Physics 113 Overview and Course Schedule: Fall 2005

Professor: Jacquelyn S. Fetrow (fetrowjs @ wfu . edu; www.wfu.edu/~fetrowjs; Yahoo IM jsfetrow)

Office: Olin 301B and West 236 (NOTE: I have two offices!)

Office Hours: For this class, I will hold office hours in Olin 301B on Mondays 5:30-6:30 and Wednesdays, 3-4pm. In addition, my office door is usually open (unless I’m in a meeting). Tuesday and Thursday morning, I will be in Olin; Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, I will be in West Hall. Generally (not always), I’m in West Hall on Mondays and Olin on Wednesdays. To save yourself time, I recommend that you IM, email, or phone to find out where I am before stopping by. However, feel free to drop by either office when the door is open.

Class Time: Tuesday and Thursday 9:30-10:45

Textbook: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 1, Serway and Jewett; supplemental textbook

Other Text Resources: Davidson's "Mathematical Methods for Introductory Physics", provides a good review of mathematics that we will use in Physics, which supplements Appendix B in the Serway and Jewett text. This book is on reserve in the library.

Videos: In addition to textbook reading, many classes will have a video assignment. These videos will provide a different format for you to internalize the information in physics. Some videos will illustrate problem solving methods, others will illustrate equation derivations or physics concepts. These videos will be available throughout the semester. These videos are available at http://www.wfu.edu/academics/physics/lectures/phy113/index-by_chapter.html and can be viewed on your computer. You must be on the WFU campus (within the WFU firewall) or logged in through WFU’s VPN in order to view these videos. (If you have suggestions for videos that would be useful, please let the me know!)

Before-class reading quizzes (daily): The goal behind the reading quizzes is to make sure you did the reading, watched the videos, and thought about the material before the lecture. You will get much more from the demos and lectures if you do this. On-line quizzes (see WebAssign) will have several (not very hard) questions, worth a total of 5 points. The questions will come from the textbook reading and from the videos. These will be due by 8 am the day of class.

In-class prediction and work sheets: These work sheets will be distributed for every class and must be turned in, but will not be graded (predictions are not right or wrong, they are simply your predictions)—you automatically get 2 points each time you turn in a prediction/work sheet.

Homework: Homework will be due regularly, so that you keep up with the material. In addition, with the T-Th class schedule, if homework is only done once per week, one homework might cover several chapters. Spreading the homework out avoids this problem, allowing you to focus on one chapter’s material at a time. Homework will be due every Monday and Friday (see schedule) and must be submitted by 6 pm on that day. Questions are available at WebAssign and submission is on-line through WebAssign

Web Assign: For on-line quizzes and homework, we will be using WebAssign: https://www.webassign.net/login.html; purchase access number through bookstore or on-line.

Physics Labs: Attendance and participation in the physics 113 laboratory is mandatory. Your laboratory grade will count as 10% of your overall grade. However, it is Physics Department policy that if you fail the laboratory, you will fail the course.

Examinations: There will be 4 in-class examinations during the semester. Three of these exams will be worth 100 points. The exam on which you receive the lowest score will only count 50% (50 points maximum).

Final examination: The final examination is scheduled for Friday, Dec 9, at 9 am. Please note this day and time on your calendar now. Half of the examination will cover the last three topics that were not covered in the previous exams; half of the examination will be cumulative.

Grading:
Daily pre-class quizzes: 24 quizzes each worth 5 points ~120 pts
In-class “prediction” and worksheets: 24, each worth 2 points ~48 pts
Homework: (~25 points per week; divided among 1-3 assignments) ~275 pts
In-class examinations: 4 exams, 3 worth 100 points, 1 worth 50 points ~350 pts
Laboratory: ~110 pts
Final examination: ~200 pts
Total possible points: approximately 1093
Note: you can determine your letter grade at any time during the semester by dividing the number of points you have earned to that point by the total number of points, then multiplying by 100 to get a percentage. On a straight scale, 90-100 is an A, 80-89 is a B, 70-79 is a C, 60-69 is a D, and below 60 is an F.