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PHYS207H: FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYSICS I
John E. Gizis
Office: Sharp Lab 236
Class Hours: MWF 12:20-1:10 in Sharp 105; Labs in Sharp 022
Office Hours: Friday 10:30-11:30, Thursday 10:30-11:30, or by appointment
302-831-2668
gizis@udel.edu
- Prerequisites
- One year of high school calculus is recommended. MATH241 is a co-requisite
- Course Description
- First course in a sequence with PHYS208 and PHYS209 that provides an introduction to physics for those in the physical sciences and engineering. Emphasis is on Newton's laws of motion, force laws, and conservation principles. Integrates conceptual understanding with extensive problem solving and laboratory experience.
- This is a lecture class. Some classroom activities are required. There is also a weekly lab
- The goals of this course are to teach you the basic concepts of classical mechanics and to make you adept in solving relevant problems. To achieve these goals several reinforcing activities are used:
1.interactive lectures to present, discuss and demonstrate the principles,
2.laboratory experiments allowing you to actively explore these principles,
3.homework to engage you in problem-solving and to broaden the context of the course, and
4.interaction with the professor and students in discussion sections to develop problem solving skills.
- Lectures
- Three 50 minute lectures will be given each week.
- Come to the lecture! Prepare for each lecture by reading the required sections of the text. You should read the appropriate sections of the text PRIOR to each lecture, and use the lecture session to clarify and reinforce the ideas encountered.
- To "encourage" this, "WarmUp" problems will be assigned before each lectures. Responses are required by e-mail to gizis@udel.edu and are due by
10AM the day of the lecture. These will be graded based on effort;
an incorrect response that is clearly expressed and shows thought will
still get full credit.
- WARNING: Do not let yourself get behind. This course covers a large amount of new material. The understanding of new topics will frequently require knowledge of previous material.
Discussion Sessions
Each week there is a one-hour discussion section conducted by the professor.
- Discussion sessions are designed to aid you in the understanding of
the course material and to hone your problem solving abilities; you should
find them beneficial in preparation for the hour exams.
- In each discussion session, we will go over the problems due the previous Monday and then do additional problems.
- Lab Sessions
- Each of the 2-hour laboratories will involve a series of activities,
including:
- 1.setting up simple experiments to study topics studied in class,
2.making predictions about the outcome of your experiments,
3.performing measurements of different phenomena you have studied,
4.analyzing your results, and
5.answering questions concerning your results and predictions.
- Course Requirements and Policies
- There will be weekly homeworks which will include questions from the textbook. Questions involving math illustrate the application of quantitative reasoning to problem solving.
- There are two midterms and a final exam. The final is cumulative, indeed each week builds on the previous week.
- Students are encouraged to discuss the homeworks with each other and anyone else. However, students may not copy the answers from anyone. Students may wish to review the University of Delaware's Code of Conduct.
- It is recommended that you have and can use a reliable, simple scientific calculator. Calculators can be used in exams, provided any memory (the calculators, that is) is empty.
- Grading Breakdown
- Labs: 20%
- Homework: 15%
- Class Activities: 5%
- Midterm #1: 15%
- Midterm #2: 15%
- Final: 30%
Grading |
Scale
|
Score (%) |
Letter Grade |
| 90-100 |
A |
| 85-90 |
A- |
| 80-85 |
B+ |
| 70-80 |
B |
| 65-70 |
B- |
| 60-65 |
C+ |
| 50-60 |
C |
| 45-50 |
C- |
| 40-45 |
D+ |
| 30-40 |
D |
| 25-30 |
D- |
| 0-25 |
F |
Completeness
You are required to do all the labs. If two labs are missed, your course grade will be lowered by a full letter grade.
If you miss three labs you get an F for the course.
Listeners
Students taking the class as listeners are required to attend 75% of classes and to hand in, on the due date, honest attempts at 9 or more of the homeworks. Failure to comply with these requirements will result in a grade of LW (listener withdrawn).
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- Homework Evaluation
- The homeworks will often involve calculations. Students must show all work in order to receive credit for the problem. A solution that just gives the final number, even if it is correct, is not acceptable. Late homeworks will not be accepted without a doctor's note or equivalent excuse. Homeworks are due at the Monday lectures.
- Course Calendar
- The following gives the test dates for the 2004 Fall semester. The final test will be scheduled during finals week.
| DATE |
TOPIC |
READING |
| Oct. 1 |
TEST #1 |
Ch 1-5 |
| Nov. 5 |
TEST #2 |
Ch. 6-10 |
| Dec. ? |
FINAL |
Cumulative |
- Texts/Resources/Readings/Supplies
- The primary textbook is Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Vol. I, 6th ed) by Serway and Jewett.
- If you would like additional help, I suggest The Portable T.A.: A Physics Problem Solving Guide (Vol I) by Elby.
- A calculator will be useful to you in this class. In addition, you may find it useful in this and future classes to have a table of math information such as integrals and derivatives.
- Study Tips/Learning Resources
- Textbook Website: Tutorials and
study information.
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