Facebook Group

My section of physics 102 now has a facebook group. It is a closed group (you need to request membership or be approved) and restricted to the Alabama network.

Most of the course information will still come from this site, but facebook seems to provide an easier mechanism for discussion and feedback.

Someting to note: using the 'feed friend' facebook application, you can subscribe to a news feed for this blog, and thereby get all of your ph102 info via facebook alone. Using this application will put a ph102 news feed right on your facebook home page. Very handy if you'd rather just check one site every day ...

Final grades are up ...

Check on myBama, I have just entered your final grades. If you have any questions, contact me by the end of Friday ...

Finals are graded

Let the flood of emails begin :-)

[really, it is ok to email me or drop by and inquire about the final.]

It wasn't that bad in the end, and I scaled generously. The multiple choice average was 74.5%, and the problems average was 60%. I scaled each part (MC and problems) separately to come out to an 80% average with 12.5% standard deviation.

In rough terms, that means if you got a 50% overall, you still passed. Yes, it was that hard ... I consider a raw score of 50% a suitable passing grade, and a raw score of more than 80% worth an A on the final.

There will be lots of detail on this tomorrow, and I should have final grades posted by tomorrow night. The early numbers tell me that on average 40% of you actually improved your overall grade after the final exam.

So rest easy! No one dropped by even a full letter grade after taking the final.

FINAL EXAM TOMORROW!!!

Tuesday 11 December, 8:00-10:30am, 329 Gallalee

You read that right, 8am!

MCAT FYI

From the Crimson White:

Aspiring medical students can now register for April and May MCAT test dates. Registration opened on Wednesday, according to The Association of American Medical Colleges, who administers the test.

Kaplan expert Russell Schaffer said students should register for these dates as soon as possible to avoid being locked out.

No recitation tomorrow!

Format of final exam

There are two sections to the final, equally weighted:

Section I: Multiple choice.
20 multiple choice problems, you must answer 16 of them.

Section II: Problems.
10 problems, you must answer 6 of them.

I expect the final exam will take most of the two hour period. It will be scaled if necessary, just like previous exams. It is worth 20% of your grade, as previously advertised.

You can bring in two formula sheets (two full 8.5x11 inch pages, front and back) with whatever you want on them. You will be given all constants and numerical values you need.

Bring a calculator.

Stuff that could possibly be on the final

Here is the magic list of which sections from which chapters in Serway are "fair game" for the final. I will try to edit this tonight and put in the corresponding sections from the course notes as well.

Sections included
Ch. 15: Sect. 1-6, 9
Ch. 16: all
Ch. 17: Sect. 1-6, 8
Ch. 18: Sect. 1-5
Ch. 19: Sect. 1-9
Ch. 20: Sect. 1-4, 6, 7
Ch. 21: Sect. 1-3, 7-12 follow the notes for ac circuits, not the book
Ch. 22: Sect. 1-5, 7
Ch. 23: all
Ch. 26: 1-9
Ch. 27: 1-6, 8
Ch. 28: 1-6
Ch. 29: 1-6

Further analysis of exam III

I know you're all dying to know how exam III broke down by question. Probably, you've been lying awake at night wondering what percentage of people answered multiple choice question 3 correctly, what percentage of people chose to solve problem 5, and what the average score on problem 4 was.

Wait no longer. Well, just a little bit longer.

The average was 82.33% (std. dev 23%) overall, which weighted the multiple choice and problems sections equally. The bonus question counted as one multiple choice question. There were 17 A's, 18 B's, 7 C's, and 4 D/F's. Clearly, this thing was too easy. :-)

The problems section had an average of 88.43% (std. dev 25%), while the multiple choice section averaged 72.1% (std. dev 23%). This disparity probably has something to do with the fact that I solved two of the exam problems in class the day before ...

Anyway. Here you are. Clicky-clicky for a larger plot.From this one, you can see more clearly that the problems section of the exam really pushed the average up. The multiple choice alone would have made for a somewhat disappointing result in the end.

Here is where I thought there were some interesting things going on. Question 3 on the multiple choice was by far the 'hardest', followed closely by numbers 5 and 6. Number 5 was on nuclear physics we had only covered days before, but numbers 3 and 6 were both conceptual, as was number 7, the next lowest. Broadly, the conceptual questions seem to cause the most trouble.

