Engineering Physics 212, Section 1: University of Idaho: 2008 Summer
and and
The course mottos: very reassuring I think.
Sections
This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor. Any changes will be announced in class as well as made on this page.
which is the page you are maybe viewing right now.
This page is the preliminary syllabus and includes
syllabus items
and
Tentative Schedule II.
This page is/will be/may be linked from the official physics department
course web page.
By the way, there is also another section PHYS 211 section (section 1)
at MWF 12:30--1:20 pm---it's very unfull---if you are feeling
a touch of
enochlophobia---which
I used to think was
agoraphobia---with
Wikipedia, everybody is
a know-it-all---and and want to be
far from the madding crowd, then what about a nearly empty lunchtime
encounter with physics---the instructor
John Morrison
is lonely---be a pal to him.
Unfortunately, the recitations are NOT marked on any UI schedule that I can find.
The recitation leader is grad student Bruce Lee (W).
But the course instructor will also be present for all/some recitation
periods for awhile.
Bruce and I agree that the recitation will be mostly run in group mode
where groups of students work together on problems and Bruce and I
circulate giving help when needed.
With might do some problems at the board for everyone from time to time.
Group study among students both in recitation and out is great.
As always students are encourage to help each other with material and homework
problems.
But the there should be NO straight copying from each other---helping a person through
all the steps and comparing answers is good---straight copying is bad.
Homeworks will usually be due on Fridays, but the due dates for
particular homeworks may have to be set to other days to
accord with where we are in the material.
Students ideally should get most/all problems done before the recitation, but
undergraduates pioneered
just-in-time delivery
before anyone else.
There is also the
Tutoring and Academic Assistance Programs (TAAP), Commons, Room 322 and 327.
This program offers small group tutoring for students. You can sign up for
a group or request a new group. Intro physics courses typically have
existing groups after a short period into the semester.
This is really a pretty good deal. Group work is very effective and social.
Ideally students should have their own informal groups in addition to any
formal group, but sometimes it's hard to get to know people and the
TAAP
supplies a warm, fuzzy tutor.
This semester
TAAP intends
to run additional voluntary review sessions before tests with a tutor.
This plan is just for our course it seems as an experiment---we'll see how it
works out.
Chapters 6 and 7 look a little remixed and some other sections
might be changed a bit.
In terms of content using a 6th edition would be fine.
But you will have to adjust that sections might be a bit re-ordered.
Also problems might be changed or re-ordered.
This is no difficulty for any physics 211,212,213 courses I teach, since I use my
own problem bank and do NOT rely on the textbook problems.
But other instructors may assign homework questions from the textbook.
So if you need to take other courses in the physics 211,212,213 sequence, you may
have to get the questions from someone else which could be a hassle.
The actual topics covered in any intro physics book with calculus have stayed
virtually the same for 30 years if not 50 years.
With enough adaptations on the student's part almost any intro physics
textbook would do.
It has lots of words and boxes and examples and stuff.
To old-timers (e.g., yours truly), it's a bit over-busy.
We are planning to cover chapters 1--15, omitting chapter 14 and maybe 12.
See the
Tentative Schedule I below.
We will learn some physics.
At this level physics is rather abstract and idealized.
We deal with ideal motions, ideal point masses, ideal surfaces, ideal monkeys, ideal
systems, ideal circuits, ideal optical systems.
Many real everyday motions and systems are much more complex than the cases we deal with:
just think about walking, bike riding, skipping rope.
In particular, real everyday motions usually involve resistive media and surfaces.
We discuss those resistive forces a bit and consider friction.
The point of studying such ideal systems is to grasp the very basic laws of classical
phyiscs.
You don't need know intro physics to walk, ride a bike, or play catch---or to
turn on your lights.
Moreover, the oceans were sailed west by Columbus, east by the Polynesians, pyramids
and cathedrals were build and all without knowing intro physics.
But you do need to know it---and whole lot more---to design a rocket ship or a CD player.
You can only get so far by empirical means alone.
Note the ``alone'': empirical means are still essential.
Now some people in his course may not go on to advanced physics or engineering.
But you will go on to advanced something---and an improved understanding how to analyze
and predict from basic principles will be a boon---for many students, it may
be the most important
feature of this course.
That is the empowerment of intro physics.
Of course, studying intro physics enlightening.
It helps understanding eternity and infinity.
As well as understanding home.
There is some math in this course.
Quite a bit actually---but that's good.
You-all are all in programs that need math skills.
Many of you already know some
calculus.
But since many people are taking
calculus as a corequisite,
the tools of
calculus are introduced
gradually into our developments and problems.
It's no surprise to you that this is a pretty hard course.
But as I always say, it's nothing like
organic chemistry.
They are/will be posted along with their due dates
online on the
Tentative Schedule I below.
Usually the due dates will be Wednesdays (unless this has to be changed).
The due dates are subject to adjustment during the semester.
These will be announced in class as well as on the
Tentative Schedule I.
The course grader will mark all multiple-choice problems
and probably one full-answer problem chosen at random.
All questions are out of 5 points: there are part marks for full-answer
problems, but none for multiple-choice problems.
All homeworks count the same no matter what they are marked out of.
The solutions will be posted on the
Tentative Schedule I eventually.
Typically about 50 to 70 % or more of the exam questions
will be drawn from
the homeworks or, in the case of the FINAL, past exams also.
