Physics 214 Fundamentals of Phys

Physics 214 Fundamentals of Physics II

Spring 2008

Dr. Laura Van Wormer

Office hours: I am usually around MWF by 8:30 am and here at least until 4:30 pm and will be in on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. Feel free to stop by whenever you have a question or want to talk. I can always be reached by e-mail (vanwormerla) or voice mail/phone call (5249), and we can schedule a time to meet. I check both frequently, and check my email when at home. My office is Gerstacker 108.

Course web site: home.hiram.edu/www/physics/PHYS214/phys_214.htm

Meeting time and place: MWF 2:45-4:05 pm Colton 2 for class (Colton 17 for lab)

Text: Thomas Moore's Six Ideas That Shaped Physics, 2nd Edition, Units E and Q, and Unit O by Paul deYoung

Goals: I have several goals for this course; some are academic and some are not. The non-academic goals include showing you how much fun physics can be and how relevant it is to your life!

There are many skills and ideas that I hope you will have understood and mastered this term. The concepts that you will learn to understand and apply are:

§ electric and magnetic fields, what causes them, where they exist in our universe and how they behave

§ we will begin exploring quantum physics and, briefly, atomic and nuclear physics

§ mathematical skills such as multiplying vectors using both dot and cross products, taking derivatives and doing regular integrals as well as line and area integrals.

In lab we will continue to work on developing and applying knowledge of concepts and practice hands-on skills:

§ understanding the application and limitation of experimental data and theoretical frameworks to the natural world

§ wiring and understanding circuits, exploring charge, lenses, light, and radioactivity

Grading contract: You will have 2 mid-term exams, WarmUps, weekly homework assignments, a lab grade (consisting of the weekly labs, a lab report and a re-write) and a final exam. The exact percentages assigned to each portion will be up to you--within limits! Click on the underlined link above to find the grading contract.

Homework: Understanding physics is nearly impossible without DOING physics. Most people learn best by working on problems together; therefore I encourage talking with others in order to learn and understand—share your ideas! (The solutions you write up should be your own. If you truly understand the problem, you should be able to do and explain it in your own words.) I also would love to work with you individually or in groups, so please stop by and let’s talk!

Each homework problem is graded on a 10 point scale. If you've made an effort, you will receive 4 points. Be aware that getting a 4 also means you completely missed the point! The other 6 points will be based on how much of the problem is correct, with sufficient explanation, intermediate steps provided, proper units etc. I will collect homework every Friday.

WarmUps: WarmUps are questions that I would like you to think about and respond to BEFORE we cover that material in class. Most of them will come from the Two Minute problems in your text. They will be due at 11:00 am the day we will cover that material in class, and we will go over them together in class. I use the WarmUps in several ways. The questions are designed to get you thinking about the material that will be covered in class that day. If you to begin to explore the material before we cover it, it will make more sense when we talk about it in class and you can use class time to ask questions and develop a deeper understanding. Their second function is to help me determine what you understand and what you find still confusing and shape my lecture accordingly.

I will grade the WarmUps according to the thoughtfulness and completeness of the answer. The grade will not depend on whether your answer is correct. I want to know how you are thinking about the idea, your thought process. A check (9) means you gave a thoughtful and complete answer; it depends on effort and completeness not on whether the answer is correct. If you explain yourself well and clearly, after giving thought to the question you will get a check. A check plus (10) will be given for an especially fine response, one that is over and above expectations perhaps by bringing in other relevant material, giving a clear example or making deeper connections. The check minus (6) will be given for a bare answer that has little or no explanation given. Many of the questions are multiple choice or true/false, so if you just give an answer without explaining why you chose that answer, you will receive a check minus.

Exams: There will be two exams during the semester, on Friday Feb. 8 and Wednesday Mar. 19. The exams are closed book, closed notes, but I will allow you to create an equation sheet. We will talk more about this in class. There will also be a comprehensive final exam on Monday, April 7 at 1:00 pm.

Laboratory: There IS lab the first week of class! As before, there will be a formal lab report and a rewrite (each roughly one quarter of your lab grade) and a lab notebook and checkout questions that you must answer before you leave each lab (the other half of your lab grade).

Note: EVERY lab experiment must be satisfactorily completed. If you must miss your lab, please arrange ahead of time with both lab instructors to attend one of the other lab sections. If you do not pass the lab portion of the class, you do not pass the course.

Week: Topics Chapters Lab Notes