Advice for students interested
in Physics
This is an attempt to answer some of the common student
questions about studying physics at Hamilton. You can read
though this document as a whole or you can click on the
questions you are interested in.
- Will I get any credit for AP
Physics?
- How should I begin studying physics at
Hamilton?
- What courses follow the core
courses?
- What about Engineering?
- Will I get any credit for AP Physics?
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Learn the full details of AP policy.
- How should I begin studying physics at Hamilton?
- Our goal is to provide a broad ranging, smoothly graduated, exciting study
of the major ideas in physics.
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- The first year of the introductory sequence (190 & 195) is self-contained
in that it will provide important material to students whose interests include
physics but who may wish to major in another science or in mathematics.
Among the topics included in the first term are conservation laws in particle
mechanics, special relativity, the Bohr atom, general relativity, and gravity.
The second term turns from particles to concentrate on waves and wave phenomena
and includes topics such as mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves, matter
waves, and the wave-particle duality.
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- The second year allows you to broaden and deepen your knowledge of quantum
ideas and the physics of fields. The first term (290) is mostly about the
world of the atom as described by quantum mechanics, a theory that has been
supremely successful and yet about which much continues to be learned. This
semester has a standard labd which is a set of carefully designed (and only
occasionally out of control!) laboratory investigations designed to allow
the student to examine nature in the light of the theories and models studied
in class. The spring term (295 and 245) is devoted to an exploration of
electromagnetism, the most coherent and successful field theory we have.
This completes the introductory core of the concentration. The lab for this
course is separate course that provides a thorough hands-on introduction
to the practice of electronics (applied E&M) and a low-level introduction
to programming coputers.
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- A word about mathematics: In general, those interested in the mathematical
sciences should be studying math along with their other courses. In your
first year you should enroll in introductory calculus unless the Mathematics
department suggests a higher level (in which case you should follow their
advice). After calculus, many physics students take linear algebra and then
differential equations.
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- In any event, it is always an excellent idea to come and find one of the
physics faculty and talk to them before you sign up for courses if you think
you might be interested in studying physics. After talking with you we can
help you develop goals and give you advice about the best mix of courses
to help you advance toward them.
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- What courses follow the core courses?
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- Here there are many choices to be made and they usually depend on your
interests in the near and long term. Some have said that the study of physics
is an ideal liberal arts education for the highly technological 21st century.
Students with this view may well go on to the high-tech business world or
law school, for example. Other career choices include teaching, or engineering,
while still others may wish to go to physics graduate school.
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- We do have certain upper level requirements that all must satisfy. All
are expected to take our advanced Research Seminar course and all must complete
a term-long research study in the senior year. Of the four remaining courses
for the major (there are a total of ten courses required) we expect at least
two to be drawn from the physics department offerings. Normally all four
will be physics courses but we also allow for courses taken outside the
department that support interdisciplinary interests such as psychophysics,
chemical physics, mathematical physics, computational physics, geophysics,
teacher preparation, etc.
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- What about Engineering?
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- Students interested in the 3-2 or 4-2 engineering programs affiliating
Hamilton with engineering schools should take the first year of calculus
based introductory physics, and calculus (or beyond if mathematics placement
so warrants) in their first year. There are many possible options in engineering
programs, and because of their complexity beyond the first year, interested
students should consult the engineering advisor. This is also the case for
those who have taken algebra based introductory physics and then have become
interested in engineering. The engineering advisor is Professor Millet.
