Section #: 589357
Class Time: MW 4:30PM - 6:40PM
Room: 5/211
Instructor: Douglas H. Laurence
Office: 7/135
Office Hours: M, T, W, R from 3:00P - 4:00P
For this course, you will be required to buy two items:
- Textbook: Physics for Engineers and Scientists, 3rd ed., Hans C. Ohanian (either Volume 2 and 3, or the full textbook). MasteringPhysics will not be used in this class, so you don't need to purchase a copy of the book that provides the code or buy an individual code. In place of homework, we will have weekly quizzes, though study assignments will be assigned from the textbook, so to maximize your studying capabilities in this course, I recommend buying the current edition of the required text.
- Other Materials: A scientific calculator, NOT a graphing calculator or any type of programmable calculator, which will NOT be allowed on exams
There are two more references I would recommend. For math, noting beats Paul's Online Math Notes, which provide an excellent review of all necessary math. For physics, MIT's Physics II lectures from 1999, given by Walter Lewin, are sort of the gold-standard for online lecture videos for physics. YouTube still has the videos uploaded, and a playlist for them can be found here. If you need more reference materials, feel free to ask me and I'll be more than happy to recommend additional sources.
During the semester, we will cover the following topics:
- Mathematics review
- Electrostatics
- Electrodynamics/Circuits
- Magnetism
- Geometric Optics
- Introduction to Modern Physics
- Relativity: Special relativity (Ch. 36) and Cosmology (last section of Ch. 41). Relativity is Einstein's study of objects that are either moving very fast (special relativity) or are very massive (general relativity).
- Quantum Mechanics: Quanta of light (Ch. 37); Spectral lines, Bohr theory, & quantum mechanics (Ch. 38); Atoms, molecules, & solids (Ch. 39); Nuclei (Ch. 40); and Elementary particles (first sections of Ch. 41). Quantum mechanics is the study of the really small, like particles, nuclei, and atoms.
For each exam, except for the final, you will have the first 1 hour and 15 minutes of class to take the exam. There will be a 5 minute break after the exam. The roughly 50 minutes remaining will be used to cover new material. Because the summer semester is short, we have to be economic with our time.
The exams will be a mixture of multiple choice questions and free response problems, with 10 multiple choice questions worth 2.5 points each (total of 25 points) and 3 free response problems worth 25 points each (total of 75 points). There will actually be FOUR available free response problems, of which you only need to answer THREE; you CANNOT do the fourth problem for extra credit. The material covered on each exam is going to break down like:
- Exam 1: Chapters 22 - 28
- Exam 2: Chapters 29 - 31 and 33 - 34
- Exam 3: Modern Physics (Chapters TBD)
- Final: All material covered on previous exams
At the start of every week, on a Monday unless otherwise stated, we will have a short quiz at the end of the first class. This quiz will have two questions: one conceptual, multiple-choice question, and one problem involving computation, which may or may not be multiple-choice. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped in the calculation of your final grade.
Tentative Course Schedule:
WEEK | MONDAY | WEDNESDAY | REVIEW QUESTIONS | QUIZ SOLUTIONS |
---|---|---|---|---|
May 14 | Electric Force / Electric Field | Electric Field | Lecture 1, Lecture 2 | |
May 21 | Gauss' Law | Gauss' Law | Lecture 3, Lecture 4 | Quiz 1 |
May 28 | Memorial Day | Class Cancelled | ||
June 4 | Electrical Energy / Potential | Capacitance / Ohm's Law | Lecture 5 | |
June 11 | Exam 1 Review | Exam 1 / Ohm's Law | ||
June 18 | DC Circuits | DC Circuits | Lecture 7 | |
June 25 | DC Circuits/Magnetism | Magnetism | June 25, June 27 | |
July 2 | Magnetism | July 4th | ||
July 9 | Electromagnetic Induction | Exam 2 Review | ||
July 16 | Exam 2 / EM Waves | Optics / Modern Physics | ||
July 23 | Modern Physics | Exam 3 Review | ||
July 30 | Exam 3 / Final Exam Review | Final Exam Review | ||
August 6 | Final Exam | Classes End |
Grading Scheme:
Quizzes | 15 points |
Lowest-Graded Exam | 10 points |
Mid-Graded Exam | 20 points |
Highest-Graded Exam | 25 points |
Final Exam | 30 points |
Total | 100 points |
---|
Grading Sale:
Letter Grade | Points Earned |
---|---|
A | 85.0 - 100.0 |
B | 75.0 - 84.9 |
C | 65.0 - 74.9 |
D | 55.0 - 64.9 |
F | < 55.0 |