Oscillatory and Wave Phenomena

Phys 218, Spring 2023

Course Web Page

Brooks Thomas

Hugel 020
Physics Department
Lafayette College
730 High St.
Easton, PA 18042

Phone: (610) 330-5207
Email: thomasbd@lafayette.edu

Contact Info

Physics at Lafayette

Other Resources

• My Personal Home Page
• Lafayette Physics Department
• Physics Courses

• List of NSF REU Sites
• APS Resources for Students
• Society of Physics Students (SPS)
• CUWiP
• SACNAS
• National Society of Black Physicists

Course Materials and Other Useful Links

• Syllabus
• Resources and Demos Page
• Course Moodle

Textbooks

• Walter Fox Smith, Waves and Oscillations (Oxford University Press, 2010).
• John R. Taylor, An Introduction to Error Analysis, 2nd Ed. (University Science Books, 1997).
• Brooks Thomas, Slightly Disturbed: Oscillations, Waves, and the Mathematics Behind Them (lecture notes).

Office hours

During the times designated as my office hours below, you have the option of meeting with me either in person or virtually. In-person office-hours meetings will be held not in my office, but rather in Hugel 125, which is a better ventilated room equipped with a HEPA filter. Virtual meetings will take place over the office-hours Zoom link posted on the course Moodle. If I am meeting with another student at the time you join the Zoom meeting, I may ask you to wait in the waiting room for a bit. However, if you and other students in the course have the same question, you can certainly meet with me as a group.


• Mon., 3:00 - 4:00 PM Eastern
• Wed., 11:00 - 12:00 noon Eastern
• Thurs., 11:00 - 12:00 noon Eastern
• Fri., 11:00 - 12:00 noon Eastern

Since working through problems together at a blackboard is an integral part of most office-hours conversations in a course like this (no pun intended), there is often a compelling reason why it is preferable for us to meet in person rather than virtually during my office hours. Thus, you are strongly encouraged to attend office hours in person rather than virtually when circumstances permit.

Course Schedule

Note: readings marked "Smith" are from Waves and Oscillations by Walter Fox Smith, readings marked "Taylor" are from "Error Analysis" by John. R. Taylor, and readings marked "Thomas" are supplementary readings from my own lecture notes.



Date	Topic	Reading	Homework
Week 1
1/23	Introduction
1/25	Simple Harmonic Motion	Smith 1.1-1.5, Thomas 1.2-1.3
1/27	Complex Numbers	Smith 1.6-1.9, Thomas 3.1-3.3	HW 1 Due
Week 2
1/30	An Introduction to Mathematica	TBA
2/1	Simple Pendulum	Smith 2.1-2.2; Thomas 2.1
2/3	The Harmonic Approximation	Thomas 2.6-2.7	HW 2 Due
Week 3
2/6	Error Analysis	Taylor 1.1-4.6
2/8	Oscillations of Materials: Deformation and Shear	Smith 2.4-2.5
2/10	Linear Differential Equations: Basic Techniques	Thomas 4.1-4.3	HW 3 Due
Week 4
2/13	Drag Forces and Damping	Smith 3.1, 3.6; Thomas 5.3
2/15	Damped Harmonic Oscillator	Smith 3.2-3.4; Thomas 5.4
2/17	Mid-Term Exam I (8:30 - 9:50 AM Eastern)
Week 5
2/20	Under-, Over-, and Critical Damping	Smith 3.5; Thomas 5.5
2/22	Continuous Probability Distributions	Taylor 5.1-5.8
2/24	Examples: Damped Oscillations and Probability Distributions		HW 4 Due
Week 6
2/27	Driven Oscillations and the Method of Undetermined Coefficients	Smith 4.1; Thomas 6.1-6.2
3/1	Resonance Phenomena	Smith 4.2-4.4; Thomas 6.3-6.5
3/3	Superposition and Transients	Smith 4.5, 4.7; Thomas 6.7	HW 5 Due
Week 7
3/6	Complex Impedances and RLC Circuits	Smith 4.6; Thomas 6.6
3/8	Non-Linearity and Chaos	Smith 4.8
3/10	Numerical Methods in Python	TBA	HW 6 Due
Week 8
3/13	Spring Break (No Class)
3/15	Spring Break (No Class)
3/17	Spring Break (No Class)
Week 9
3/20	Coupled Oscillations	Smith 5.1-5.2; Thomas 9.1-9.2
3/22	Normal Modes	Smith 5.3-5.6
3/24	Mid-Term Exam II (8:30 - 9:50 AM Eastern)
Week 10
3/27	Damped, Driven Coupled Oscillations	Smith 5.7-5.8
3/29	Vector Spaces and Hilbert Space	Smith 6.1-6.3; Thomas 9.4-9.5
3/31	Matrices and Linear Algebra	Smith 6.6; Thomas 9.6-9.8	HW 7 Due
Week 11
4/3	Eigenvalues, Eigenvectors, and Normal Modes	Smith 6.4; Thomas 9.9
4/5	Curve Fitting	Taylor 8
4/7	Basis Transformations	Smith 6.5	HW 8 Due
Week 12
4/10	Asymmetric Coupled Oscillators	Smith 6.7
4/12	Many, Many Coupled Oscillators	Smith 7.1-7.3; Thomas 9.10
4/14	From Oscillations to Waves	Smith 7.4-7.6; Thomas 9.11	HW 9 Due
Week 13
4/17	k-space	Smith 7.7-7.8
4/19	Fourier Series	Smith 8.1-8.4; Thomas 7.1-7.6
4/21	Mid-Term Exam III (8:30 - 9:50 AM Eastern)
Week 14
4/24	The Fourier Transform	Smith 8.5; Thomas 7.7-7.8
4/26	Applications of Fourier Analysis	Smith 8.7
4/28	Traveling Waves	Smith 9.1-9.4	HW 10 Due
Week 15
5/1	Electromagnetic Waves	Smith 9.5
5/3	Sound Waves	Smith 9.8
5/5	Dispersion, Group, and Phase Velocities	Smith 9.12	HW 11 Due
Final Exam
5/13	Final Exam: 4:00 - 7:00 PM in Hugel 225