PHY 110 Physics For Scientists and Engineers

Spring 2018

MTWR 10:00 – 10:50, MLT 214

Instructor:     Dr. George Rutherford                   e-mail           MLT 308-A           438-2934

Text:              Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 9th edition, by Serway and Jewett, published by Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

Note: While you are not required to purchase the hard-copy of the text, you are required to have electronic access (which includes electronic access to the full text) in order to do the online homework problems. A good compromise might be the publisher’s “hybrid” version, which includes full electronic access and a paperback version of the text (this limited version of the text does not include the end-of-chapter problems, but they are included in the electronic access). Be sure you purchase "Multi-Term" access if you plan to take PHY 111 and/or PHY 112 in following semesters.     The multi-term electronic access is ISBN 9781285858401

WebAssign Class Key is  ILSTU 7484 5680
   

Here is a video with instructions for enrollment in WebAssign. Use the class key above to enroll yourself in the WebAssign part of the course.

Here is a link to the User's Guide for Students.

Labs:             

Section	Day and Time	Room	TA
2	Fri 8:00 - 10:50	MLT 217	Dr. Bogue
3	Fri 1:00 - 3:50	MLT 217	Zachary Temple

Laboratory Manual for PHY 110 is required and may be purchased at the usual bookstores.

Calculator: A scientific calculator is also required and should be brought to every class or lab meeting.

Course Objectives: This is the first of a three-semester sequence in a calculus-based treatment of fundamental physics topics. This first semester will cover topics in mechanics. The associated laboratory will focus on measurement, data analysis, and presentation skills. Upon successful completion of this course, you should:

• Be familiar with important concepts in mechanics.
• Be comfortable using calculus in the theoretical treatment of those concepts.
• Be able to solve problems in mechanics by identifying the relevant principles and performing the necessary mathematical operations.
• Be able to perform estimates and measurements, analyze the data obtained, address the uncertainty associated with measurements and calculations, draw reasonable conclusions from your analysis, and present the results a clear and concise way.

Course Format: The course consists of lecture periods and laboratory sessions. Hour exams will occur during the lecture sessions indicated on the tentative schedule. Pop quizzes can occur at any time.

Grading: Your performance will be assessed in a number of ways. There will be three hour-long exams and a comprehensive final exam, several pop-quizzes, electronic homework problems and lab reports. These components will be combined with the following weights to determine your final course grade:

Exams (3 x 10% each)	30%
Pop Quizzes (drop lowest)	15%
Electronic Homework (drop lowest)	15%
Lab Reports (drop lowest)	20%
Final Exam	20%
Total	100%

Letter grades are typically determined by: A: 90%, B = 80 to 89%, C = 70 to 79%, D = 60 to 69%, and F: 59% or below. A curve is possible but not guaranteed. Class behavior and participation can influence letter grades awarded for course averages near the numerical boundaries between letter grades. In addition, your course grade can be reduced even further for rude or disruptive behavior, chronic late arrival to class, use of mobile electronic devices in class, or similar behavior. Cheating or plagiarism is considered grounds for failure in the course.

Quizzes and exams can be a combination of multiple choice, short answer, or show-your-work problems, and they can cover any topic in the text (whether we discuss it in class or not), lectures, or lab. Since one pop quiz grade, one electronic homework grade, and one lab report grade will be dropped before your course average is calculated, no make-ups are allowed in those categories. A make-up or rescheduled exam may be possible in rare cases with sufficiently good reason (sickness, death in the immediate family, official university absence, etc.).

General Advice: The following is a collection of general advice gleaned from more than twenty years of teaching physics.

• Don’t get behind. As soon as you realize you don’t understand a topic or problem, make sure you get the issue straightened out NOW. Drop by or make an appointment to see me as soon as possible.
• Avoid just memorizing or “getting the answer in the back of the book”. Make sure you understand the principles involved in a problem and how your approach to the problem would change if some aspect of the problem were changed.
• Work in groups. Someone in the group will understand any given concept, and everyone will benefit by letting that person explain it to the group.
• Read the text, but don’t use that as an excuse to skip class. The text has good stuff in it, but in class you get a chance to see and hear how it all fits together. And sometimes we do things that aren’t in the text.
• Take the lab seriously. It teaches very valuable skills, and it’s worth 20% of your grade.
• Physics is hard, and it takes effort, so use your time wisely, work lots of problems, and don’t be afraid to think about it even when you don’t have to. Physics is a fundamental part of the scientific mindset, so if you intend to stay in science or engineering, you may as well practice thinking physics while you’re learning it.

