Syllabus: PHY 126 Fall 2006

Physics 126 is the second of a three-semester survey of classical physics. Topics to be covered include the description of fluid properties, simple harmonic oscillator, wave mechanics, optics, temperature, heat, thermodynamics. The topics are covered in Chapters 13-20, 33 and 34 in the text, "Young & Freedman" (see below). Co-requisites are MAT 126, 131, 141 or AMS 151

The pace of the course is rapid; a great deal of material will be covered in the semester and not all topics will be treated in lecture, so careful reading of the text is mandatory. Dropping the course, or changes of section within size limits can be done through the electronic registrar system.

There will be assigned homework problems, quizzes in the recitation, two mid-term exams and a final exam. The laboratory is a required part of the course. If you fail to hand in the required reports, you will fail the course. Successful prior completion of the Laboratory part of Physics 126 can be used, with the instructor's permission, to satisfy the Lab requirement. Students are warned, however, that a question on an exam might refer to lab work, and they are expected to recall the labs even if done in a prior semester.

Contact Information

Web Page Addresses

http://nngroup.physics.sunysb.edu/~mcgrew/phy126/fall06.html

Check out this page from time to time for course announcements, grades etc.

Textbooks

The text is "University Physics" by Young and Freedman, 11th edition (Addison Wesley, 2004), There are different editions, sizes, etc., so if ordering on the web, be sure to use the ISBN number (0-8053-8684-X).

The book has a Companion WEB site (free and highly recommended)

Available in the University bookstore at the publishers list price (about $150).

Also on sale at the Bookstore: the "course-pack ($3.75) containing the lab manual, however it is available on this web page. I recommend using the web version which will be periodically updated.

The Study Guide is not required and not at all needed unless you want the extra examples it provides in hard-copy format.

You need to purchase access to the www.masteringphysics.com web site which will be used for all homework assignments.

Lecture

Lectures are at 9:35-10:30am, MWF in Graduate Physics room P-113. Attendance is strongly suggested. Concepts and problems treated in lecture will dominate the examinations.

Homework

You are strongly urged to read the book sections listed in the course calendar before coming to the lecture; the lecture will be much more meaningful if you do this. Approximately 10 assigned homework problems are listed for each week in the course calendar. Each week's homework problems are due at the beginning of the following week. Late homework will receive partial credit, so it pays to finish any late homework. The homework is intended to emphasize the important points covered in lecture.

Recitation

Attendance is mandatory. There will be a one-hour recitation section each week. The purpose of these sessions is to provide a small-class atmosphere where assigned problems and physics concepts can be discussed and where your particular questions can be answered. The assigned problems for each week will be used as the basis for discussion and quizzes in recitation the following week. Your level of preparation and knowledge concerning the assigned problems will be tested during the recitation period.

Laboratory

In most weeks you conduct a laboratory experiment in room A-117. A graduate student teaching assistant conducts the Lab. The schedule for these labs is shown in the course calendar. You should come to the lab with the laboratory manual, a lab notebook which includes graph paper (such as the "Engineering and Science" notebook available in the campus bookstore), and a pocket calculator.

You should read the write-up in the manual before coming to lab. The Lab is intended to give practical demonstration of the principles of the course, and to give experience in the techniques of laboratory work. The data should be collected directly in your lab book, and you must obtain the signature of the TA on your data pages before leaving the Lab. Do not remove pages from your lab book; your original notes and data taken in the Lab are an important component of your work. The write-ups of your lab, showing the analysis of your data and giving answers to the questions in the Lab instructions should be entered also in your lab book and submitted for grading (in Room A-131) approximately two days after the lab (your Lab TA will set the exact deadline for your section). Lab books will be returned to you at the start of the next lab. Grading of, and penalties for late labs is at the discretion of the TA. Lab work turned in more than two weeks late will not be graded. If you must miss a lab, you should notify your TA and obtain permission. During the week of April 30, makeup labs can be done if a prior arrangement has been made with the TA. All eight labs are required. If you fail to complete labs, there is a stiff mandatory penalty.

In the process of collecting the data you will work with your partner. Evaluating the results and writing the report is done individually. Copying lab reports of other students is a violation of academic honesty and will be treated as such.

Help

You may contact your recitation instructor or any other recitation instructor or lab TA during office hours. The physics help room (A-131) will be available for you in place of lab time during the exam weeks. The Society of Physics Students have free tutoring hours on most days of the week in the SPS office that is specifically designed to help introductory physics students.

Computer Access

You will need computer access. The use of a Companion WEB site, featuring interactive physics problems, is strongly encouraged. You may reach this WEB site or the course web page from on any computer connected to the WEB. For example, the University has several SINC sites, where a large number of computers are located. Depending on the local policies of the SINC site you are using, you may need an account to log in to the campus network. Be aware of the fact that some of the sites are more busy than others. Contact the personnel at a SINC site close to you and ask about the details. The phone number for the residential SINC sites is 2-6966.

Examinations

The exams will cover the book sections indicated in the course schedule. Each exam will be cumulative in the sense that you will be responsible for information covered in previous exams. However, the second midterm will focus primarily on information covered after the first midterm, and the final exam will have some emphasis on material covered after the second midterm, although the whole course will be covered. Examples of the sort of problems you might expect can be found here.

The exams will emphasis basic principles over memorization, but will be closed book. A sheet of physical constants and formulas will be supplied.

You should bring a pen/pencil and a hand-held calculator capable of doing simple arithmetic and trigonometric functions to the exam. Sorry, we can not provide a replacement calculator (or allow exchange of calculators). If yours does not work or you forgot to bring one you will have to complete the exam with out the aid of a calculator. We will be checking you identification before each exam. You must bring a photo ID to the exams. Acceptable IDs: Stony Brook student ID, driver's license, green card/passport, etc.