For the problems, no one seemed much harder than any other based on average score, but if you look at the number of people choosing to attempt each problem (recall you had to do 2 of 5 problems), then numbers 1 and 4 win in a landslide - the ones I did in class the day before.

Glean from this what you will, don't take it too seriously. I just think its good for me to look at these things and see if I can identify which questions/concepts in particular were troublesome, and whether that's something I can try to correct.

Exam III solutions

Right now, you are still busy taking the exam ... its not so bad, is it?

Here are the solutions, and here is the exams folder to see all 3 exams and solutions.

I should be able to hand back the exams as well as your papers this coming Tuesday in class (in which I will give a lecture on how hard disks and flash memory work).

Exam III is this Friday

So. You have an exam on Friday during the recitation period. Since this means you have only 50 minutes to complete the exam, it will be short if nothing else. The following material is fair game (numbers refer to sections in Serway & Faughn):

• Lenses (23.4-7)
• Quantum Physics (27.1-3,5,6,8)
• Atomic Physics (28.1-7,11)
• Nuclear Physics (29.1-6)

The exam will have a format somewhat like the final exam, though shorter: there will be both problems (like exam II) and multiple choice questions (like exam I).

• multiple choice questions
• 50% of the grade
• approximately 8 questions
• like the quizzes - some conceptual questions
  
• 4 problems given / solve 2
• 50% of the grade
• choose to solve 2 of the 4; all have equal weight

You may bring in a formula sheet and a calculator, following the same rules as last time around. Your time will be limited on Friday. Don't be late.

Finally: you will know the results of exam III and your grade going into the final by Thursday of `dead week' (possibly excluding the paper grade ... I don't know yet if I can read 50 of them in a week or not).

Exam II solutions / quiz solutions

Just in time for final exam season, the detailed solutions to Exam II are ready. Note that Exam I and its solution are still there.

Also, at long last, all of the quiz solutions are available.

Papers due tomorrow ...

Just a friendly reminder that your 5 page papers are due tomorrow ...

Sending me a PDF is the preferred form of submission. Other file formats are fine (e.g., MS Word ) if you aren't sure how to generate a PDF. Of course, hard copies are fine too, if you want to go that route.

Lab for 20 Nov 2007

Today we will use the known line emission spectrum from Mercury atoms to calibrate a diffraction grating, and then use our calibrated grating to determine the wavelengths of emission from hydrogen atoms.

So basically, we will measure the emission spectrum from hydrogen.

Procedure.

homework deadline extended

If you have not already seen, the homework that was supposed to be due this past Friday is now due tomorrow (Tues) at midnight.

I was getting a lot of questions, which indicated to me we didn't cover a couple of things well enough. We will go over some of the questions in class tomorrow, and hopefully by the end of it you will know how to do all of the problems ...

Exam II results

So the exam results are in (except for a couple of you that had a reason to make it up late). You will get your exams back tomorrow.

The raw average was 70.7%, with a standard deviation of 18.5. Not to bad, but the spread was too high. I scaled the overall result to have an average of 80%, with a standard deviation of 12.5%, which makes the distribution more comparable to the last exam and a bit more fair I think. Here is what that looks like:

If we look at the average score by question, and the number that chose to respond (recall you had to pick 8 of 12 questions), it is easy to see which questions you perceived as being more difficult. Moreover, the second plot shows that your instincts were, as a whole, correct: questions perceived as more difficult (fewer people trying them) had a lower score on average.


Apparently, questions 6 and 7 were just mean. Maybe question 3 as well, but that was taken almost verbatim from the homework.

Anyway: you all did better than you think. Below is the breakdown by letter grade. Full exam solutions should be out by week's end.

A: 12
B: 11
C: 14
D: 5
F: 4

Exam II

So. I've been out of town this whole time, and have not been so responsive.

I have nearly finished grading/analyzing exam II, and I will post more information later today.

I can say this already though: Relax. I am not going to fail inordinate numbers of you. The exam will be scaled if necessary, and no one is going to radically change their grade as a result of the exam. It Will be Fine.

