Phys212x - General Physics - Spring06
| Instructor: | Renate Wackerbauer, Office Location: NSF 106 phone: 474-6108 Office Hours: I am (usually) unavailable the hour before the start of any of my lectures, otherwise walk-ins are very welcome; appointments help; email is effective for straight-forward questions. Help Room: For homework related questions the physics conference room (122 NSF) is staffed at various times each day. Please see the schedule posted at the door of room 122, NSF. Noyes Computer Lab: Access to the Noyes Computer Lab (Rm 101 NSF) is provided to all students enrolled in a Physics course. Your polar express card lets you in. |
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| Course info: | Phys212x (34617-21), 4 credits. This course fulfills the core requirement for all majors. | |||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites: | Phys211x; concurrent enrollment in MATH 202x or instructor's
permission. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus will be used extensively. |
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| Lectures: | MWF 10:30 to 11:30 pm, NSF 201A. The lectures will explore material presented in the text. To read the text before the lecture helps to focus on the understanding of the "maybe tricky parts" during the lecture. |
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| Recitation: | One voluntary review session each week is offered. We will discuss homework, lectures, mathematical approaches, etc. Lots of questions and contributions from students are expected. Time: Tuesday, 5:30pm, NSF 202 | |||||||||||||||
| Material: | Required text: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, by Serway and Jewett, Thomson (6th edition, 2004): Chapters 19-34 Calculator: For homework/Lab a basic scientific calculator is required. Trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic functions is all you need. No calculators are allowed during quizzes and exams. Supplementary readings: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, by Fishbane et al.; Prentice Hall. This book is similar to the book by Serway et al. Feynman Lectures on Physics, by Feynman et al, Addison Wesley An excellent book for advanced reading. For Fun: Physics demonstrations and physics info on the Net (click here) |
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| Course Content: Tentative course calendar |
This course is a calculus-based introduction to basic
principles in physics (thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism). Thermodynamics: How is the transfer of energy related to molecular motion, temperature and the state of a system (solid, liquid, gas). James Joules (1818-1889) and Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906) are two representative physicists. Electricity and Magnetism: Electricity and magnetism play a major role in TV, computers, solar wind, the aurora, etc. How is electricity and magnetism related to each other? What are electromagnetic waves? Maxwell's laws (1831-1879) are basic to all forms of classical electromagnetic phenomena. |
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| Homework: | Feynman
(Nobel Laureate in Physics): "You do not know anything until you have
practiced" Homework will be assigned weekly on the Department's homepage. The homework is due by 5:00 pm on the following Thursday, unless explicitely altered at the time of assignment. Late homework will not be accepted. Finished homework should be placed in the designated box in the main office of the Physics Department. Homework assignments and solutions will be posted in the glass case in the Physics Department hallway for approximately 1 week. Graded homework will be turned back to you in your LAB section. Strictly enforced rules for homework assignments and cheating policy: 1) A HW solution that is just a number (without telling the formula used) receives 0 credit for this particular HW problem. 2) A particular HW assignment results in 0 credit, if a single HW problem of this assignment mimics a correct final answer (from the back of the book, maybe) but starts out with a wrong ansatz or skips all the intermediate steps. 3) Cheating, like copying solutions from a solutions book or an online source, results in 0 HW credit for the entire semester. |
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| Quizzes: quiz schedule |
There will be approximately 6 short (<10min) in-class quizzes throughout the semester. They will be closed book, closed notes and with no calculator allowed. The questions will be similar to recent homework problems or material covered in class. No make-up of quizzes is possible. | |||||||||||||||
| Lab: Lab schedule |
There is a lab associated with this course. ALL labs
and reports must be completed by
Friday, May 5, 2006 to get a passing grade for the lab. A
passing grade in the lab is necessary to pass this course. Lab make up will be during the
recitation week before finals, more details will be announced. You need
to get written permission to
attend another lab section if you can't attend your normal one on a
particular week. You get the permission from Robert Parsons, the
Laboratory Supervisor in NSF 114, (474-7857). If you don't have the
permission slip, the TA will not permit you to attend the different
section. Questions about the lab should be directed first to the teaching assistant in charge of your lab, and then to the Lab supervisor |
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| Examinations: | Two one-hour in-term examinations and a two hour final
examination will be held during the semester. In-term exams will be held
in the classroom. The exams will be closed books, closed notes,
and without a calculator. Formulas will be given (more details in
class). Recitation is scheduled in the Labs during the week before each
exam.
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| Grading: | A solution (homework, exam) that presents nothing more than a
restatement of the problem will receive zero credit. Partial credit will
be given, with the score of an individual problem ranging between zero
and full credit. Credit will be given for clarity of presentation, illegible
work will not be graded. For the final grade homework, exams, etc.
will be weighted as follows:
To pass the course, you need 50% of the total credits. Grades A - D are assigned equal weight for total credits between 50% and 100% unless otherwise noted. Small adjustments to this grade policy can be made based on the statistical point distribution of the class. |
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| Course policies: | Attendance at lectures is expected. Active class
participation, questions, comments on newspaper articles are extremely
welcome in the classes. A missed exam will receive 0 credit
unless the instructor is notified by email, phone, etc before the exam
starts. Make-up exams will be individually scheduled with the student. |
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| Cheating
policies: |
exams: cheating during an exam
results in 0 credit for this exam quizzes: cheating during a quizz results in 0 credit for this quiz homework: see above in HW section |
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| Student Obligations: | As students of UAF, you are bound by the policies and regulations of the University of Alaska, UAF rules and procedures, and the Student Honor Code. You are obligated to make yourselves familiar with all conditions presented in the UAF Catalog. If you have any kind of dissability, please ensure that you go to the dissabilities services program coordinator. I will work with the office of disabilities services (203 WHIT, 474-7043) to provide reasonable accomodations to students with disabilities. |