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CEGEP • Montreal

Waves and Modern Physics, 203-SN3-RE (formerly 203-NYC)

Waves and Modern Physics closes the CEGEP physics sequence of Sciences de la nature, from the harmonic oscillator all the way to quantum and nuclear physics. It is 203-SN3-RE in the revised program (200.B1) and 203-NYC in the former one. The detailed content varies from one CEGEP to the next: some keep geometric optics, others replace it with a block on heat, heat transfer, the greenhouse effect and radiative forcing, and others still keep special relativity. Every set that is on the syllabus of at least one college's version of the new course carries the code 203-SN3-RE.

12 fully corrected exercise sets (164 exercises), 11 revision sheets, and 2 practice papers. Free, no account needed. The same course in French.

Geometric optics and lab work

  1. 1 Geometric optics and optical instruments The CEGEP version of optics: refraction and total internal reflection, from apparent depth to the optical fibre, the same thin lens equation for lenses AND mirrors with the sign convention that decides everything, the cases of object position, the eye and its correction in dioptres. Then an exam-level part: the prism and its minimum deviation, the spherical refracting surface and the lensmaker's equation, the magnifier, the microscope and the telescope, and finally chromatic and spherical aberration up to the diffraction limit. Sheet
  2. 2 Lab measurements, uncertainties and graphical analysis The experimental side of the waves and modern physics course, in fifteen exercises built on its own setups. The basics: reading a vernier and a goniometer, measuring an angle on both sides of the beam to cancel the zero, the square root that halves the uncertainty, the extreme-values method on a refractive index, the differential method on a diffraction grating. The problems: counting statistics in root N, the resonance of a tube linearized so that the intercept gives the end correction, five statements to correct, Planck's constant measured with five LEDs and its three percent bias, the half-life by semi-logarithmic regression and what a forgotten background does to the curve. The classics: resolving power against accuracy, identifying a Balmer line, Malus's law linearized to expose stray light, a Doppler radar that measures a difference without computing it, and a weak source drowned in its background.

Oscillations, waves, sound and light

  1. 3 Simple harmonic motion and mechanical waves A complete mass-spring system, the vertical spring and series-parallel combinations, the simple pendulum and the pendulum that beats seconds, the derivatives of SHM with the proof of a = -ω²x, and a wave on a stretched string. Then an exam-level part: the energy of SHM and the exact instant it is shared equally, the physical pendulum and the torsion pendulum, damped oscillations and resonance up to the Tacoma Narrows bridge, a full reading of a wave equation, and the power a wave carries, on a string as in air. Sheet
  2. 4 Sound and standing waves The speed of sound from echo to thunderstorm, the sound wave described by displacement and by pressure with a hearing threshold smaller than an atom, the decibel scale, the Doppler effect of an ambulance and the harmonics of a guitar string. Then an exam-level part: the superposition that creates the nodes, open versus closed pipes, the points of silence between two loudspeakers, the beats heard when tuning, and the sound barrier with its Mach cone. Sheet
  3. 5 The Doppler effect: moving source, moving observer and radial component The Doppler effect chapter, treated for its own sake. The basics: the wavelength actually received ahead of and behind a moving source, the general two-mover formula and its choice of signs, wind that moves the medium, the radial component when the source passes alongside, the double shift of an echo off a moving target. The problems: the siren whirled on a string and the harmonic mean, the Doppler effect of light and its transverse shift, five statements to correct, the Doppler flowmeter in a blood vessel and its angle error, the speed radar and the cosine error. Sheet
  4. 6 Wave optics Young's slits and the fringe spacing, the diffraction grating and its orders, single-slit diffraction, thin films from the antireflection coating to the black soap bubble, the air wedge and Newton's rings that check a surface to a twentieth of a wavelength. Then an exam-level part: measuring a wavelength with a ruler, the orders erased by diffraction, the Michelson interferometer from the index of air to LIGO, Malus's law and the three-polarizer paradox, and Brewster's angle from the lake to the blue sky. Sheet

