PHYSICS 132

Winter Quarter 2010

 

Instructor:       Dr. Ronald F. Brown

Office:              Sci. Bldg (52) E38                     Email:   rbrown@calpoly.edu

Telephone:      756-2448                                        http://www.calpoly.edu/~rbrown/phys132.html

 

Office Hours:    Tues. 2-3; Wed. 3-4; Thurs. 2-3

                         . 


Texts:                     Young and Freedman, UNIVERSITY PHYSICS , 12th edition


                               Brown, Physics 132 SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES AND PROBLEMS,  El Corral      [Recommended for this section]

 

References:           Any good student study guide - for example, the one to accompany the textbook.

                              If you have access to some other textook, you might want to refer to it as well. 

 

Course Web Page:     http://www.calpoly.edu/~rbrown.phys132.html


Physics Dept. Course Page:   http://www.calpoly.edu/%7Ephys/132.html



 

It is the most persistent and greatest adventure in human history, this search to understand the universe, how it works and where it came from.  It is difficult to imagine that a handful of residents of a small planet circling an insignificant star in a small galaxy have as their aim a complete understanding of the entire universe, a small speck of creation truly believing it is capable of comprehending the whole.
                                                               - Murray Gell-Mann, Caltech physicist

 

This course is a continuation of the first course in Physics.  We will extend the ideas of Newton's laws for describing the motions of objects to describing systems - mass-spring systems, vibrating strings, gases, heat engines, etc..  That discussion will lead to wave motion, sound and interference of waves (and even light).  The laws of thermodynamics will then deal with energy in the microscopic forms of random atomic vibrations we associate with heat.  We will discuss both geometrical optics (including lenses and lens systems) and wave optics (including light interference) as an extension of the wave motion discussion.

 

ADDING AND DROPPING THE COURSE 

 

Priority for adding the class by Permit (if any spaces become available) will be given to those students who have been participating throughout the first week.  Attend each class meeting, complete the work assigned, and attend the laboratory.  You have until Wednesday, January 13 to either add or drop - but please let me know if you drop so that I can notify any who are still trying to add that a space is available. After the drop date, you can only withdraw from the course by petition.

 

Any student to whom a permit is given must process that permit as soon as possible and a grade will be assigned at the end of the quarter.  Transfer of an permit number to another student will be reported to Judicial Affairs.


Revised, September 17, 2010


COURSE INFORMATION


CLASS MEETINGS

 

Each meeting will include some lecture and some discussion.  You are expected to read the text and Supplemental Notes, work through examples, and do homework problems prior to each class meeting.  The discussions can then deal with any material that is difficult to understand, approaches to problem solving, and explanations of concepts and insights into the significance of the ideas of physics.  How profitable the class meetings are depend very much on your level of preparation and participation.

 

Be respectful of your class.  Attend all classes, be on-time, do not interrupt the class by leaving early, turn off your cell-phone, participate in the discussions, ask questions, respond to questions, but do not carry on private conversations with others in the class.  Play your part in making it a successful class.

 

LABORATORY

 

The laboratory is an integral part of this course and will support the material covered in lecture. You must be concurrently enrolled in the laboratory.  The lab should be thought of as an extension of the lecture as some of the material of the course is better presented in lab than in lecture.  The recitation portion of the lab will be used for answering questions on the material, reviewing HW problems, and making the connection between the course material and that day's experiment.  The lab experiments themselves are easily completed in the time remaining. You will be expected to write lab reports on each of the experiments outside of class. 


The lab will be graded on a pass/fail basis - with passing grades being S–, S, or S+.  The lab itself will only contribute toward your grade in the course marginally (±5%) and will "count" for borderline grade decisions ­ but you must pass the lab to pass the course.  But the value of the laboratory is to put meaning to the material covered - doing well in lab will strengthen your understanding of the material of the course.


NOTE:  There is no printed laboratory manual for this course.  Handouts for each lab will be available to you through email.

 

 

HOMEWORK

 

Learning is not a passive experience.  Homework will be assigned regularly.  The purpose of the homework, of course, is to help you understand the material - it is not an end in itself.  It is most effective if it is being worked on while the material is being discussed in class. 


There will be an assignment sheet with many problems from the textbook that should be worked on.  For the most part, these will not be collected.  In addition, a few problems will be collected each week - and they should be written up carefully with explanations, good diagrams, etc.  Thoughtful work on these problems will also receive thoughtful feedback from our grader.  The homework will not count directly as a percentage of the grade, but will show your involvement in the course. You are expected to submit at least 75% of the assigned problems on time. 


Work both independently and in groups.  If you have difficulty with the concepts or the problems, ask questions - in class, in laboratory, at the Physics Learning Center (Sci. Bldg. (52) Rm A-03), at office hours, and in study sessions with your classmates. 

 

Maintain a homework notebook.  Bring your notebook with you when you come to office hours so I can see your approach to your work.  But much more important than just having HW to review is having explanations of how and why you solved the problems the way you did - what principles applied and what approach should be used.  That way, when you are studying for tests, you merely need to review your explanations and then practice a few problems. 

 

MASTERING PHYSICS

You might find it useful to make use of the web-based homework service MasteringPhysics for some of your problem solving.  It offers you tutorial problems and gives you immediate feedback on the correctness of your homework.  The program will keep track of your homework success.   This work will give you exposure to a large variety of problems - and the opportunity to check your work.  It does not count toward your grade in any direct way.


