please refer to the video
conferencing schedule for the date and time of the sessions. Tentatively here
are the topics of our discussions:

Session 1

Relativity of Time

Session 2

Relativity of Length

Session 3

Relativity of Simultaneity

Session 4

Momentum and Energy-mass

Session 5

Particle Nature of Light

Session 6

Matter Wave

Please read the course materials beforehand since the video conferencing
session will be an interactive session (question and answer (Q & A)) and not
a lecture. What you gain will depend mostly on you coming fully prepared.
There will also be post video conference assignments to help you ponder on
the topic discussed during the video conference.

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COURSEWORK AND FINAL EXAMINATION CONTRIBUTIONS

Your course grade will be based on

Final Exam:

60%

Coursework:
Assignments 1
Assignments 2
Continuous Examination
Practical

5%
5%
20%
10%

40%

FINAL EXAM
Your final examination will be 3 hours and based on the listed topics in
Chapter 1- 4 and the extra notes covered in the e-portal.

COURSE WORK

Assignments
You have to do 2 assignments for this course.

Assignment 1 and 2
The questions for both assignments will be posted in the e-portal.
Both assignments (1 and 2) must be submitted online to the e-portal. For
each assignment, you must submit only one file in PDF format. Please refer
to the Guide for Online Assignment Submission (Panduan Menghantar
Tugasan Secara Online) at the e-portal. If you need more information, please
email to zsabariah@usm.my.
Please adhere to the assignment submission deadlines.

Assignment 1 is due: 1 Dec 2014

Assignment 2 is due: 1 March 2015

Your marks will be downgraded should you miss the submission deadlines.

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Continuous Examination
You are going to sit for a one-hour continuous examination during the
intensive course. It will be based on Chapter 1.

INTENSIVE COURSE
The Intensive Course dates will be given later. We will review Chapter 1.

REFERENCES
Should you need to deepen your understanding on both Relativity and
Modern Physics, please refer to the following books:

Krane, K. 1996. Modern Physics. John Wiley and Sons.

Wheeler, J.A. 1992. Spacetime Physics. Freeman.
Serway, R. 2005. Modern Physics. Prentice Hall.

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