Modern physics

  1. 7 Modern physics Blackbody radiation and Wien's law, which forced Planck to invent the quantum, the energy of a photon, the photoelectric effect and Einstein's argument, the hydrogen spectrum from Bohr's model and the de Broglie wavelength. Then an exam-level part: the Compton effect and the uncertainty principle that keeps the electron out of the nucleus, carbon-14 dating, the mass defect with fission and fusion, E = mc² applied to the Sun, and the special relativity of atmospheric muons. Sheet
  2. 8 Quantum physics: photons, line spectra and duality The quantum block of the waves and modern physics course, treated as a full chapter. The basics: photon momentum and the solar sail, the Rydberg formula and the Balmer series, radii and speeds in the Bohr model, hydrogen-like ions, the electron diffraction of Davisson and Germer. The problems: the Duane-Hunt limit and Moseley's law, the Franck-Hertz experiment, five statements to correct, the shifted lines of a galaxy, the photons of a barely visible star. The classics: the particle in a box, Balmer lines and the Boltzmann law, Planck against Rayleigh-Jeans, laser cooling, the natural width of a spectral line. Sheet
  3. 9 Nuclear physics and radioactivity The nucleus measured in femtometres and its density of two hundred trillion kilograms per litre, the mass defect calculated with ATOMIC masses and the trap of the electrons that cancel, the three radioactivities balanced nucleus by nucleus, the reaction energy and the two electron masses that a positron emission costs, the decay law with the activity of one microgram of iodine-131. Then an exam-level part: uranium-lead dating of a zircon, the secular equilibrium that explains the 0.34 gram of radium per tonne of uranium, five statements to correct, the reactor that burns three kilograms a day where coal takes eight thousand tonnes, and the basement radon cleared by ventilation rather than by its half-life. Sheet
  4. 10 Special relativity The two postulates and the Lorentz factor computed at six speeds, the light clock from which gamma falls out in three lines of Pythagoras, length contraction and the trip to a star told twice without ever giving the same story, the atmospheric muon whose surviving fraction is followed in both reference frames, and the relativity of simultaneity with the two lightning flashes of the train. Then an exam-level part: Lorentz transformations and the velocity addition law that refuses to exceed c, relativistic momentum and energy with the invariant, five statements to correct, the relativistic GPS correction worked out to the microsecond, and a pion beam whose flight line is ten times too long for classical physics. Sheet

Heat and climate

  1. 11 Heat, temperature and heat transfer The thermal block of the new waves and modern physics course, in fifteen exercises. The basics: heat versus temperature on a kettle, the calorimeter and its water equivalent, the latent heat of sweat, Fourier's law and double glazing, the radiation of a cooking element. The problems: a composite wall and its interface temperature, Newton's law of cooling applied to the time of death, five statements to correct, the vacuum flask, the heat balance of a house in winter. The classics: the effusivity of a tile floor, an insulated pipe in radial coordinates, a processor heat sink, an infrared thermometer fooled by polished metal, and pond ice that grows as the square root of time. Sheet
  2. 12 Greenhouse effect, albedo and radiative forcing The climate issues of the new waves and modern physics course, treated through the physics of radiation. The basics: the solar constant and the factor of 4, equilibrium temperature and its derivative with respect to albedo, solar and terrestrial spectra, a single-layer model with a partially absorbing atmosphere, the logarithmic forcing of CO₂. The problems: the Planck response and the feedback factor, Arctic ice and albedo, five statements to correct, from burning gasoline to the rise in CO₂, Venus, Earth and Mars. The classics: snowball Earth, ocean inertia as a differential equation, emission altitude, Pinatubo aerosols, the surface energy budget. Sheet

When the chapters are done

A full paper under exam conditions, on the whole course. Do it once every chapter is behind you: it measures what you can do on a question you have never seen.

Practice exam

Practice final exam: waves, optics and modern physics, 203-SN3-RE

A three-hour final exam on the whole waves, optics and modern physics course, twelve exercises worth 100 marks, four parts of 25, with two figures to read. Oscillations and waves: a mass-spring system with the graph of how its energy is shared and the position where the two energies are equal, at 71 percent of the amplitude, a damped pendulum where half the amplitude means three quarters of the energy lost, a wave on a string with the transverse velocity told apart from the wave speed. Sound: decibels, distance and multiple sources, the Doppler effect where a moving source does not give the same frequency as a moving observer, a drawn Mach cone, open and closed pipes with beats and detuning by temperature. Optics: a converging lens and its two regimes, total internal reflection, a prism at minimum deviation and dispersion, then Young, the grating and the single slit with missing orders. Modern physics: the photoelectric effect, Bohr and the H-alpha line, de Broglie and a velocity uncertainty larger than the velocity itself, then five false statements to correct.

  • 12 questions
  • 100 points
  • 180 minutes
Sit the paper

Practice exam

Practice final exam, with heat and climate, 203-SN3-RE

A three-hour final exam, twelve exercises worth 100 marks, modelled on the outline of the new waves and modern physics course: resonance of a washing machine, equation of a travelling wave, violin string, grating and hydrogen lines, Rayleigh criterion, polarizers, Planck's constant from two stopping potentials, lines emitted by hydrogen, tritium in a glowing exit sign, cooler, temperature of an exoplanet, forcing and climate sensitivity. No geometric optics, with the heat and climate block of the new course.

  • 12 questions
  • 100 points
  • 180 minutes
Sit the paper

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