Questions that reappear on the exams
might be tweeked a bit from previous versions.
Homeworks will count 10 % or less of the final grade.
Handed in homeworks should be stapled, UNFOLDED, and
your should appear on the front and back.
The in-class exams cover the material up to some cut-off point
that will be announced in class and on the course web in the
Tentative Schedule I.
The final is about 50 % weighted or more on material since the last in-class
exam and about 50 % weighted or less on all the material that came before
the last in-class exam.
The in-class exams will consist of 20 multiple-choice questions
and a few full-answer questions.
Most of the multiple-choice questions are NOT intended to be
hard or tricky; they are intended as a warm-up.
There might be a few harder mathemetical ones in lieu of a full-answer questions.
NO scantrons are needed.
The final will be like a double-class exam in terms of questions of
various kinds.
The exams are closed book.
Calculators are permitted for calculational work only.
No stored solutions or formulae.
Cell phones MUST be turned off and be out of sight.
An equation sheet will be provided with the exams.
This is the same equation sheet that comes with the homeworks.
There are NO scheduled review days.
But students can keep the instructor busy answering questions
on the day before exams.
There are recitation periods recall.
And there might be time for a review day before the final.
The times and places will be announced in class and on the website
on the
Tentative Schedule I---if this
plan actually materializes.
Make-up exams are possible, but students must ask for them
promptly and avoid knowing anything about given exams.
Attendance is NOT kept and NO marks are assigned
for attendance.
Students are encouraged to keep good attendance.
There are absolutely NO extra credits.
Letter grades will be assigned following the
UI catalog---which allow instructors some freedom of
interpretation.
The instructor uses a curve to automatically
assign letter grades during the semester.
There is NO fixed scale.
The final grades are decided on by the instructor directly.
Students can always ask the instructor for their current
mark record and letter grades. Queries by email
are probably best for this.
The instructor will submit midterm grades and final grades
as scheduled in the
academic calendar.
Remember that after an instructor has submitted final grades,
any adjustments (except for purely clerical errors) are extremely
difficult.
Students should make any queries about their final grades before
the instructor submits them.
http://physics.nhn.ou.edu/~jeffery/course/c_intro/intrc.html
There is also a voluntary course recitation period:
Engineering/Physics (EP) 122, W 5:00--6:00.
The recitation period is in the regular classroom as you can see.
The instructor is also available for help with things whenever you
can catch him such as his office hours as given in
the instructor's schedule.
Probably there will be a concentration on getting homework problems answered in the
recitation.
For Physics 211.
For Physics 212.
Note
Serway, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Chapters 1--39, 6th edition
is almost the same text.
Serway is a pretty good book.
Those basic laws are NOT obvious---they are usually hidden in the complexity
of everyday motions and systems that we deal with empirically---learnt by
trial and error to oversimplify---and usually very effectively.
Using these basic laws, systems much more complex than ideal ones
can be analyzed---they can be
analyzed from first principles---or at least basic principles.
Eternity and infinity from our small platform.
Earthrise from Apollo 11, 1969jul16.
Credit:
NASA.
Not in this course.
The last material may receive less weighting on the final if the
time from the last in-class exam is short.
The tentative dates for the exams are:
_________________________________________________________________
Exam Date Solutions (posted post-exam)
_________________________________________________________________
Exam 1 Feb06 W Exam 1 solutions
Exam 2 Mar20 W Exam 2 solutions
Exam 2 Apr11 F Exam 3 solutions
Final Exam May06 T Final Exam solutions
The final is May 6, T, 10:00--12:00 in the regular class room
as specified by Final exam schedule for 2008 Spring.
_________________________________________________________________
Recall from above, that this semester
TAAP intends
to run additional voluntary review sessions before tests with a tutor.
This plan is just for our course it seems as an experiment---we'll see how it
works out.
homeworks 10 % or less 1 drop
2 in-class exams 45 % or more no drop
1 comprehensive final 45 % or more no drop
Each in-class exam is worth 15 % or more of the final grade.
Beware of aliens bearing grades.
No dated schedule has ever been adhered to by the instructor.
So there are no dates in this tentative schedule.
However, we have 16 weeks in the semester (not counting spring/fall recess) and we will lose about two weeks of classes for in-class exams and holidays: e.g., in the fall, Labor Day and in the spring Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day.
So about 14 weeks and 42 lecture class hours.
Since we are planning on 13 or 14 chapters (chapters 1--15 omitting chapter 14 and possibly chapter 12), we will be covering about a chapter per week with a bit of a safety margin.
Some parts of chapters may be omitted.
The instructor will follow Serway pretty closely with only occasionally (and hopefully advertized) deviations.
So Serway is pretty close to being the course notes.
No dated schedule has ever been adhered to by the instructor.
So there are no dates in this tentative schedule.
However, we have 8 weeks in the summer semester and 5 lectures a week.
So about 40-1=39 lecture class periods where the subtracted period is for the July 4 holiday.
Since we are planning on covering chapters 23--34 (12 chapters) we will cover about a chapter every 3 days.
In some cases, parts of chapters will be omitted.
The instructor will follow Serway pretty closely with only occasionally (and hopefully advertized) deviations.
So Serway is pretty close to being the course notes.
In any case, if you knew everything in Serway, you would know the course.