Syllabus For Physics 161 Spring 2010 Prof Rabi Mohapatra Lecture hours MWF 12 pm 12 50 pm Office hours WF 1 2 pm Rm 4124 X56022 e mail rmohapat umd edu plus any other time by appointment if these times do not suit you and if I am free at the time you request Do take advantage of the office hours starting early in the semester Physics 161 is the first of a three semester introductory course on physics The text book for the course is Physics for Scientists and Engineers A strategic approach by Randall B Knight second edition Addison Wesley The course will consist of three regular hourly classes to be conducted by me and one hour long discussion class for each section to be conducted by the TA The final grade for the course will be based on homeworks class quizzes three midterms and a final Below is a detailed description of the organization of the course Prerequisite Math 141 you are expected to know simple differentiation integration as well as elementary algebraic manipulations and trigonometric rules If you do not follow any math step discussed in the class I can clear up in the office hours or ask the TA in the discussion class Discussion session In addition to regular classes MWF 12 12 50 there will be a one hour discussion session every week Please check the schedule of discussion classes for your section Purpose of this session is to discuss the material that you went over in the class solve problems other than the ones assigned as homework and clear up difficulties with concepts and math steps etc Please attend these classes regularly and make good use of them Teaching Assistants Your teaching assistant will take the discussion classes grade homeworks the weekly quizzes The TA will not have any office hours The office hours will be maintained by me If you have any questions on the grades homeworks etc you should talk to me Important dates for Phys 161 students midterm dates are tentative First day of classes Midterm I Midterm II Midterm III Final Exam Jan 25 Monday Feb 22 wednesday April 7 wednesday May 5 to be announced in class Homeworks Quizzes Midterms and Grading There will one weekly 15 minute quiz in the class on one of the three class days The day of the quiz will be random depending on a suitable breakpoint between chapters and it will cover material covered upto the preceding week The quiz will be graded and will count towards your final grade There will be weekly homework assignments part online and part written they will be graded and will count towards your final grade The written homework problems will be handed out every Friday and will be collected the following Friday at the beginning of the class Online homeworks The online homework assignments will be from the website of the book masteringphysics com You need to register for this The course ID is MPMOHAPATRA91552 You should register with the masteringphysics before the first class or at the latest before the end of the first week of classes There are time limits on the assignments and if you miss them once there is no way to correct for this later on Read the instructions carefully before you start working since there are only few chances to click in the answer Midterms There will be three midterms and all of them will count towards the final grade The final exam will cover material covered during the whole semester The final grade will be decided as follows Homeworks Quizzes Midterms 3 50 Final Total 100 100 150 150 500 2 Missing an Exam You must have a valid written medical excuse acceptable by the rules of the university to make up if you miss any of the midterms or the final exam The excuse must be presented to the Professor and not the TA at the first opportunity How the missed exam will be made up will be decided by the professor at that time assuming the excuse is acceptable Under very special circumstance an incomplete grade may be issued see the specific University rules for this and how an incomplete grade can be changed to a regular grade Responsibility You are responsible for everything in every covered chapter regardless of whether the material was specifically mentioned in the class Your goal should be to be proficient in the subject matter of the course and to acquire the ability to solve problems using the course material Please attend every class and try to read up the class material before coming to the class This always makes it easier to understand the material HELP AVAILABLE If you have any difficulty at all understanding the material please clear it up as soon as possible If a difficulty is not cleared up right away it generally leads to more trouble later on till it grinds your physics progress to a complete halt It may then be too late So let me repeat again clear up your difficulties as soon as they arise without any delay THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT Please take advantage of my office hours which are given above If the announced hours are not convenient or if for some reason you cannot come during an office hour I will also be available at times other than the announced office hours send me a e mail the day before you can come rmohapat physics umd edu to set up an appointment If I am free I will be happy to have you come in Always remember key to really learning physics is to solve as many problems as possible and not necessarily the ones assigned in the class Physics involves new ideas and new equations which are not part of your daily thinking The more problems you solve the more familiar you feel with the the ideas and equations and easier it becomes to use them for problem solving So try to solve at least four or five physics problems every evening or early morning in addition to assigned homework problems A useful technique is to first form a visual image of the problem before you attempt to solve it Draw diagrams for every problem You will learn in the class how to do this in various cases You can come to my office for help with this also 3 Chapters Covered Chapters 1 13 of Knight book will be covered A tentative schedule is as follows This is a tentative schedule since it is not easy to judge the detailed pace of a course before it begins Wk 4 Wk 5 02 15 02 19 02 22 Topics covered motion position velocity units Position velocity acceleration Vectors velocity and acceleration vectors Projectile motion polar coordinates relative circular motion Newton s First and second law First Midterm Wk 5 6 Wk 6 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 11 Wk 10 02 24 03 03 03 05 03 12 03 15 03 21 03 22 03 26 03 29