Physics Minor (B.Eng.) (18 credits)
Offered by: Physics (Faculty of Science)
Degree: Bachelor of Engineering
Program credit weight: 18
Program Description
The B.Eng.; Minor in Physics focuses on thermal physics and quantum physics. This program is open to engineering students in one of the following honours programs offered by the Faculty of Engineering; Honours in Electrical Engineering and Honours in Mechanical Engineering. See the Engineering Student Centre for details on authorization needed for this program.
A maximum of 9 credits of double-counting is allowed with the major.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHYS 253 | Thermal Physics. | 3 |
Thermal Physics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Energy, work, heat; first law. Temperature, entropy; second law. Absolute zero; third law. Equilibrium, equations of state, gases, liquids, solids, magnets; phase transitions. | ||
| PHYS 357 | Honours Quantum Physics 1. | 3 |
Honours Quantum Physics 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Experimental basis for quantum mechanics; wave-packets; uncertainty principle. Hilbert space formalism. Schrodinger equation: eigenvalues and eigenvectors: applications to 1-d problems including the infinite and finite potential wells and the harmonic oscillator. Tunneling. Time independent perturbation theory. | ||
| PHYS 457 | Honours Quantum Physics 2. | 3 |
Honours Quantum Physics 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Angular momentum and spin operators. Operator methods in quantum mechanics. Coupling of spin and angular momenta. Variational principles and elements of time dependent perturbation theory (the Golden Rule). Solution of the Schrodinger equation in three dimensions. Applications to the hydrogen and helium atoms and to simple problems in atomic and molecular physics. | ||
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
9 credits from the following:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PHYS 351 | Honours Classical Mechanics 2. | 3 |
Honours Classical Mechanics 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Rigid bodies, angular momentum, gyroscope, moment of inertia, principal axes, Euler's equations. Coupled oscillations and normal modes. Lagrangian mechanics and applications. Hamiltonian mechanics. Topics in advanced analytical mechanics. | ||
| PHYS 362 | Statistical Mechanics. | 3 |
Statistical Mechanics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Quantum states and ensemble averages. Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein and Boltzmann distribution functions and their applications. | ||
| PHYS 432 | Physics of Fluids. | 3 |
Physics of Fluids. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The physical properties of fluids. The kinematics and dynamics of flow. The effects of viscosity and turbulence. Applications of fluid mechanics in biophysics, geophysics and engineering. | ||
| PHYS 514 | General Relativity. | 3 |
General Relativity. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Transition from special to general relativity. Non-Euclidian geometry. The basic laws of Physics in co-variant form, Einstein's equations. Gravitational waves; neutron stars; black holes; cosmology. | ||
| PHYS 551 | Quantum Theory. | 3 |
Quantum Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. General formulation, scattering theory, WKBJ approximation, time-dependent perturbation, theory and applications, angular momentum, relativistic wave equations. | ||
| PHYS 557 | Nuclear Physics. | 3 |
Nuclear Physics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. General nuclear properties, nucleon-nucleon interaction and scattering theory, radioactivity, nuclear models, nuclear reactions. | ||
| PHYS 558 | Solid State Physics. | 3 |
Solid State Physics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Properties of crystals; free electron model, band structure; metals, insulators and semi-conductors; phonons; magnetism; selected additional topics in solid-state (e.g. ferroelectrics, elementary transport theory). | ||
| PHYS 559 | Advanced Statistical Mechanics. | 3 |
Advanced Statistical Mechanics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Scattering and structure factors. Review of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics; correlation functions (static); mean field theory; critical phenomena; broken symmetry; fluctuations, roughening. | ||
| PHYS 562 | Electromagnetic Theory. | 3 |
Electromagnetic Theory. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Electrostatics, dielectrics, magnetostatics, timevarying fields, relativity, radiating systems, fields of moving charges. | ||
| PHYS 567 | Particle Physics. | 3 |
Particle Physics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Survey of elementary particles; hadrons, leptons and hadrons' constituents (quarks). Invariance principles and conservation laws. Detectors and accelerators. Phenomenology of strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions. | ||