Course Info
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PHY 418: Statistical Mechanics I
Information for the Online CourseIn response to the University's decision to move all classes online, here is the plan on how we will continue with PHY 418 for the remainder of the semester: Lectures We will continue to have lectures at the regular time periods (see the calendar on the course website), but they will be broadcast online via Zoom. So please make sure to download the Zoom app on your favorite platform, and learn how to use it! I will start the Zoom session 10 minutes earlier that our usual 10:25am starting time to give people time to connect and see that things are working. I will email you the link to connect to the Zoom session in advance of the lecture, hopefully by the evening before. I will also post the link on the Blackboard system on the course Home Page. When participating in the Zoom lecture, please mute your microphone to reduce unwanted background noise; when you want to ask a question, unmute your mic and ask, then mute again when you are finished. Notes for the day's lecture will be posted in advance on the course website http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~stte/phy418S20/ You are recommended to download and read the notes before the lecture. I hope also to record the Zoom lecture and post it on the course website. My plan is to walk you through the day's lecture notes, explaining the steps as I go and answering any questions you may have. This is all quite experimental, so we will see how it goes and I welcome suggestions for improvements! Homework Homeworks will be posted with due date/time on the course website as usual. Instead of using the homework locker, I now ask that everyone submit their homework via the Blackboard system. To do that, log into Blackboard, choose PHY 418, click on Course Materials in the side navigation bar. You will then see a link to HW4 (or whatever is the assignment). Click on that and you should then see a form by which you can upload a file containing your work. You must upload by the due date/time. Please label you file name: lastName_firstName-HWx. So you will need to find a way to either scan or take a readable picture of your homework, so you can submit it electronically (you will need to do this also for the exams). Anton will grade your work with comments and email back to you. If for some reason you cannot get Blackboard to work, you can as a backup just email your file to Anton. But Blackboard is preferred. A reminder: you are free to collaborate with your classmates to discuss and work on homework problems, but you must write up your solutions independently on your own without any outside help. As before, if you need an extension on a homework, email me the request before the due time and tell me why you need an extension. Exams Exams will be take-home, closed book, closed notes, exams. You must write the academic honesty pledge on the top of your work, and you are honor bound not to consult any books, notes, online resources, or other people, when working on your solutions. I will email you the exam at the appointed time and you will have a set period of time to work on the problems (2 hours for the midterm, 3 hours for the final). I will then give you an additional 45 minutes to create an electronic (scan or photo) image of you work and email it back to me. All work is due back to me by email by the specified end of exam time. Or Midterm is scheduled for Friday, April 3, at 10:30am EDT. I will email you the exam as a pdf file promptly at that time. I will also, at the same time, post the exam on the Homework page of this website. You will have two hours, until 12:30pm, to work on the exam, and then 45 additional minutes to scan or photograph your work and email it back to me (stte@pas.rochester.edu). All work is due back to me by email by 1:15pm EDT. A Zoom meeting will be scheduled for the time of the exam so you can ask any questions -- please use the Zoom chat feature for questions. Office hour In place of my regular office hour, you should feel free to email me with questions. If you like, we can also do a Zoom meeting. I will also schedule a regular Zoom meeting for the class at my usual weekly office hour on Tuesdays 2-3pm. The link is posted on the Blackboard system on the course Home Page. Clearly, I have not done this before! So please send suggestions and questions, and hopefully things will work out as we go forward.
Regards,
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