Notebooks computers or hand-held devices with more than 2Mb of memory, devices with infrared ports or any other communication options (beepers, cell phones, buzzers, etc.) are not allowed. If you have a question about a particular calculator, ask.

We expect no communication between students on the exams. Any evidence of cheating will be reported to the academic hearing officer and will also result in a stiff grade penalty. Leaving the exam room is by permission only. The text of the exam may not leave the room before the exam is over. (After the exam is over you are encouraged to take home the text and review it.)

Absences, make-ups

Three make-up labs are scheduled during the semester. You may make up one lab during each period. During the first make-up lab, you may complete one of labs one to three. During the second make-up lab, you make complete one of labs four to six. During the third make-up lab, you make complete one of labs seven and eight. Please contact your lab TA if you missed a lab and want to have a make-up.

If you have a medical condition that influences your ability to take the exams at the regular time, contact the staff in the Disabled Student Services office (DSS) in Room 133, Humanities, 632-6748, at the beginning of the Semester.

If you know in advance that you can not make it to a midterm (due to major family events, scheduled medical procedure etc.), let me know at least 9 days before the exam (i.e. on the Wednesday the week before). A make-up exam will be arranged for you one week before the regular exam time, covering the same material as the regular exam. No make-up exams will be offered for unexpected absences.

Absence from the exams will be excused only in emergencies. The necessity of an absence must be documented: for example, if you were ill, a letter from a doctor attesting to this fact would be required. The letter should have the doctor's phone number, and we reserve the right to call the doctor's office for confirmation.

If you had an excused absence on one of the two midterms, you did not miss the other midterm and your lab reports were submitted on time, a properly calculated average of your other grades will replace your midterm grade. An unexcused absence, or excused absences from each of the two midterms will result in the loss of the corresponding contribution to your final grade.

An unexcused absence from the final leads to an automatic F grade. An excused absence from the final exam (but satisfying all other course requirements) will qualify you for an incomplete grade in the course.

Exam grading policy

I will probably not use multiple choice questions. For numerical questions, the following rough guidelines apply for grading on a scale of 10:

• For full credit, the correct answer and units are not sufficient. The main steps of the solution, with basic equations and important partial results should be presented on the space provided on the exam sheet.

• Unit missing in end result (but otherwise your work shows correct SI units): full credit minus 1 point.

• Far too many (or too few) significant digits: full credit minus 1 point

• Correct equations, correct algebra, numerical error (but still a reasonable value): full credit minus 1 point

• Correct equations, correct algebra, numerical error (outside the correct range of magnitude): full credit minus 2 or 3 points

• Correct equations, mistake in algebra or inability to solve equations: half credit plus possible extra points.

• Correct equations, nothing more: 1 point credit, possibly more.

• Correct equations, and a bunch of other formulae with no relevance to the problem: no partial credit.

• Nothing else except graphs or arguments indicating that you understand the basic concept: 1 or 2 points partial credit, possibly more.

It should be emphasized that these are rough guidelines. The specific grading criteria for each problem on an exam will depend on the its difficulty.

The course grade

Your final letter grade for the course is calculated from a weighted sum of your performance, as follows:

• Midterms - 30% (15% each)

• Final Exam - 30%

• Laboratory - 20%

• Recitation - 20%

Your recitation grade will be assigned by your Recitation Instructor within course-wide guidelines. The different letter grade assignments will be based on a compromise between absolute standards and the distribution curve of the whole class. In other words, if the whole class does particularly well, the mean grade can rise above the B-/C+ level, and if the whole class does particularly poorly, the mean grade can sink below this level. The entire course staff will grade the exams. The recitation and laboratory grades will be scaled to make sure that your recitation or lab instructor's grading style does not lead to unfair variations in your final grade.

Academic Honesty

An environment of honesty and integrity is important for both the conduct of science and for learning science, and we expect your honesty in all academic transactions. Students are encouraged to discuss homework problems, laboratories and issues in the course with each other and with the staff. Indeed, you should find that you learn a great deal from each other. Keep in mind, however, that:

• the lab report should be your own work. Copying lab reports is strictly prohibited.

• Cheating on the exams will be reported to the academic hearing officer and will also result in a stiff grade penalty.

Complaints

We recognize that we may make mistakes, and we want to give you an opportunity to help us to correct them. The graded exams will be returned to you in the recitation session following the exam date. The solutions to the exam problems will be discussed on the same session. You may want to make notes on your exam during the discussion. You should use a writing instrument that is markedly different from the pen/pencil used during the exam. It must be emphasized, any marks made on the exam after it has been returned must be made in a clearly different pen/pencil. If an exam is returned for regrading with modifications that are not clearly indicated it will be counted as cheating and dealt with appropriately

• If you believe that the grading of your exam needs reconsideration, talk to your recitation instructor first. If you and your recitation instructor agree that a mistake was made, your recitation instructor will correct the error (in the case of trivial mistakes like incorrect addition of scores by the grader) or else take the exam for regrading, with a note explaining the grievance.

• Exam books will be accepted for regrading only on the same day that you received the graded exam in recitation. You should ask for the re-grading at the end of the recitation session.

• If partial credit is contested, the whole exam may be re-graded. Your grade may go up, remain unchanged, or possibly even go down.

Medical

If you have a physical psychiatric/emotional, medical or learning disability that may impact on your ability to carry out the assigned course work, we urge you that you contact the staff in the Disabled Student Services office (DSS) in Room 133, Humanities, 632-6748. DSS will review your concerns, and determine, with you, what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation of disability is confidential.

Maintained by Clark McGrew.Last updated $Date: 2006-10-18 18:16:22 $