This fall I'm teaching our sophomore "Introduction to Modern Physics"
again after a gap of a few years, using Beiser's book. I'm working on my
syllabus for it, and once again I'm faced with the question of how deeply
to go into quantum mechanics.
The only physics course the students will have had so far is our
algebra/trig-based General Physics course, which has a little bit of
modern physics at the end of the second semester. Most of them will have
taken Calculus I, and will be taking Calculus II concurrently (out of a
four-course sequence), so that most of them will know something about
derivatives but will be shaky on integration.
When I taught the course before, I tried to develop the one-dimensional
Schroedinger equation and solve for the "particle in a box," as per
chapter 5 in Beiser. For the most part, the students found the math
extremely difficult. They were encountering complex variables, partial
derivatives, and differential equations, basically for the first time,
all at the same time! Very few of them really got anything out of it.
This time, I'm seriously considering omitting most discussion of the S.E.
and mainly talking about the wave function itself and the conditions that
it must satisfy. Perhaps I'd state the S.E. without trying to justify it,
and spend some time on what it means for a function to be a solution to
it. Then I'd move on to the hydrogen atom, wave my hands a bit, pull the
quantum numbers out of my hat, and discuss their physical significance.
I feel a bit guilty about doing this, because I've always thought of
sophomore Modern Physics as having at least an introduction to "real"
quantum mechanics. However, we do have an intermediate-level modern
physics course (based on Eisberg and Resnick) which we can target at
juniors, and which would fulfill that function.
Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation?
--
Jon Bell <jtbell@presby.edu> Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA