PHYSICS
111
Elements
of Physics
Spring 2009
Natural
Science 112
MWF
Instructor:
Dr.
C. L. Davis
Office:
Room
205,
Office Hours:
Monday,
Tuesday,
Wednesday,
or by appointment
Telephone:
852‑0852
Email:
c.l.davis@louisville.edu
WWW:
http://www.physics.louisville.edu/cldavis/phys111/spring09/index.html
Text:
“Applied Physics for Physics 111” by Ewen,
Schurter and Gundersen
Custom Edition for
INTRODUCTION
This course
is designed
to provide an introduction to some of the basic ideas and concepts of
physics. We will cover basic mechanics
(including force, energy and momentum), Archimedes principle,
simple harmonic motion, wave motion, electricity and magnetism, basic
properties of light and geometric optics and some atomic and nuclear
physics. Emphasis will be placed on
developing understanding of concepts and problem solving skills. The laboratory component will provide direct
experience of some of the concepts and phenomena introduced. No previous knowledge of physics will be
assumed. However, an understanding of
simple geometry, algebra and trigonometry is essential.
The University’s General Education
requirement of a Natural Science with a laboratory is satisfied by this
course. The course is also recommended
for pre-Engineering and pre-Natural Science preparation, particularly
for those
who did not take physics in high school.
Many people
find physics
difficult and intimidating, I will attempt
to make it
less so on both counts. You will make
your life much easier if you follow these few pieces of advice.
·
Be prepared.
·
Read the material
from the text before attending
class.
·
Try to
concentrate on what is being said in class
rather than on taking notes.
·
Don’t miss class
or conference/laboratory
sessions.
· Most important,
don’t get left behind. Attempt to
resolve any difficulty in your understanding of the
material as soon as possible.
Access to the
WWW is
essential for this course. This syllabus, laboratory exercises and
instructions, laboratory/conference schedule, homework assignments,
summaries
of covered material, sample tests and important course announcements
will be
accessible at the above web address.
Some of this information will also be presented in class, but in
order
to be fully informed you should make a point of regularly checking the
class
web pages for new information.
GRADES
Grades will
be assigned
according to the scale indicated below,
A
³
79 %
79
% >
A-
³
76 %
76
% >
B+
³
73 %
73
% >
B
³
69 %
69
% >
B-
³
66 %
66
% >
C+
³
61 %
61
% >
C
³
56 %
56
% >
C-
³
51 %
51
% >
D+
³
48 %
48
% >
D
³
45 %
45
% >
D-
³
42 %
42
% >
F
Do not be
deceived, the
grading scale may be seem "easy". However, be warned, the tests will not be
easy.
The final
score, from
which your final grade will assigned, will be obtained from your
performance on
four tests, the laboratory exercises and homework/quiz as indicated
below.
Test
1
(Feb 2nd)
16%
Test
2
(Feb 23rd)
16%
Test
3
(Mar 30th)
16%
Test
4
(Apr 24th)
16%
HW/Quiz
16%
Laboratory
Exercises
20%
·
Test 4 is not
a comprehensive final
·
If you do not submit a report for
each lab assignment you
will be assigned an “F”, independent of your final score.
·
If you do not take all four tests you
will be assigned an
"F", independent of your performance in other tasks.
·
The above test dates are tentative,
but are not expected to
change by more than a few classes either way.
You will be given at least one week notice of any change in test
dates.
·
Make‑up tests will be given only in cases of extreme emergency.
It is the instructor who will decide whether
the emergency is extreme enough and in such cases written verification
of the
emergency will be required e.g. in the case of a medical emergency a
physician's letter is necessary. If a
make-up test is authorized it must
be completed before the date of the next
test.
There will be no
make-up arrangements for quizzes and homework.
·
The instructor reserves the right to
lower the letter grade
boundaries if deemed appropriate.
LABORATORY/CONFERENCE
SESSIONS
When you
registered for
this course you registered for a particular section (A-F).
In addition to the class meetings in NS112
MWF, each section has a separate meeting time;
A
Tuesday
B
Tuesday
C
Tuesday
D
Wednesday
E
Wednesday
F
Thursday
There will be
five
laboratory sessions, seven conference sessions and one
conference/laboratory
make-up session. The attached schedule
specifies the week by week division between laboratory and conference. Laboratory and conference sessions will be
directed by graduate teaching assistants according to guidelines issued
by the
instructor.
Conference
sessions will
be primarily used to help with the assigned homework and to address
problem
solving skills in general. Upon request,
specific concepts may also be reviewed.
Quizzes counting towards your final grade will also be given in
conference sessions.
Laboratory
sessions will
enable you to gain experience with some of the concepts we will study
through
direct experimentation. Instructions for
each of the five laboratory sessions can be downloaded via the class
web
pages. Please note that each laboratory
exercise includes a pre-lab component which must be submitted to the
graduate
teaching instructor at the start of
the session. The instructions for each
lab are undergoing continuous refinement,
therefore you
are advised not to download the instructions prior to one week before
each
scheduled lab.
Pre-lab
exercises,
laboratory reports and quizzes given in conference sessions will be
graded by
the graduate teaching instructor assigned to your section. The
instructors are
given specific instructions grading instructions. However, in order to
maintain
consistency between sections, it may be necessary to adjust final lab
and/or
quiz grades. This means that your final
lab and/or recitation quiz grade may be slightly higher or lower
(typically no
more than 5%) than the originally assigned value. Please
bear this in mind when calculating
your final grade.
Important: You must
submit a
pre-lab and lab report for each of the five labs. If
you miss a lab, there is a make-up week
scheduled at the end of the semester. Only one make-up lab
will be allowed. It is your
responsibility to inform your lab instructor that you need to attend
the
make-up session no later than one week before your scheduled make-up
time. If
you do not have a grade for each of the five labs you will receive an
“F” for
the course, independent of your test and homework/quiz score.
HOMEWORK/QUIZ
Homework
problems will
be assigned at the end of each class meeting and are always due the
next class
meeting. Due to the limited availability
of grading assistance, homework assignments will not be collected every
class. However, you will not be told in
advance when
an assignment is to be collected. Very
simply, the goal is for you to attempt all the assigned problems while
only a fraction are graded.
You are strongly recommended to learn how to solve these
problems. The tests will consist of
problems similar in
difficulty and content to the homework problems. Please
feel free to work on the homework
problems in groups, but be sure to submit your own work.
Assistance in solving the homework problems
can be obtained during the conference sessions and from the instructor
during
the listed office hours, or by appointment at some other time.
Quizzes may
be given in regular the class meetings as well as the conference
sessions. The requirements of such
quizzes will be clearly explained at the appropriate time.
All homework and quiz assignments will carry
equal weight. For example, if there are
5 homework assignments and 11 quizzes during the semester each
assignment will
be worth 1% of your overall grade.
SYLLABUS
The course
will be based
upon material contained in Chapters 1‑7 11, 12, 15-17, 19-22 of the
above
text. The breakdown of sections expected
to be covered is indicated below.
However, certain of these sections may be omitted due to the
time
constraints imposed by a one semester course.
For some of the topics discussed the instructor will present
additional
material (not contained in the text).
Web notes will be available for this material.
Mechanics
Ch
1: All sections
Ch 2: All
sections
Ch 3: 3.1 –
3.3
Ch 4: All
sections
Ch 5: All
sections
Ch 6: 6.1
Ch 7: All
sections
Fluids,
SHM and Waves:
Ch
11: 11.2, 11.5
Ch 12: 12.1,
12.3, 12.4
Ch 15: 15.1,
15.5, 15.6
Electricity
and Magnetism:
Ch
16: 16.1 – 16.9, 16.13
Ch 17: 17.1,
17.2, 17.7
Light,
Atomic and Nuclear Physics:
Ch
15: 15.2
Ch
19: 19.1, 19.3, 19.4
Ch 20: All
sections
Ch 21: 21.1
Ch 11: 11.1
Ch 22: 22.1
– 22.3
AUDITING
Auditors are
welcome. However, whether you audit from
the start or through the standard change of grade type procedure, the
minimum
requirement for receiving the audit grade is as follows.
You must attend all four tests (in each case
submitting a paper for grading), take part and submit pre-lab and lab
reports
for each of the five laboratory experiments and submit more than half
the homework/quiz
assignments. There is no stipulation on
the quality of the submitted work. In
fact a paper with your name on top is sufficient. But
be warned, if you choose to audit, your
test and homework/quiz submissions will be recorded.
If this minimum requirement is not met you
will receive a "W" for the course.