232 Physics General University Physics
Spring 2009
Lecture Location: Lecturer: Office: Office Hours: Telephone: E-mail: Room 153, Chem-Phys Bldg. Prof. Terrence Draper Room 389, Chem-Phys Bldg. MWF 11:05 AM 11:55 AM 257-3413 [e-mail]
If you took Phy 231 last semester, you will find that many, but not all, of the logistics are much the same this semester. Nevertheless, please read this entire syllabus carefully, and refer to it often. If you have any question about the structure or administration of the course, you are likely to find the answer here. There are two different lectures (9AM for odd recitation section numbers, and 10AM for even) which are logically separated. Make sure that you attend the lecture in which you are registered and that you take the exams at your scheduled time (to get credit for them). Also, attend the recitation section to which you have been assigned. Since there are several recitation sections which are held simultaneously, learn your recitation section number, your meeting time and place (see the Schedule of Classes) and your recitation instructor's name. Sections: Lecture Times: 001, 003, 005, 007, 009 002, 004, 006, 008, 010 MWF 9:00 AM 9:50 AM MWF 10:00 AM 10:50 AM
The laboratory Phy 242 is administered as a different course with a different instructor.
Course Description
Goals: To think analytically, and retain, organize and employ facts purposefully, critically and effectively. To strive to harness this way of thinking to help you understand, assess, appreciate and criticize modern science and technology. Phy 232 is part of sequence of introductory physics for science and engineering students. In Phy 232, students will study the subjects of electricity, magnetism, and light.
Textbook and Ancillaries
The textbook for the course is Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Seventh Edition, by Serway & Jewett. One of the most important strategies for successfully learning the material (and getting a good grade) is for you to read the corresponding sections of the text before you come to class, as lectures will be spent expanding on the textbook's content. The textbook is the same as was used last semester for Phy 231. Recall that it was bundled with a PassCard which contained an access code (for each of two semesters) for WebAssign, the on-line homework system we will use again this semester, and a "clicker", which you can reuse this semester, for the lecture response system. If you buy the textbook this semester, make sure you also buy a WebAssign access code (which can be purchased on-line see below), and a TurningPoint Radio Frequency (RF) clicker, which is available at the campus bookstores.
Web Site
Visit http://www.pa.uky.edu/~draper/courses/phy232s09/, the Phy 232 Web Site, which can also be reached from the departmental web site at http://www.pa.uky.edu/. Periodically, look for
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important announcements. Also, some of the notes presented in class will be available on the web site before and after lectures. Because of copyright considerations, some of the course material is password protected. To gain access, enter the user name and password which I will give to you in lecture. Please safeguard this information! Do not save it on any public computer. If you forget the password you will have to contact me in person. This information will not be sent by e-mail.
Class Meetings
Phy 232 meets formally for four hours per week. You should expect to spend at least two hours studying physics outside of class for each hour you spend inside. The entire class will meet three hours per week (MWF 9 AM or 10 AM) in the lecture/demonstration hall CP 155. The lectures will roughly follow the textbook, and will augment the reading assignments; I will assume that you have read the assignment before coming to class. Unless explicitly mentioned in class, students are responsible for both material assigned as reading (even if we do not "cover it" in class) and material presented in lecture. These lectures will be devoted to examining your current conceptions, demonstrating physical phenomena, describing quantitatively the characteristics of physical phenomena, and establishing relationships among them. These relationships are most easily expressed with calculus-based mathematics, which is why Ma 213 is a concurrent requirement (and preferably a prerequisite) for the course. You are strongly encouraged to enroll concurrently in Phy 242, the companion laboratory course. Lecture time will also be devoted to teaching problem-solving skills needed to do the assigned homework. For one hour each Thursday, smaller groups of students will meet with a recitation instructor in a recitation class (see your Schedule of Classes), where some of the problems from the homework set (based on the lectures of the previous few days) will be discussed and a weekly quiz given. Make sure that you take advantage of the opportunity to ask for help in recitation as well as in lecture, and be prepared to communicate your points of confusion to both the lecture and recitation instructors.
