Physics

Course List

Code Course Description
PHYS 1104

Practical Physics

This course is an introductory algebra-based physics course intended for students who have not taken high-school physics or want a review of physics. Topics covered in this course include kinematics, dynamics, energy, momentum, fluids, heat, electrostatics, and DC circuits with a focus on practical applications of these concepts. This course includes a weekly lab.

PHYS 1107

Introductory General Physics I

This course is an algebra-based physics course focused on mechanics and waves. Topics covered in this course include linear kinematics and dynamics, energy, momentum, rotational motion, simple harmonic motion, mechanical waves, and sound. This course includes a weekly lab.

PHYS 1108

Physics for Life Sciences I

This is a physics course for life sciences students. All the topics covered will be illustrated with applications takes from the life sciences. Topics will include force and motion, conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, conservation of angular momentum, fluids, waves, properties of soft matter and thermal physics.

PHYS 1110

Mechanics

This course is a calculus-based physics course intended for students pursuing further studies in engineering, physics, or other physical sciences. Topics covered in this course include linear kinematics and dynamics, energy, momentum, rotational motion, angular momentum, simple harmonic motion, heat, thermodynamics, and heat engines. This course includes a weekly lab.

PHYS 1170

Mechanics for Applied Science

This course is intended for students proceeding to studies in Applied Science or Engineering. Topics include statics of particles, rigid body forces and equilibrium, structural analysis, internal forces, friction, particle kinematics and dynamics, systems of particles.

PHYS 1207

Introductory General Physics II

This is a non-calculus based course intended for students pursuing a career in Life Sciences. Topics include electrostatics; direct current circuits; magnetic force and field; electromagnetic induction; geometric optics; interference, diffraction, and polarization of light; modern physics and radioactivity; temperature; thermal properties of matter; gas laws; laws of thermodynamics.

PHYS 1208

Physics for Life Sciences II

This is a physics course for life sciences students. All the topics covered will be illustrated with applications takes from the life sciences. Topics will include waves and optics; electricity and magnetism; modern physics emphasizing radioactivity.

PHYS 1210

Optics, Electromagnetism, and Circuits

This course is a calculus-based physics course intended for students pursuing further studies in engineering, physics, or other physical sciences. Topics covered in this course include mechanical waves, sound, optics, electromagnetism, DC and AC circuits, and an introduction to quantum physics. This course includes a weekly lab.

PHYS 1234

Physics for Liberal Arts

The course is designed primarily for liberal arts majors. It is a basic introduction to physical science and is intended for students with little or no science background. It will present an integrated approach to topics in physics: the topics themselves, as well as the historical reasons for their acceptance. The topics will include the historical evolution of scientific method, laws of motion, gravitation, matter and energy, heat and temperature, light, atoms and atomic nuclei, special relativity, and elements of astronomy. Laboratory exercises will illustrate the practical applications of the course content.

PHYS 1308

Physics for Life Sciences Lab

The course will consist of a series of labs involving both activities and experiments based on concepts covered in PHYS 1108 and PHYS 1208. Experiments in mechanics, heat, optics and electricity are designed to augment the concepts covered in the Physics for Life Sciences courses.

PHYS 2211

Classical Mechanics

A course in classical mechanics covering kinematics, dynamics, calculus of variations including Lagrange's equations, non-inertial reference frames, central forces and orbits, rigid body motion, and Hamiltonian mechanics.

PHYS 2250

Introduction to Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

This course is an introduction to modern physics. The first part will focus on special relativity: Lorentz transformation, relativistic kinematics and dynamics, and conservation laws. The second part will focus on quantum mechanics: matter waves, early quantum models as well as the experimental evidence for quantization, a qualitative discussion of the concepts of quantum mechanics and their application to simple systems.