University Physics II
PHY 1940Spring 2010 Syllabus
Description
This is the second course in a two-semester sequence of introductory physics. The subjects of this semester include light optics, wave motion, electricity & magnetism, and modern physics.Within this course you will develop an in-depth understanding of the fundamental physics principles through lectures, reading and extensive problem solving. The success in PHY 1940relies on your continuous effort on all aspects of this course, which include attending lectures, handing in lab reports, getting helped in the recitations, and working assigned problems. It is also extremely helpful to constantly think about how the newly learned theoretical concepts can be applied to critically solving the problems.
General Information
Course Credit: 4 hrs
Meeting Times: Tue Thu10:45am – 12:10pm
Classroom: SullivanB3
Required Books and Calculator
Text: Physics for Scientists and Engineers by D. C. Giancoli 4th edition (Prentice Hall, 2008). Alternatively, you may order the eBook (electronic book) of the text because it costs about half of the print copy.
Concise Notes for Physics by R. Finkel will be followed in class.
Calculator: Any model equipped with trig functions and exponential notation.
Course Website:
Instructor
Qi Lu, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
Office: St. Albert Hall Room B33
Phone: 718-990-6437
Email:
Office Hours: Mon 11:30am – 1:30 pm andTue3:00pm – 4:00 pmor by appointment.
Grade Calculation
Your PHY1940 grade is calculated based on the following percentages:
Lecture / 70%Lab / 20%
Recitation / 10%
In particular, the 70% lecture grade is determined by 6web assignments, the class participation, one midterm and one final exam. The 70% lecture grade is made up from:
Six web assignments / 20%Five Class Quizzes / 5%
One midterm exam / 20%
One final exam / 25%
Web Assignments
The web assignments are must be submitted before the deadline. Late submissions are subject to deduction of points.The online homework system is powered by the Quest Learning & Assessment system administered by University of Texas. It is free to students.Each student is given the same problem set with different data, therefore will have different correct answers. The URL to access the system is Clicking “Get Started” on the Quest homepage will lead you to the log-on page, where you may sign up for a “UT EID”. You have to keep the UT EID and the password in a safe place in case you forget them. The unique course number for the enrollment for this course is “10536”.
Class Quizzes
Five unannounced class quizzes with each worth one point will be given throughout the semester. This is an incentive to raise attendance becausebetter class participation yieldsbetter course output.
Midterm and Final Exams
The midterm and the final exams of the course consist of multiple choice questions focusing primarily on problem-solving. The problems arelargely based on the material in the lectures and the web assignments. To excel in the exams, you need to re-work at least the problems covered in the lectures step by step all by yourself. You will acquire understanding not only on the problems and concepts, but more importantly on your own weakness of where you prone to make mistakes. Memorization will speed up your thinking, but not as critical as in other courses. Practice and active thinking is the key to success in this course.
Lab
The lab makes up 20% of the total grade. Your lab instructor will announce the class policy in the lab session. A laboratory manual is required for attending. The manual can be either bought in the bookstore or downloaded part-by-part from the Internet. You must bring in the corresponding lab instructionof the date according to the lab schedule. The lab instructions are available online at:
Special note: A lab grade below 10 will result in a failure of the entire course!
Recitation
The recitation makes up 10% of the total grade. Recitation instructors will help with the difficult or unfamiliar assigned problems and will use class quizzes to establish recitation grades.
Topics
The topics from Finkel’s notes are covered in the order tabulated below. The corresponding numbers of chapters in the textbook are listed on the far-right column.
Order
/Notes Unit
/ Content / Text Chapter1 / 13 / Simple Harmonic Motion / Ch 14
2 / 16 / Light: Reflection and Refraction / Ch 32
3 / 17 / Thin Lenses / Ch 33
4 / 14* & 18 / Wave Motion and Doppler Effect / Ch 15 & Ch 16-7
5 / 19 / Interference and Diffraction / Ch 34 & Ch 35
6 / 15* / Electromagnetic Spectrum / Ch 31
7 / 20 / Coulomb’s Law / Ch 21
8 / 21 / Electric Field / Ch 21
9 / 22 / Gauss’s Law / Ch 22
10 / 23 / Electric Potential / Ch 23
11 / 24 / Capacitors / Ch 24
12 / 25 / Current and Resistance / Ch 25
13 / 26 / DC Circuits / Ch 26
14 / 27 / Magnetic Field / Ch 27
15 / 28 / Ampere’s Law / Ch 28
16 / 29 / Faraday’s Law / Ch 29
17 / 30 / Inductance / Ch 30
18 / 31 / Alternating Currents / Ch 30
19 / 33 / Photons and Photoelectric Effect / Ch 37-2
20 / 34 / Matter Waves / Ch 37-6 & 7
21 / 35 / Bohr Atom / Ch 37-9 to 11