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 mini-lecture and demonstrations for that day. Assignments for discussion sessions are found at the link given in the daily schedules.

Class	Day	15-17 May	20-24 May	27-31 May	3-7 June	10-14 June	17-21 June	24-28 June
Morning Sessions	Mon	No class.	Assignment 1 due Electrostatics 2 Assignment 2	Holiday: no class	Assignments 4,5 due Inductance Assignment 6	Assignment 7 due Light Assignment 8	Assignment 9 due Exam III (through Applications)	Review Part 2
	Tue	No class.	Electrostatics 3 Assignment 2	Magnetostatics 1 Assignment 4	AC Circuits Assignment 6	Lenses & Mirrors Assignment 8	Wave Optics 2 Assignment 10	Reading period
	Wed	Electrostatics 1	Electrostatics 3 Assignment 3	Magnetostatics 2 Assignment 5	Assignment 6 due Exam II (through Inductance)	Assignment 8 due Applications Assignment 9	Modern Physics 1	Final Exam 2-5 p.m
	Thu	Electrostatics 1, 2 Assignment 1	DC Circiuts Assignment 3	Electrodynamics Assignment 5	AC Circuits Assignment 7	Applications Assignment 9	Modern Physics 2 Assignment 11
	Fri	Electrostatics 2	Assignments 2,3 due Exam I (through Electrostatics 3)	Electrodynamics	Field Energy Assignment 7	Wave Optics 1 Assignment 10	Assignments 10,11 due Review Part 1
Discussion Sessions	Tue	None	Assignment 2	Assignment 4	Assignment 6	Assignment 8	Assignment 10	None
Discussion Sessions	Thu	Assignment 1	Assignment 3	Assignment 5	Assignment 7	Assignment 9	Assignment 11
Labs	Tue	None	Capacitors	Magnetic Forces	None	Geometric Optics	Wave Optics	None
Labs	Thu	Electrostatics	DC Circuits	Faraday's Law	AC Circuits	None	None

General Information

Physics142L is taught using mini-lectures with demonstrations, discussion sessions, labs and the internet.

The whole class meets in Rm. 130, Monday through Friday, from 11:00 until 12:15. These sessions include mini-lectures, demonstrations and some discussion sessions. They are conducted by Prof. Evans.

The whole class has two hour discussion sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30, in Rm. 150. These sessions are conducted by Prof. Evans and the assistant.

There are lab sessions once or twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:15 to 3:15, in Rm. 147. These are conducted by the assistant.

Because the class notes and assignments cover the material of the course there is no required textbook, but it is recommended that students have access to a copy of one of the standard books at this level. Such a book is useful for alternative discussions of the material, useful graphics and worked out examples. Editions do not matter. Some of the books that have been used for this course at Duke are by these authors:

Young and Freedman
Halliday, Resnick and Walker

Giancoli

Tipler and Mosca

Serway

(Be sure the book is intended for a calculus based course; typically the title says the book is for scientists and engineers.)

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 books serve as supplements and amplifications of the notes.

Mini-lectures summarize the main topics in the material, but are not detailed accounts of all of it. Even if expository lectures were an effective way to teach a course such as this (which they are not) there is not enough time in the morning sessions to present all the material that way. So the morning sessions are organized on the assumption that the students have already studied the material in the notes and perhaps read the corresponding sections in one of the books. The mini-lectures are devoted to outlining, illustrating and reinforcing what is in the notes, to working out example problems and to questions. Where appropriate, illustrative demonstrations will accompany the mini-lectures.

Discussion sessions are devoted to discussion of the assignments listed in the weekly schedules at the top of this page. It is assumed that the student has attempted to answer the questions and solve the problems before the discussion session in which they will be addressed.

The class is divided into small working groups of three or four students who collaborate in arriving at solutions. At the start of the morning session the instructor specifies for each group one or more of the questions or problems in that day's assignments. After a working time at the start of the discussion session, during which the instructor (and an assistant in the afternoon sessions) are available for coaching and suggestions, a member is chosen by the group to explain the answer to the whole class; this member writes on the board equations and diagrams appropriate for the explanation. The instructor calls on the groups, in the order of the items in the assignments. No grades are recorded for these presentations.

Students will also write out the answers and solutions to the assignment questions, in notebooks to be handed in at the times shown in the schedule. (Two notebooks should be used for alternating turn-in dates.) The answers as presented in class can be used as the basis for what is put into the notebooks, but each student should write the answers into the notebook alone, using adequate words and drawings to explain the argument fully. For each assignment the grader will examine carefully the answers to three questions, chosen at random; the other answers will be checked less carefully. An integer from 0-15 will be given as the score on each assignment.

The three in-class exams are taken on the dates specified, constituting the morning sessions for those days.

Lab exercises are carried out once or twice per week, as shown in the schedule. A total of eight labs will be done.

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.

Simple scientific calculators will be provided for use on exams and discussion session quizzes. The formula sheet (link at the top of this page) can be used for exams and quizzes.

The discussion session quizzes will cover the material discussed since the last quiz. They 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 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%
Assignments: 15%

Exam and quiz keys, and sample exams from previous versions of this course, are posted here.

Office Hours

Prof. Evans holds office hours on Monday and Wednesday, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., in Rm 150. Students are well advised to take advantage of these hours.