This guide is for an instructor who wants a fast, workable 10-week path through the book. It keeps the narrative spine intact: relativity, wave optics, quantum mechanics, atomic structure, then nuclear and particle physics. If you have more time, stretch any week into two; if you have less, trim from the right-hand side of the table first.
Suggested 10-Week Pacing¶
| Week | Assign | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chapter 1, all sections | Remove the ether picture and motivate special relativity. |
| 2 | Chapter 2, “Simultaneity, Time Dilation, and Length Contraction” | Establish the new kinematics. |
| 3 | Chapter 2, the remaining sections; Chapter 3, “Relativistic Momentum” | Finish the Lorentz transformation and start dynamics. |
| 4 | Chapter 3, the remaining sections | Cover energy, four-vectors, and threshold arguments. |
| 5 | Chapter 4, the first two sections | Build interference, coherence, and superposition. |
| 6 | Chapter 4, the remaining section; Chapter 5, the first section | Finish interference and begin diffraction. |
| 7 | Chapter 5, the remaining sections; Chapter 6, the first section | Finish wave optics and introduce photon behavior. |
| 8 | Chapters 6 and 7 | Cover the photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, de Broglie waves, and uncertainty. |
| 9 | Chapters 8 and 9 | Develop the Schrodinger equation and 3D quantum mechanics. |
| 10 | Chapters 10 and 11, then selected reading from Chapters 12-14 | End with atoms, many-electron structure, and a brief look at nuclei and the Standard Model. |
What To Trim First¶
If the term gets tight, the best places to compress are:
Chapter 5, later sections on gratings and resolution.
Chapter 9, the isotropic oscillator material.
Chapter 12, the more detailed molecular-orbital discussion.
Chapter 14, the historical particle-zoo section.
If you want a course that reaches the Standard Model in less than a full semester, keep Chapters 1-11 in order, then assign only the opening section of Chapter 13 and the first and last sections of Chapter 14.