The final will be on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 9 am in SMUD 207. You may take the final early on Friday, Dec. 16, at 11 am in Merrill 211 if you wish. The two different dates will have different exams, the earlier final will take into account that you had 6 fewer days to study.
Homeworks are on a bench outside of Prof. Loinaz's office. Please pick them up. These will help enormously when studying for the final.
There is a small typo in assignment 9 that I have fixed and resubmitted this morning 12/8/11. If you have already downloaded the problem set, you should re-download. Problem set 9 is due on Tuesday, Dec. 13 in class. You must be in class to turn it in.
We have posted your exam 1 grade in the gradebook. The score in the gradebook is listed out of 100 points. Please disregard the "grade" column. It is not weighting the homework and the exam as listed in the syllabus, so it really doesn't have a meaning. In addition, Prof. Loinaz and I will curve the final scores to reflect the class average, so again that column does not reflect that either. With that said, the mean on the exam was a 73%, which is what we generally aim for the mean to be. As some of you know that have had me before I like the mean to be right around a 75%. If you got above the mean then you are doing well in the course and are performing at an appropriate level. If you recieved a score that was significantly below the mean then you need to see me to discuss a plan moving forward.
We have posted the exam solutions for problems 1, and 3-5 below. Problem 2 we will scan in and have posted by tomorrow 11/8/11. You will receive your exam in class tomorrow.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| PHYS 400 Exam 1 Solutions.pdf | 216.49 KB |
| Exam 1 prob 2 solutions.pdf | 37.22 KB |
The exam is Wed. night, Oct. 19 from 7-9pm in SMUD 206. You will need a calculator, writing utensil, one 8.5x11 sheet of notes. You will be given a blue book and exam when you arrive. Please come early. I will allow extra time on the exam if you arrive on time. Review sheet lists more information.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Review for Biophysics 400.pdf | 254.37 KB |
There are solutions posted for assignment #4 under the assignments tab.
The solutions to assignment #2 are posted under the assignments tab.
I just want to point your attention to the Assignments tab on the course website and the posting of Assignment 2. This assignment is not as mathematical as the last one, but still requires a lot of outside research and thought on your part. I also highly recommend attending the problem session on Wednesday night.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| polarizability of water.pdf | 1.04 MB |
Prof. Loinaz and I have two important announcements that we made in class today:
1) The first is that the problem session will be on Wednesdays from 9-10pm. They will be in the physics student lounge on the first floor of Merrill Science Center in the far southeast corner of the building in room 116 (right around the corner from my office in room 118). The building is a maze. Text me if you have trouble finding your way.
2) The second announcement is that I posted the reading schedule for the next several weeks. We are reading a chapter a week. We will cover Ch. 1-7 and Ch. 12-17.
Ch. 5 - this week
Ch. 6 - next week (9/27)
Ch. 7 - following week (10/4)
Ch. 12 - 10/13 and 10/18 and possibly 10/20
10/11 is an Amherst College Holiday and there will be no class
after that it will be a chapter per week - tentative schedule
Ch. 13 - 10/25
Ch. 14 - 11/1
Ch. 15 - 11/8
Ch. 16 - 11/15
Ch. 17 - after thanksgiving break
Finally, I want to remind you that we have our first homework assignment due this Thursday at midnight. You can physically turn it in to Prof. Loinaz's mailbox outside of the physics department office in Merrill room 214. (Just to the north down the hall.) You can also scan your homework in and email it to either Prof. Loinaz or myself or you can fax it in 413-542-5821 to Prof. Loinaz's attention. Some students have said that they have had trouble accessing the assignment. I have made the page accessible to everyone so you should definitely see it on our webpage at:
https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/courses/1112F/PHYS/PHYS-400-1112F
I hope this helps!
Prof. Carter
There's now an Assignments tab on the left, and I've added assignment 1 to that page.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| bohren_notsolving_AJP000534.pdf | 56.45 KB |
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Biophysics Student Information Sheet.doc | 26.5 KB |
Hello Students!
We are very excited about teaching this Biophysics course and we expect to cover the first 3 chapters in the first week. The third chapter is an overview of some of the math for the course. While we don't expect you to know everything you shouldn't be afraid of it. After that it will be one chapter a week. Since we want to give you the opportunity to read the chapters before lecture we decided to email you the work for the week. If you know of any students planning to take the course, please pass the information along. This email will also be posted on the website for the course.
The text will be Introduction to Biophysics by Thomas Nordlund and is available at Amherst Books.
Thanks,
Prof. Carter and Prof. Loinaz
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| PHYSICS 400 F2011 Syllabus.pdf | 253.26 KB |