8.03  Physics of Vibrations and Waves

I wanted to give you a bit more information about the final exam. There are 8 problems on it. While this sounds like a lot of problems, the problems mostly do not require intensive calculations. So, I think you'll have enough time to complete them all. The focus of the exam is to test you on concepts. On the exam, you want to make sure to think about the best way to solve a problem before you start calculating. If you're getting mired in a long calculation, you might want to pause and think if there is an easier way to solve the problem.

59 out of 100 points on the exam are for problems involving material that we have covered since the last midterm.

Good Luck!
Ray Ashoori

Just a reminder that there will be a review session for the final exam on Friday afternoon from 3-5. It will be in our usual classroom, 6-120. Eric Lin will be leading the session.

Another reminder: The final exam is on Monday morning (Dec. 17) from 9:00-12:00.

Good Luck!

Markos Hankin will be collecting lab kits after class on Monday and Wednesday of next week. Please make sure to turn in your kit. The kits are needed for next term, and it creates big headaches if we don't get them all back.

Also, note that problem set 11 (the one that you won't submit for grading) asks you to do 3 experiments. You'll need the kit to do them, so you want to make sure to do them before you turn in your kit.

On Monday, we will finish with thin-films and then cover phased-arrays in lecture. The material covered on Monday will enable you to do problem 4 on the homework. However, given that there is only one day between the date that we'll cover this material and the original due date of the homework, I have decided to give you a couple more days to complete the assignment. So, homework #10 is now due on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 4:30 PM.

The next assignment is homework #11. You will not need to hand in homework #11. However, on the final, you will be responsible for knowing how to solve problems such as those on homework #11. So, I suggest that you complete it as you would any other assignment. I am posting homework #11 now, and you may wish to get started on problems from it soon after we have covered the concepts in lecture.

It turns out that you don't have the material in the experiment kits to do the liquid prism experiment. Before the term, I had decided to eliminate that experiment because it is long and tricky, and you're busy enough learning all of the physics that you need to learn.. 2 months later, I forgot that I had eliminated it! I have re-posted the assignment with the experiment removed.