Physics 123B Midterm 2 Information

Where:

• All students in PAB A102.
• Check Tycho for your seat assignment
  

When:

• Friday February 15, 10:30 am - 11:20 pm

Coverage:

You are still responsible for material  covered on the first midterm, but the focus of the second midterm is on material covered in the past 3 weeks.

• Lecture/Text material: Chapters 20.6,7, 21 (all), 34 (second half) and 22.1-3.
• Tutorials 3-5:  Two source interference, Wave Propagation of Light, multislit interference
  
• Labs 2-4:  Standing waves, sound in a tube, diffraction and interference.
  
• Homework:  Webassign Weeks 4 and 5.  Tutorial 3, 4, 5.  Supplemental through Feb 06.
  

Important Lecture Concepts:

• Chapter 20:  Traveling Waves (entire chapter relevant; doppler only new concept for MT2)
  
• Continuing concepts from Midterm 1
• Power and intensity
  
• Doppler effect for sound (not responsible for EM wave Doppler)
  
• Chapter 21:  Superposition (entire chapter except for thin film reflection (end of 21.6), which will be on MT3)
  
• Adding pulses
• Adding harmonic waves
  
• Standing waves
• Interference
  
• Acoustics -- musical instruments
• Beats
• NOTE:  thin film interference will be covered later.
  
• Chapter 34:  Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (sections 34.4, 5, 6, 7 (not radiation pressure), 8)
  
• Maxwell's equations (as relates to EM waves) and displacement current
• EM wave equation; relationship of speed of EM wave to dielectric and magnetic permeabilities; determination of wavelength, frequency, phase, etc.
• Relative orientation of E, B, and wave propatation
• Poynting vector
• Transmission through polarizers
  
• Chapter 22:  Wave Optics  (section 22.1-3)
  
• wave model of light
• double-slit interference
• Diffraction gratings
  

Format:

• Total of 100 points, distributed as:
• 50 - 55 points multiple choice (2 problems with multiple sections)
• 20 - 30 point short answer lecture question
• 20 - 25 points short answer tutorial question

You Must Bring:

Scan-Tron Form for Multiple-choice part of exam

Dark Pencil that marks scan-tron form so that it can easily be read by an automated scanner.

You May Bring:

• Calculator
• Ruler or straight edge
• one 8.5x11 page of notes (both sides)
You will be expected to know (or have on your notes) basic formulas and the appropriate trigonometry or geometry. You should also know the important constants.

You May NOT Bring (or at least they must be turned off and not taken out of your backpack):

• Wireless devices, including laptops, blackberries, cell phones, etc.
  

Old Exams:

See the main exam info page for old exams.  It is my policy NOT to post solutions to old exams.  If you want to check your solutions, come to the Study Center and ask questions.  There are good reasons for this policy and it will not be changed this quarter.

Review on your own.  Make a list of questions about the points you don't understand, discuss it with your classmates, and ask Prof. Olmstead (or any of the other instructors at the Study Center) during office hours about any questions that you can't answer.  Make sure you understand how to do all the Webassign, supplemental, and tutorial problems, as well as the material covered in the text, lecture, tutorial, and lab.  Work through additional problems from the book or practice exams.  Finally, your goal in this class should be to understand the physics, not to get a good grade on the exam.  I know it's hard to believe, but you will actually do better on the exam if you approach it with the goal of understanding physics.

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