Practice problems

I have just put up a set of practice problems on WebAssign ... it will not be graded, and is optional (in fact, the solutions/answers are immediately available). It is just meant as a study aid.

If you can figure out how to solve most of those problems (say, 75% of them), you will rock the exam.

There will be 10 homework bonus points to the first person to tell me in a comment to this post what is the maximum wavelength of light required to most efficiently break up a diatomic oxygen molecule. If you are the first one within 10% of the optimal wavelength for breaking up an O2 molecule, you win.

Imminent exam

Here's the deal on exam II, which is Tuesday 6 November. Email me if you have questions ...

The exam is problem-based (no multiple choice). You will be given 12 problems, and you can choose any 8 of them to solve. All are equally weighted, simply pick the 8 you feel the best about, and solve those. No, you can't solve 10 and have me pick the 8 to grade ...

Heavy partial credit will be given -- I want to see the right idea, and the right method more than the right number.

You are allowed 2 sides of an 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper with formulas, etc, as last time.

Below is a list of the topics covered, referenced according to both the notes and the book:

Magnetism: 3 questions
Book chapter 20 (notes chapter 7)
excludes torque on current loops and permanent magnets (book 19.5, 19.10, notes 7.3.4, 7.4.1-3)
excludes derivation of B from E via relativity (notes only)
Hint: know and love the mass spectrometer.

Induction: 3 questions
Book chapter 21 (notes chapter 8)
excludes generators (book 20.5, 20.8, notes 8.6)
Hint: voltages induced by the motion of a conductor. RL circuits.

ac Circuits / EM waves: 2 questions
Book chapter 22 (notes chapter 9)
just follow the notes ... filters in particular.
excludes calculations of reactance
includes the EM spectrum, incident power absorbed due to radiation
Hint: filters, power absorbed due to radiation

Reflection/Refraction: 2 questions
Book chapter 22 (notes chapter 10)
excludes Huygens' principle (22.6 in the book, not in notes)
Hint: make sure you know homework 7 and the last quiz.

Mirrors: 2 questions
Book chapter 23 (notes chapter 11, addendum to notes found here)
Follow the latest homework questions.
Hint: make sure you know homework 7.

Suggestions
Study exam II in the course notes packet, and the homework questions relevant to these chapters.

Homework 7 hints

Some hints on numbers 3-5.

Text

Explanatory figure

Additional Explanatory figure

Problems like numbers 3 and 5 would make excellent exam questions.

Problem number 4, speaking from experience, does not.

Next Week

Your second exam is next Tuesday, 6 November. Details will be posted tomorrow, but it is notable that the exam will not be multiple choice. I will try not to make it too pathological. This is the bad news.

Here is the good news: class is canceled on Thursday, 8 November. I am out of town on Thursday next week, and knowing this in advance, I managed to build in a 1-day buffer into the schedule. I did not announce this earlier because I wasn't sure we wouldn't fall behind and need that day to catch up. We have stayed on schedule, as it turns out, so you will reap the reward ... meanwhile, I'll be at a conference in Tampa (so it is not a day off, really).

Take a day off yourselves, or better yet, work on your reports (which are due after the thanskgiving break). That deadline will come up before you know it, don't put it off.

Lab procedure 1 Nov 2007

Here you go.

Today we will measure Planck's constant using a bunch of LEDs, your lab boxes, and a few colored pieces of paper. Weird quantum physics right on your desk.

Intriguing, no?

Lab for 30 Oct 2007

Tomorrow we'll do a lab on lenses, which will signal the beginning of the end of our foray into optics. After this, we are on to quantum/atomic/nuclear physics for the rest of the semester.

Notes on Mirrors

A draft of my notes on mirrors (which we will cover today) is available [3.6Mb PDF].

Lab procedure 25 Oct 07

Here it is. There will also be time to finish up the second part of Tuesday's lab, if you so desire.

Schedule change

If you are paying attention to the course calendar, you may have noticed that I have done some shuffling. I felt the optics chapters were a bit too crammed in, and Exam II came up a bit too fast. No new content has been introduced, and nothing has been removed, just moved a few things around.

The major change is that Exam II has been moved to 6 Nov 2007. I will go over the other changes in class.

Homework this week

You have no regular homework for this week. Don't get too excited though.