Examinations and Grading
Your course grade will be determined as follows: In-class exam #1 In-class exam #2 Final exam Lecture grade Homework grade Recitation grade Total 20% 20% 35% 10% 10% 5% 100%
You will receive a course grade of "A" if your total score at the end of the semester is 90% or above, a "B" for 75% or above, a "C" for 60% or above, and a "D" for 50% or above. However, these thresholds may be revised downward if the overall class average is low. After each exam, an estimate of your current letter grade will be given. Lecture Grade: Physics is not a spectator sport! You will make best use of the lectures if you attempt to become actively engaged. Ask questions about what you have read and make predictions about the outcomes of real or imagined experiments. Often in lecture, we will go over several "concept quizzes" for credit; the purpose is to focus our attention on important concepts, and for the lecturer to receive feedback on how well the class is understanding a concept. You are likely to find some of these (or related) questions on exams. The quizzes will be administered as follows: A multiple-choice question on the lecture's material will be shown and you will given about one minute to select an answer on your own. This will be followed by a couple of minutes of open discussion with your fellow students. All students will then record their choices with the aid of a radio-frequency (RF) "clicker". If the class response indicates that the concept
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is understood we will proceed. Each student will be awarded 3 points for entering an answer and an additional 2 points (for a total of 5) if the answer is correct. Only a TurningPoint (TP) RF clicker is acceptable. This is now the campus standard, so you may already have one from another class. Otherwise, you may buy one at one of the campus bookstores. Older versions of clickers, such as the Response Innovations (RI) brand of RF, are unreliable. These and even older technologies, infrared (IR) and Personal Response System (PRS), are obsolete and forbidden. Once you have your clicker, it must be registered as soon as possible in order for your lecture grade answers to be accepted. See the Phy 232 Web Site for details. At the end of the course, the "Lecture Grade" component of your overall course numerical score will not be affected if you miss (or otherwise do not answer) up to 20% of the quizzes (e.g. forgot clicker, clicker didn't work, absent due to illness, or absent for any other reason). This is very lenient and offers you flexibility in case you must miss lectures due to illness or university-sanctioned trips. Thus do not petition me for an excused absence from lecture -- this will cut down needless paperwork for both of us; essentially, you are offered EIGHT excused absences automatically, so save them in case you really need them. Of course, by missing lecture you will miss information that I cannot convey in the printed lecture slides, so try to attend all lectures. If you miss a quiz because your clicker does not work, make every effort to resolve the problem as soon as possible, so you don't use up all of your eight excused absences. Exams: There will be two fifty-minute exams and a two-hour final exam, which will be comprehensive. All exam dates are indicated on the Reading Assignment Schedule. Any student who cheats on an exam will be subject to severe disciplinary action by the university. If you anticipate missing an exam (for example, if you are a member of an inter-scholastic athletic team which will be out of town on the day of the exam), provide me with a written request and supporting documents (such as provided by your team) at least one week in advance. Notify me as soon as possible after unexpected emergencies in your immediate family. If you are physically unable to take an exam due to illness, contact me by e-mail before or very soon after the exam, and be prepared to provide documentation (a contact phone number from a physician or a signed note from a university official). If you miss a exam without valid a excuse, you will receive a zero for the exam. If you miss a single exam with an excused absence, you will be given either a make-up exam (which will not be less demanding than the exam missed), or, at my discretion, a calculated replacement grade to restore the points lost on the missed exam. In the latter case, your grade for the missing exam will be calculated from your ranking on the other two fifty-minute exams. If you miss the final examination or two fifty-minute exams, you may, at my discretion, get an I-grade only if you have a valid excuse and the average of your exam scores indicates a possibility of passing the course. You will have to complete the course at another time. If you wish to submit an exam for re-grading, first make sure that you understand how to do the problem correctly (see the posted solutions, for example). Then, within a couple of days of receiving your exam back, provide an explanation of your request on a separate signed sheet of paper, and hand it to your recitation instructor who will forward it to the grader. Make no marks on the solution that you submit for re-grading, so that it can be compared with the photocopy on file. (Exams will be photocopied before they are returned.) Any appeals concerning grades for exams must be resolved within two weeks of receiving your exam back. At semester's end, do not appeal to your recitation instructor for a reconsideration of a score assigned weeks previously. Homework Grade: Homework will be administered on-line through WebAssign. Go to the Phy 232 Web Site and follow links to register. All students will have the same generic numeric questions; however, each student has different parameters and hence different answers. Collaboration is encouraged, but rote copying of answers and random guessing will be counterproductive. After the weekly homework submission deadline, you can view answers to the problems and your updated homework scores. Please peruse the Reading Assignment Schedule (RAS) for a list of topics to be covered each lecture, and for the due dates of the homework sets. About when a homework set is due, a new homework set will be available. The problems will be on material covered on a few (typically three) lectures; these are