STUDY GROUPS

 

Study groups can be very helpful and give you a set of fellow students to contact during the quarter.  You are encouraged to get together with your study group to discuss the material, sort out difficulties, and work on homework and lab reports.  Trying to help a fellow student through the material can be very effective in your own study - it helps solidify what you do know and expose those areas where the ideas are not yet secure.  But be careful not to rely entirely on the group.  Learning is ultimately an individual effort.  Be sure to do independent thinking and study as well as group work.

 

QUIZZES

 

There will be occasional quizzes - some for you to do as self-checks and some will count toward the grade.   The quizzes may be given during the recitation section in the laboratory  (and some may just relate to the previous week's experiment).

 

EXAMS

 

There will be two mid-term exams in addition to any quizzes and a comprehensive final exam.  The exams will include both problems to set up and/or solve and conceptual questions on the material. Please contact me if you have a problem with examinations as a method for testing your understanding of the material.  The first mid-term exam will cover the material of oscillations, wave motion, and sound.  The second mid-term exam will be on thermodynamics.

 

FINAL EXAM:    

 

The final exam will be comprehensive and will stress the concepts of physics and applications of the concepts to problem solving.  You must pass the final exam to be assured of a passing grade in the course.  The final exam will be comprehensive and will stress the concepts of physics and applications of the concepts to problem solving.  The final will be more or less equally divided between the main topics of the course with some emphasis on the later material which had not yet been tested. 

 

You must pass the final exam to be assured of a passing grade in the course.




NOTE:  Should a test-day emergency or illness prevent you from taking a quiz or exam, email me or leave a message at my office prior to the test and the make arrangements with me to see if a make-up test is in order.



GRADING

 

Grading in the course will be based primarily on the quizzes, the mid-term exams, and the final.  Homework will not count toward your grade in a formal way, but does reflect your involvement and how systematic you are in the course.  You are expected to submit at least 75% of the assigned HW problems on time.  Although the lab grade itself will count marginally toward your grade (±5% which can affect borderline grade decisions), you must pass the lab to pass the course.  There will always be quiz and test questions that relate to the material covered in the lab.


The grade you receive ultimately should reflect what you know and are able to show of your knowledge of the material of this course and in setting up and solving problems.  Testing is just the way that knowledge and ability is measured (and it is not a perfect measure).  If this class is typical, 75-80% of you will receive grades in the A-C range.  You will receive a grade of C- or better if you pass lab (with an S or S+), take all the quizzes and tests, and then show on the final exam that you have a sufficient mastery of the material to move on even if early test scores are weak.  But realize that a lack of preparation early in the quarter will make it very difficult to gain a solid understanding of the material of the course.  Typically, about a 55-60% overall performance is sufficient for a marginal grade of C-.  However, I will only assign grades of C- or better to those students whom I feel are sufficiently well prepared to go into a subsequent course based on this material with a reasonable chance of  success.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

 

An active participation in this introductory course physics should yield:

 

 

EXPECTATIONS AND  RESPONSIBILITIES    You are responsible for your own education.  

 

Learning to think and work independently is an integral part of the educational process. 

 

You should expect to be treated fairly and with respect both by your instructor and by your fellow students.  And you have the responsibility to be respectful and fair with them as well. 

 

You have an absolute right to expect me, as your instructor, to be honest with you.  And I expect no less of you.

 

Ultimately, you are responsible for your own work - and you are responsible for your actions. 

 

 

Finally, it is important that you approach the study of physics systematically.  The study of physics requires assimilating and using the information gained from your reading, the laboratory, lectures and discussions, and your work on solving problems.

 

Learning physics is not a spectator sport.  It is important that you make good use of the questions and problems at the end of each chapter.  It is essential that you solve problems - not learn solutions  (there is a very important difference!)  Work on homework both in groups and individually.  The point is not to complete assignments, but to learn from the work that you do.  You ultimately are responsible for how well you learn the principles of physics and how they apply to the solutions of problems.

 

 

 

PHYSICS 132 TOPICS AND APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE

 

 

HARMONIC OSCILLATIONS, WAVE MOTION,  SOUND (About  3 1/2 weeks)

 

Oscillatory motion - Mass/spring systems, pendula, damped oscillations and resonance. 
Transverse and longitudinal waves, interference of waves, standing wave resonances. 
Sound as an example of wave motion, sound intensity and sound level, Doppler effect. 

 

   Exam I will cover this material.



  GEOMETRICAL OPTICS AND WAVE OPTICS   (About 3 weeks)


Properties of light.
Geometrical optics including Snell's law of refraction, lenses and image formation with lens systems.

Wave optics, interference and diffraction.


Exam II will include the material on optics.
 

THERMODYNAMICS   (About 3 1/2 weeks)

 

Pressure, temperature, calorimetry, and thermal properties of solids, liquids, and gases.


Work, heat, and internal energy - the  First Law of Thermodynamics

 

The macro/micro connection - Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Thermodynamic processes in ideal gases;  Heat engines and thermodynamic efficiency.



The final exam will be comprehensive, but will emphasize the material from the last section on thermodynamics