Your homework assignment for this week, due by midnight Friday, is to turn in a proposed source for your 5 page paper, due after thanksgiving. Recall the rules for the paper here.

By Friday, you must submit a source for your paper. Again, the source can be a book, magazine article, etc., see the original requirements linked above. You do not need to have the source and topic approved by Friday, merely submitted. Your submission should include:

• A complete reference for me to find said work.
• A few sentences on why you think it is interesting and/or appropriate, with regards to the paper criteria.
  

Submissions by email are preferred, though any reasonable medium will be accepted. An acceptable book reference might be an amazon.com link or a full citation. An acceptable magazine reference should include year, issue, and page number, or a link if the magazine is online. Use your judgment, but please provide me with some easy way to verify the existence and appropriateness of your source.

A "few sentences" means just that - you need not write more than a very tiny paragraph. It can be informal and very short, just justify why the source seems interesting to you and why it meets the criteria.

Optics Lab for 23 Oct 2007

Tomorrow we will start our study of optics, beginning with the nature of light, reflection, and refraction. We will combine two short labs, one on reflection and one on refraction.

You can find the procedures here.

Lab for Thursday (18 Oct 07)

Here you go. Ac circuits and filters.

Basically, this is the stuff that makes your stereo work. Though the lab is couched in terms of the phase-shifted response in RC circuits, what we will really make is a low-pass filter, which is useful for separating the audio signals that should be sent to a woofer. A high-pass filter is what sends the signal to the tweeter. Hopefully, those last sentences will make sense by the end of Tuesday!

Also, by the end of Tuesday, you will see how a bunch of high-pass and low-pass filters together make an audio crossover, or equalizer.

So, if physics hasn't seemed useful yet, by the end of this week it will at least explain how your stereo works. This lab goes to eleven.

---

I'm feeling generous. Three bonus homework points for the first person to leave a comment identifying the movie referenced in the above post. Just leave your name and the name of the appropriate movie in a comment to this post ...

Paper details

As I have mentioned a few times before, you have a 5 page paper this semester.

It won't be too bad.

Here are the details, subject to change. You need to choose a source ... soon.

The Plan for this week (15-29 Oct 07)

Ok. Due to my absence for the last half of the week, we'll do things a bit differently this week.

Short-attention-span version: double lecture Tues, no lecture Thurs.

Detailed version:

(1) I am gone for a conference from 17 until 20 Oct

• accessible via email to an extent
• it is easier to alter the schedule than to find a sub

(2) on Tuesday 16 Oct:

• finish unit on induction
• start and finish and ac circuits unit (short)
• double lecture, no lab

(3) on Thursday 18 Oct:

• no lecture, only lab
• ac circuits lab
• short induction lab

(4) for Friday 19 Oct:

• next homework set due (already assigned)
• covers (mostly) magnetic induction
• quiz covering magnetism and induction

(5) During the last half of the week

• you are responsible for reading the section on EM waves!
• it is not difficult, but we may not get to it in class
• it will, however, `be on the test'
• in the course notes or the Serway book

(6) Starting next week: optics

• for better or worse, we will be mostly done with E&M

Mid-term grades / My absence next week

Your mid-term grades will be posted tomorrow. As mentioned earlier, for the first time I must post grades for all students in 100 level courses, not just freshman. Sorry! To a large degree, your grade will be dominated by your score on Exam I. See the course information for information on what everything is worth. Ask me during the lab period tomorrow or afterward if you are curious about your grade to date.

And, FYI, I will be out of town (at a conference) from the afternoon of 16 Oct until 20 Oct, though I will be accessible by email. This means I will miss the class on 18 Oct, in which you will learn all about EM waves and start with optics. In my absence, there will be a lab as usual, and the lecture will be given by one of my colleagues.

Lab procedure 9 Oct 2007

Here you are.

This one should work fairly well, or at least it just did for me.

A few bits of advice:

• familiarize yourself with the function generator and voltmeter
• ask for assistance right away if you are not sure what everything does
• make sure you know the difference between the "primary" and "pickup" coils
• always, always be careful which units you use
  

Lab procedure 4 Oct 2007

Thursday's lab will be verifying Ampere's law, which you will be formally introduced to today.

You can find the procedure here.

