PHYS208 Fundamentals of Physics II

Syllabus:

Instructor:

George Watson
Office:
Phone:

ghw@udel.edu
Sharp Lab 232
(302) 831-6677

Office Hours:

I will generally try to be available in my office on Tuesday 1:30-2:30pm and Wednesday 7:30-8:30pm; other times are possible by prior arrangement. Please contact me via e-mail to confirm that I will be available (especially for Wednesday evenings). I check my e-mail several times during the day and evening, so often a simple question can be answered without a visit.

My Instructional Philosophy

Course Objectives:

As a result of this course, I hope that you can better

Appreciate the importance of physics in everyday life and its benefit to society and access the fundamental physics available for dealing with scientific and engineering problems.
Understand selected physical concepts important in electricity and magnetism, especially fields (both vector and scalar), symmetry, superposition, and energy.
Analyze and solve realistic problems, use mathematical techniques effectively in their solution, and reason accurately and objectively about the physical domain.
Translate verbal and graphical descriptions of physical systems into appropriate mathematical models.
Analyze and draw valid conclusions from experimentally obtained data.
Apply spreadsheet or modeling software to organize data, perform calculations, and display results graphically.
Communicate technical ideas effectively, both in writing and orally.

Textbook:

Fundamentals of Physics, 5th ed. (Part 3), Halliday, Resnick, and Walker (John Wiley, 1997; ISBN 0-471-14855-5). [Referred to as HRW.]

Most recently I have taught from Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd ed., Tipler (Worth, 1991; ISBN 0-87901-430-x) so you may find it to be a useful supplement. [Referred to as Tipler.]

Grading Schedule:

Laboratory	20%
Quizzes	10%	Each Friday except during exam weeks.
Recitation	10%	Group projects and homework.
2 Midterm Exams	20% each	March 20, May 1
Final Exam	20%	Friday, May 29, 10:30am-12:30pm

Fall'97 schedule for final grades

Other Matters:

Any students with disabilities who seek accommodations in this course are encouraged to speak with the instructor to make appropriate arrangements. UD's Academic Services Center should also be consulted.

Throughout the semester, you are invited to leave anonymous suggestions/comments for the instructor via the online form at our suggestion box. When possible these notes will be posted to a follow-up area along with clarifying comments, as appropriate.

Rules and Responsibilities for students at UD includes good descriptions of what constitutes plagiarism, fabrication, cheating, and academic misconduct. I try to avoid academic improprieties and I encourage you to do the same. You should also adhere to the Policy for Responsible Computing.

Acknowledgements:

The approach of this course has been influenced by the Problem-Based Learning community at UD and the Institute for Tranforming Undergraduate Education, which promotes active learning and effective use of technology in the classroom. I would also like to acknowledge the financial support from the University of Delaware and the National Science Foundation (DUE 96-53663) for development of this course.

"http://www.physics.udel.edu/~watson/phys208/syllabus.html"
Last updated July 12. 2000.
Copyright George Watson, Univ. of Delaware, 1997.