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grouped between horizontal lines in the RAS. In order to keep current with the material, you should try working out the appropriate problems after each lecture and before the next. On the following Thursday in recitation, the recitation instructor will discuss some of the problems pertaining to that week's homework assignment. (You are expected to participate and make this process interactive.) After recitation, continue to work out the problems off-line (some may take some time), then log back in and continue to submit answers (including retries) at your own pace (over several sessions if desired) until all of your questions are answered correctly, or until the deadline at 5 PM, on the Friday after recitation, as indicated in the RAS. Answers to all problems should be entered, even those discussed in recitation. To get started, you must set up and learn to use your computer homework account. You will not be able to log on unless your name appears on the UK registrar's official Phy 232 class roster. Soon after the first lecture, read and follow the instructions at http://webassign.net/. First, register yourself: click on "login" and it will ask you for your username (enter your UK "Active Directory ID"), institution (enter "uky"), and a password which I will announce in lecture. After you login, you should change your password (click on "My Options") to something convenient. After a grace period, you will need the access code from the WebAssign PassCard which comes packaged with your textbook. If you do not have one (because you bought the textbook elsewhere, without the code) you may purchase one on-line at your WebAssign home page. Once you're logged on, click on "Guide" to peruse the Student Instructions. Learn enough so that you can access the first homework assignment and how to submit answers. Work at least one (easy) question and submit your answer as soon as possible so that you are familiar with the technicalities of the homework service. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the scoring procedure. Your lowest two weekly homework scores (out of a total of twelve) will be dropped before calculating the semester's homework score. This is very lenient, so don't ask me to let you submit an assignment after the deadline. You should print a copy of your scores weekly for your own records. Our emphasis will be on an understanding of the underlying physics concepts as well as on problemsolving skills. In addition to being able to solve all of the assigned problems, you will also be expected on exams to be able to apply the concepts involved in these problems to somewhat different situations. Focus on gaining an understanding of the physical concepts involved rather than merely learning to memorize formulas and plug in numbers. This may involve qualitative and sometimes creative answers to questions or problems. It will thus be good practice for the exams if you attempt to do additional problems from the textbook. (Numerical answers to odd-numbered problems appear in the back of the textbook.) Recitation Grade: To encourage you to keep up with the material and to motivate you to avoid postponing attempting the homework until after recitation, most of the recitation sessions will include a quiz to be taken for credit. The quiz will consist of a problem similar to one of that week's homework problems. Your lowest two weekly recitation quiz scores will be dropped before calculating the semester's recitation grade. This is very lenient, and is intended to offer you flexibility in case you must miss a couple of recitations due to illness. Accordingly, please do not petition your recitation instructor for an excused absence from recitation; essentially, you are offered two automatically, so save them in case you really do get sick. You should make a copy of your scores weekly for your own records.
University Studies
Phy 232 may be taken to fulfill part of the Natural Sciences Requirement in the University Studies Program. A good scientist or engineer must possess knowledge of their discipline, and be able to communicate that knowledge effectively. The writing component of the University Studies will be satisfied through the clear, coherent, and orderly presentation of the physics principles involved in your solution to problems in exams, using not only equations and numbers, but also words and diagrams!
Course Evaluations
Course evaluations are an important component of our Department's instructional program. An online course evaluation system was developed to allow each student ample time to evaluate the course and
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instructor, thus providing the Department with meaningful numerical scores and detailed commentary. The evaluation window for Spring 2009 will be open April 1329. To access the system during this time, simply go to http://www.pa.uky.edu and click on "Course Evaluation"; then follow the instructions. You will need to use your student ID number to log into the system, and this will also allow us to monitor who has filled out the evaluation. However, when you log-in you will be assigned a random number that will keep all your comments and scores anonymous.
Resources
Phy 232 is an intensive and demanding course. Consult often with your lecturer and recitation instructor. You are encouraged to ask both of them, or any of the other recitation instructors, questions during their posted office hours. (See the Recitation Section page for a list of office hours.) Phy 232 Web Site at http://www.pa.uky.edu/~draper/courses/phy232s09/ Can be surfed from http://www.pa.uky.edu/, the Web Site of the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Contains important announcements you may have missed in class. Contains an updated copy of this Syllabus, the Reading Assignment Schedule, and the list of office hours for the instructors of each Recitation Section. Contains links to other useful sites. Is a convenient place from which to e-mail your lecturer. Textbook Web Site at http://thomsonedu.com/physics Homework Web Site at http://webassign.net/ Resource Room in M.I. King Library, Rm. 310J Is a comfortable environment for studying. Is staffed several times throughout the week with teaching assistants who are paid to answer your questions. Phy 232 Bulletin Board Is where homework solutions, exam solutions, and grades will be posted. Is located on the second floor in the hallway closest to Rose street. University Computer Accounts For assistance in obtaining a computer account, contact UK Information Technology, Room 111 McVey Hall, 257-1300 (http://www.uky.edu/UKIT). Fellow students You are encouraged to consult on in-class work and on homework problems. For the homework, you must enter your own answers on-line. (The questions and answers will differ numerically from those of fellow students.) On exams and recitation quizzes, you must show only your own work and not consult with others.