The following is a tentative schedule of the topics we’ll cover, lab assignments, and exam dates, etc. Remember that it is tentative and subject to change at my discretion.

15-Jan	Martin Luther King, Jr. Day	Lab 0: Intro to Mathematica
16-Jan	Intro to class; Scientific notation; uncertainty; dimensional analysis Unit conversion; 1-d motion	Free online Mathematica training
17-Jan	Calculus refresher	A Graphing Notebook
18-Jan	More 1-d motion	Some Test Data
22-Jan	1-d motion problems and graphs	Lab 1:  Making and using graphs
23-Jan	Vectors	1D Motion Problems
24-Jan	Problems and demonstrations	Easy Projectile Problems
25-Jan	2-d motion; projectile motion	Quiz 1 Solution
29-Jan	More projectile motion; uniform circular motion	Lab 0.1 More Mathematica
30-Jan	General curvilinear motion; relative motion
31-Jan	Problems and demonstrations	TestData2.txt
1-Feb	Laws of motion	Quiz 2 Solution
5-Feb	Laws of motion, cont'd.	Lab 2:  Intro to DataStudio
6-Feb	Friction
7-Feb	Problems and demonstrations	Practice Exam 1
8-Feb	Circular motion	Quiz 3 Solution
12-Feb	Resistive forces
13-Feb	Scalar product; Work
14-Feb	Problems and demonstrations	Quiz 4 Solution
15-Feb	EXAM 1:  Chapters 1 - 5
19-Feb	Work-energy theorem	Lab 3:  Freefall
20-Feb	Potential energy and conservative forces	Linear Regression Formulas
21-Feb	Problems and demonstrations
22-Feb	More energy problems	Quiz 5 Solution
26-Feb	Conservation of energy	Lab 4:  Projectile Motion
27-Feb	Problems using conservation of energy
28-Feb	Problems and demonstrations
1-Mar	Linear momentum; intro to collisions
5-Mar	2-d collisions	Lab 5:  Newton's Second Law
6-Mar	Center of mass	Quiz 6 Solution
7-Mar	Problems and demonstrations
8-Mar	Angular variables and kinematics	Quiz 7 Solution
12-Mar	Spring Break
13-Mar
14-Mar
15-Mar
19-Mar	Torque and kinetics and moment of inertia	Lab 6:  Conservation of Energy
20-Mar	Continued	Revised Lab 6 Instructions
21-Mar	Problems and demonstrations
22-Mar	Conservation of energy in rotation; rolling motion	Quiz 8 Solution
26-Mar	Vector cross product	Practice Exam 2
27-Mar	Conservation of angular momentum
28-Mar	Problems and demonstrations	Quiz 9 Solution
29-Mar	EXAM 2:  Chapters 6 - 10
2-Apr	Statics, continued	Lab 7:  Ballistic Pendulum
3-Apr	Statics problems	Wheel Suspension diagram
4-Apr	Review of Chapters 13 and 14
5-Apr	Oscillatory motion; mass on a spring	Quiz 10 Solution
9-Apr	Simple harmonic motion; add energy
10-Apr	Pendulum; damped and forced oscillation
11-Apr	Problems and demonstrations
12-Apr	Motion of a disturbance; traveling pulses	Quiz 11 Solution
16-Apr	Traveling harmonic waves	Lab 8:  Simple Harmonic Motion
17-Apr	Sound waves; pressure variation	Quiz 12 Solution
18-Apr	Problems and demonstrations
19-Apr	Intensity and sound level	Practice Exam 3
23-Apr	Doppler effect	Quiz 13 Solution
24-Apr	Superposition and interference
25-Apr	Problems and demonstrations
26-Apr	EXAM 3:  Chapters 11–12, 15–16
30-Apr	Standing waves	Lab 9:  Standing Waves
1-May	Continued
2-May	Problems and demonstrations	Practice Final Exam
3-May	Review and catch-up

 

The final examination time will be announced later in the semester.