This lab worked quite well for me this evening, but it has the potential to be time-consuming if you don't work carefully and follow the right procedure. Ask a question if you are in any doubt. Focus on taking all the data you need first, and then analyze your data. Even better, while some team members are measuring, the others can be plotting and calculating.

If you do not finish on time, you will be permitted to complete the report on your own time and turn it in during recitation. If you work efficiently, however, I think you can finish it with time to spare.

Mid-term grades

Mid-term grades are due Wed, Oct 10th (next Wed). For better or worse, faculty are now to post mid-term grades for ALL students in 100- & 200-level classes ... not just 1st year students.

Your mid-term grade will include everything you have done through the end of this week - the exam, homework, quizzes, and labs. On Tuesday of next week (9th Oct), I will give you all a chance to see your grade at the moment, and make sure everything seems ok.

Make the extra-credit possibility all the more timely, I guess.

Extra credit possibility: bug hunt

As mentioned today in class, you have an extra credit possibility for the rest of the semester: helping me find errors in the course notes. The course notes are available at the SUPe store, or downloadable (freely) here.

Here are the rules:

• you get 1 homework point for finding a non-technical error
• you get 2 homework points for finding a technical error
• you get 3 homework points for finding a mistake in the solution to a quiz or exam problem contained in the course notes
• you get 5 homework points for providing a unique, usable example problem (with solution) to include in a chapter. the problem cannot be from the textbook or any course work from this semester.
  
• non-technical errors include typos and formatting mistakes
• technical errors include mistakes in formulas, explanations, or figures.
• you have to be the 1st to find an error
• a maximum of 100 points may be earned (equal to 1 complete homework set)
• the front matter (table of contents, etc) and chapter 1 are excluded

Each homework is 10 questions long and worth 100 points, and there are about 10 in total for the semester. Therefore, if you spot 5 technical errors, this is the same as getting one homework question completely correct, or bringing a single homework grade up by 10%.

The distinction between what constitutes a technical or non-technical error is mine to make, as is whether something is really in error or not in the first place. Errors will be marked in my desk copy of the notes. You must find something not already marked to earn points.

If you propose an example problem, it must have a correct solution, and must be unique -- it cannot simply be taken from another textbook or coursework from this semester. It must be a unique problem of your own design, and you must provide a proposed solution. Figures are not necessary, but suggestions are welcome.

-------------

Update: Someone has 19 points already. Better find the easy errors fast!

Exam I solution / Friday's quiz

Exam I and its detailed solution can be found here.

As mentioned today in class, rescaling was accomplished by dropping question #2, and regarding it as bonus. Basically, all you have to do is take the total number you got correct, including the bonus, and divide it by 24 instead of 25 to get your percentage. After that, the usual >90=A, 80-90=B scale applies.

On another note: this Friday's quiz (5 Oct 2007) will consist entirely of questions from the exam, verbatim. Most likely, some of the questions you solved in class today will be chosen.

So. Work through the solutions ... and this week's quiz will be a 'gimmie.'

Change of plans: no lab today

Rather than have a lab today, we are going to focus about half of today's class on problem solving. We will attack, in groups, specific problems that caused trouble on the recent exam and the last couple of quizzes. You will have to turn in work at the end of this ...

Also for today: announcements with details to follow in class.

• extra credit possibility: finding bugs in the course notes
• you have a paper due after Thanksgiving break
• you have a homework set due this Friday
  
• exam I has been slightly rescaled, to your benefit
• full detailed solutions to the exam will be out after class

There will be follow-up posts here on all of these some time tomorrow as well.

Exam I results

FYI, the exam average was 76%, with a standard deviation of 14.5%. This means there will little scaling, you all did pretty well. The A/B/C/D/F cut-offs will have to be adjusted slightly, I will give out the details on that on Tuesday.

For now, here are some plots showing the number of people that got each question right, and the histogram of scores. Clearly, questions 2, 9 and 14 were tougher than the rest, followed closely by numbers 16, 1, and 21 (in that order). On the other hand, you totally owned question 6, which was a nice surprise to me. The last question in the list is the bonus, which a bit more than 3/4 of you got right.


The histogram doesn't tell me much except the class is roughly divided into two groups ...


