| Course description: | Principles of Physics The first of a two-semester series in general physics. The first semester covers the fields of mechanics and thermodynamics. This survey course will use calculus and is recommended for chemistry and zoology majors. It also satisfies the requirements of medical and dental schools. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pre-requisite | none | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Co-requisite: | MATH141 or MATH221 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CORE status | This course is designated a CORE Physical Science Lab (PL) Course | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Instructor |
Prof. Arthur La Porta Dept. of Physics Institute of Physical Science and Technology 1111 IPST (building #085) (301) 405 3291 (on campus x53291) alaporta 'at' umd 'dot' edu Office hours to be announced |
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| Sections |
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| Clickers | Students are required to have "clickers," which will be used for student participation during lectures. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lectures | Students are required to attend lectures, where homework assignments
will be given and collected, exams will be announced and administered
and the course material will be presented.
Lectures will consist of prepared video presentation, calculations done
on the chalkboard, live demonstrations and student participation using
"clickers." The video component of lectures will be available on this
web site in Adobe pdf format on the day that the lecture is given.
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| Preparation | Not all material will be directly covered in lectures. Students
are responsible for reading and understanding all material in
assigned chapters, whether or not this material is explicitly treated
in the lectures. Reading assignments will be available under the WebAssign
system. Tentative Lecture Schedule (subject to change as the Semester goes on)
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| Discussion sections | Discussion sections will be conducted by Teaching Assistants, and are a forum where students can ask questions about the course material and where problems will be worked with student participation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lab | Lab sections will be conducted by a Teaching Assistant. Each student
is required to their designated lab section each week and complete the assigned
experiment. The student should read the lab description beforehand and
must turn in a report at the end of the section. If a student cannot
attend a session for an excusable reason the student may attend
another section given the same week (with the permission of the Instructor)
or may attend a scheduled makeup session. In general, it will only be possible to perform
a single experiment during the makeup session. More than one experiment can
only be performed if space is available and with the approval of the
instructor. The schedule of labs is as follows
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| Homework | Homework will be assigned through WebAssign. All problems should be printed out and handed in on paper with all mathematical steps and reasoning described. The solutions should also be input using WebAssign. The homework score each week will consist of the WebAssign submission as well as grading of one selected problem on paper. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exams | There will be two 50 minute mid-term exams (On October 5 and November 16) and a single 2 hour final exam (time and location to be announced). Brief 15 minute quizes may be given during lectures or on-line. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final Grade |
The final grade will be based on the components below
It is to be expected that the top 20% of students will earn an A, the following 40% will earn a B with the remainder earning a C or lower. |
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| Students with disabilities | Students with disabilities should meet with the Prof. La Porta at the beginning of the semester so that appropriate arrangements can be made to accommodate the student's needs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tutoring | The Physics Department has a free tutoring service, the Slawsky Clinic, run by a group of retired senior physicists. It is located in Room 1214 in the Physics building. The time reserved for PHYS141 is 10-11 and 12-1 Monday through Friday. However, you can usually get help at any time they are open, from10 AM until 3 PM. See http://www.physics.umd.edu/academics/ugrad/slawsky.html | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University Closure | In the event of a University Closure the department will do its best to accommodate students by scheduling make-up sessions or revision of the lab schedule. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Academic Integrity | All students will be expected to comply with the University of Maryland's academic integrity policies, including the code of academic integrity and the honor pledge. Failure to comply will result in a failing grade and will be reported to the Honor Council. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||