Ronald Brown

Professor of Physics, Emeritus

Physics Department

Cal Poly

San Luis Obispo

Last updated:  September 1, 2011

Email	rbrown@calpoly.edu
Office	Science Bldg. 52 – E38
Phone	Physics Department Office:  756-2448
Office Hours	OFF CAMPUS  -  2011-12

I think we should teach them wonders and that the purpose of knowledgeis to appreciate wonders even more. And that the knowledge is just to put intocorrect framework the wonder that nature is. - Richard Feynman

If we teach only the findings and products of science - no matter how useful and even inspiring they may be - without communicating its critical method, how can the average person possibly distinguish science from pseudoscience? The method of science is far more important than the findings of science. - Carl Sagan

Physics 141 - General Physics: Mechanics –

An introductory calculus-based course in classical mechanics. Topics include the description of motion, Newton's laws, the concepts of work and energy, impulse and momentum, and torque and angular momentum and the three conservation laws (energy, momentum, and angular momentum) that characterize the motions of objects and the principles that govern their motion.

Text: PHYSICS For Scientists and Engineers by Randall Knight
Supplement: Physics 141 - SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES AND PROBLEMS - Ronald Brown (El Corral)

The second course in the General Physics sequence. This course extends the ideas of Newton's laws and energy concepts to oscillations and waves, including sound. The principles of thermodynamics and of optics will also be covered. (It is almost like three short courses, rather than the continuous thread of related topics that was encountered in Phys 131/141.) The textbook is the same as in Phys 131/141 - PHYSICS For Scientists and Engineers by Randall Knight

Supplement: Physics 132 - SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES AND PROBLEMS by Ronald Brown (El Corral)

Topics in this course include some introduction to quantum theory, the basic structure of crystalline solids, atomic vibrations and heat capacity, electronic properties of metals and semiconductors, and some semiconductor device theory. It is a good course for students of physics, materials science or engineering, and electronics engineering. Prerequisite to the course is some introduction to the quantum theory (as in Phys 211, MATE 409, or a good course in physical chemistry).

The course covers the first seven chapters in SOLID STATE PHYSICS - An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers.

Semiconductor devices. Magnetism. Superconductivity andsuperfluidity. A course that extends the ideas of the introductorysolid state physics course to the description of the characteristicsand operation of semiconductor devices, the properties of magneticmaterials and the theory of magnetism, and the properties andcharacteristics of superconducting materials, the theory ofsuperconductivity and how the ideas relate to superfluidity. Thecourse covers the last three chapters in the Physics 412 textbook. There will be many links to interesting topics in the current literature - all dependent on topics covered in the course material itself.

NOTE: This course is usually offered in alternate years, and was last offered Winter 2007 and will be offered Winter 2009 if there is sufficient interest and enrollment.