Full detailed solutions will follow this weekend.

Exam I Study Hint ...

I'm being awfully generous here, but it would behoove you to study last year's exam I, which you can find in the course notes packet.

It would also behoove you to study the solutions to this year's quizzes, as well as last year's (also in the notes packet).

Exam I study session

Tomorrow evening, 5pm in room 203 Gallalee. I will be prepared to answer any questions from the homework or quizzes to date, questions about the exam/formula sheet, and any other random stuff you can think of.

5-6pm, 203 Gallalee, Wed 26 Sept (tomorrow)

Exam I is THIS THURSDAY

Exam I is, as you know, scheduled for this Thursday, 27 September. This means that there is no homework due this week, and no Friday quiz. The exam will cover the following sections in the Serway & Faughn book:

Chapter 15, including Sections 1-6, 9
Chapter 16, including Sections 1-4, 6-10
Chapter 17, including Sections 1-5, 8
Chapter 18, including Sections 1-5

If you are paying more attention to the course notes, it covers the following:

Chapter 3, excluding Sections 3.6, 3.7
Chapter 4, excluding Sections 4.7, 4.2.2.1
Chapter 5, excluding Sections 5.4.1.1, 5.4.6
Chapter 6 ALL

Whether you pay more attention to the book or the course notes, the list above covers the same topics.

You may have noticed that Relativity is not part of the exam. This is correct.

The exam will be multiple choice, and roughly 25 questions long. I suggest studying the "quick quizzes" and "conceptual questions" in Serway, in addition to the worked-out examples in each chapter. In the course notes, you could look at the example exam, and its solution, which starts on pg. 116 in the notes packet, as well as the quizzes included at the end of each chapter and the quizzes I have given this semester.

Roughly half the questions will be conceptual or qualitative (no calculations), and roughly half the questions will involve real, live quantitative answers. With units and everything.

The exam will be in the usual classroom, at the usual time. I will devote the first 15-30 mins of class to answering last-minute questions, after which you will have about 90 minutes for the exam. I expect the exam to take you closer to 60 minutes, but don't want anyone to feel too rushed.

You will want a calculator. Make sure it handles simple trig functions and powers of ten at least.

I will be available on Wednesday for office hours most of the day (in Bevill).

You can bring in ONE standard 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper front and back (or two sheets front-only), containing any information you like. This could include pictures, formulas, example problems, or even the first few chapters of "The Count of Monte Cristo" in a very small font. Whatever you think might help. You can use both the front and back, typed or written, crayon or pencil, your preference.

One interesting variant is to write from left to right with a red pen, and then turn the page 90 degrees and write over the top of that with a blue pen. If you can then lay your hands on a set of 3-D glasses ... presto, you've doubled your storage density.

Lab for 25 Sept 2007: RC circuits

Here is the procedure for tomorrow's lab. We'll be investigating series RC circuits, specifically their response a sudden increase or decrease in voltage.

Keep in mind that you have an exam on Thursday. They have a way of sneaking up on a person.

Quiz 1-3 Solutions

By the way ... copies of quizzes 1-3 along with solutions can be found here. Quizzes 1 & 2 have somewhat detailed solutions/explanations, for quiz 3 I only have the answers for right now.

Homework 4 hints

Here are a few suggestions for numbers 4, 6, 7, and 8 ...

... at the moment, these four questions have the lowest average score by far. I'm taking that as a sign that they are more pathological than the others.

Lab Procedure 20 Sept 07

Here you go.

Lab procedure 18 Sept 2007

In several hours (it is late) we will be doing a lab on current, voltage, and how they relate for different electronic components like diodes, resistors, and capacitors. This lab has a dual purpose, in that it is also aimed at getting you familiarized with the laboratory software and hardware I introduced last semester. You will be using this 'BamaLab' system for the next 8 or so labs, so it is worth your time to get to know it a bit.

An overview of the system can be found here, read this before proceeding on to the actual lab. A more detailed overview is in Appendix A of the course notes ... reading that on your own time is optional.

The actual lab is here, and will involve you determining current-voltage relationships (or lack thereof) for different types of electronic components.

Finally: since I designed the hardware and wrote the software for the lab system you will be using today and in the future, I can change pretty much anything I like. I am open to any suggestions for improving the hardware, software, or both. Anything you think will make the system clearer or more usable.

