| Reference Material
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Mechanics of a Particle
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Systems,
Rotational Motion, Gravity |
Fluids,
Oscillations, Mechanical Waves, Interference |
Sound, Beats, Standing Waves
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The titles of the topics in the daily schedules below refer to the sections in the class notes (links above) which will be the focus of the morning sessions that day.
General Information
Physics 141L.01 is taught this term by remote
communication, using Zoom. The class sessions will follow
the same schedule they would have in person.
The whole class meets Monday through Friday, from 10:30
until 11:45. Although these are listed as "lectures", there
will be relatively little lecturing by Dr. Evans. A brief
summary of the matters to be discussed will be given, and
some examples will be worked out for the class. But much of
these sessions will be devoted to discussions, as described
below.
The whole class has two hour discussion sessions on
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 to 3:30. These sessions are
conducted by Prof. Evans and an assistant.
There are lab sessions once or twice a week. These are
conducted by the assistants. The lab section schedule is as
shown below:
|
1 |
Monday 1:15-3:15 Wednesday 1:15-3:15 |
| 2 | Monday 3:30-5:30 Wednesday 3:30-5:30 |
Because the class notes and assignments cover the material of the course there is no required textbook. The notes do not, however, have many worked out examples, or professionally produced drawings. To supplement the notes in those respects, students can use an open source text found online here. (This book is a non-calculus treatment of physics, at a distinctly less sophisticated level, but it has many well-done drawings and worked-out examples.)
Course Structure
At the top of
this page are links to sections of a complete set of class
notes in pdf
format on the material covered in the course. These
notes are the primary written guide to the material in
the course.
The recommended online book serves as a supplement to
the notes..
Discussion sessions are devoted to the assignments
listed at the top of this page. About a third of the
assignments will be covered in the morning sessions, the
others in the afternoons, on Tuesday and Thursday. The
class is divided into small working groups who
collaborate in arriving at answers. Each group will be
assigned its own questions to be worked on, with its
answers presented to the whole class. A group will be
located (virtually) in a "breakout room" in Zoom
while the discussion within the group is going on.
During this time Dr. Evans will be able (on request) to
enter the group's room to answer questions. The groups
will write out their answers in a form suitable to be
seen by the whole class. When the groups are ready, they
will reenter the "main room" and the presentations will
be given. No grade is assigned to these. At the end of
each afternoon session there will be a quiz, as detailed
below.
Lab exercises are carried out once
or twice per week, as shown in the schedule. In the
current situation these will be virtual experiments, of
course.
Exams and Grades
There are three 75 minute in-class
exams, given
during the morning period, with a maximum of 100 points
each. The three-hour comprehensive final
exam has a
maximum of 200 points. This 500 points constitutes the total
exam score for the course.
For a student whose final exam percent score is higher than the average score on the in-class exams the final exam is given extra weight: the total exam score is calculated as 50% in-class exams and 50% final exam.
If a student misses an in-class exam for an excused reason, the score on that exam is replaced by the percentage score on the final exam.
At the end of each afternoon
discussion session there will be a 20 minute quiz, covering the material
discussed since the last quiz. These are intended to
reinforce what was recently learned and to give practice in
the kinds of questions that might be on the exams.
Absences from quizzes are recorded as zeroes. At the end of the course, the lowest two quiz grades will be dropped for each student.
The formula sheet (link at the top of this page) can be used during quizzes and exams.
For homework, each student
will write out answers to the assignment questions
to be turned in for grading. (This can be done after
the assignment has been covered in discussion sessions.)
In each assignment, three of the questions will be
chosen (at random) to be carefully checked; others will
be checked for completeness. A grade will be recorded.
(The days on which these assignments are to be submitted
are shown in the schedule in green type.) Discussion
among students in preparing the homework is
encouraged, but direct copying is a violation of the
Honor Code.
The lowest score on one homework set will be dropped at the end of the course.
The lowest grade on one lab will also be dropped at the end of the course.
The various graded material
contributes to the final score as follows:
Exams: 65%
Quizzes: 10%
Labs: 10%
Homework: 15%
Exam
and quiz keys, and sample exams from previous versions of this
course, are posted at the Answer Keys link above.
Office Hours
To be determined.