Friday's quiz

Since there was a tornado warning during the first portion of class on Friday, we will have a make-up quiz (without penalty) tomorrow. If you missed the recitation period, you can take the quiz tomorrow ... you cannot retake the quiz if you already took it Friday though.

Lab Safety

Since we have started doing real, live labs now, we need to go over some safety rules on Tuesday. Mostly it is common sense stuff.

Please read and sign this.

We will go over the safety rules briefly on Tuesday, and everyone should print and sign this form indicating that they have read and understood the safety procedures.

Final Exam

Just file this away for future reference:

Tuesday 11 December, 8:00-10:30am, 329 Gallalee

Lab for 13 Sept 2007

Today we will investigate series and parallel combinations of capacitors.

The procedure is here ...

Lab procedure 11 Sept 2007

Today will be a real live lab with wires and everything.

Here is the procedure. We will explore electrical potential and the relation between symmetry and electric fields and potentials.

Homework II hints

Here is a collection of homework hints I have sent out by email so far, a cut-and-past job from emails I have sent today.

I figure its no fair to give hints if you can't all see them ... but these are just plain text, so reading the math is a bit of an exercise. As is imagining the free body diagram I refer to for #6, which exists only in my head.

Lab procedure 6 Sept 2007

I know I promised a real, live laboratory today, with wires and everything ... but we will hold off one more class period. Instead, we will do one more set of interactive simulations, which you can find here. These simulations and exercises are designed to give you a better intuition for electric forces and fields before we move on to more complicated things.

You should go through:

Exploration 23.1, and Problems 23.1 & 23.5

The basic task is the same as last time -- work through the procedure given and answer the questions. Write up a short lab report for your group, turn it in when you are done. There is no need for screenshots this time.

Lab procedure 4 Sept. 2007

In today's class, we will be doing simulations of the forces on electric charges in various configurations.

Our simulations will be conducted using a set of online 'applets', you can find them here. The username and password will be given in class.*

The procedure you should follow is right here [PDF]. Print out the procedure, and work on the exercises in groups. Turn in your report as instructed by the end of class.

-------

*The access should be screened by IP address, so you should not need a password when accessing this link on campus.

Homework II out / Homework help

Homework II is now out on webassign, it is due this Friday 7 Sept. It covers Electric Forces and Fields, chapter 15 of Serway & Faughn or chapter 3 of the course notes packet. We will go over some of the problems in class this week to help get you started.

In general, if you need help on a homework question at odd hours, emailing me is the best option. I may or may not notice the help/extension requests on webassign in time, but email will almost always be dealt with promptly.

Today's quiz and solution ...

can be found here.

Hints on HW 1

Here you go [PDF], hints on 6, 8, and 10. Given that we did 2 others in class already ... you should be good to go.

We'll also go over what MeV means in recitation tomorrow. I forgot to mention that this is a unit of energy commonly used when talking about particles and stuff, my bad. It is covered in the Serway book. Basically, the 'eV' part means 'electron volt', and the 'M' and 'G' are metric prefixes for one million (10^6) and one billion (10^9), respectively. 1eV = 1.6 x 10^-19 Joules.

This means 1MeV = 10^6 eV = one million electron volts = 1.6 x 10^-13 Joules, and 1GeV = one billion joules = 1.6 x 10^-10 J.

Basically, when you see 'eV' that is just an alternate unit of energy, nothing more. The rest energy of a proton is 939MeV, which is useful for one of the problems ...

Applet for 30 Aug 2007

In addition to a few follow-up questions, we will be using this online 'applet' to demonstrate some relativistic effects.

The procedure and questions will be available at class time.

Relativity Exercises / Homework

Relativity is tough stuff, and the course will get easier after this (I think, YMMV). In particular, the last exercise today was tough. Getting a better handle on relativity will require a little patience and practice.

If you had trouble with the exercises today:

• we will go over them in detail in Thursday's class
• I am available most of tomorrow if you need help - send me an email
• we will do some homework problems in Friday's recitation

Finally, here are a couple of links that might help you: one, two. The first is a bit more general and helpful, I think.

Printed Course Notes Available

Printed and bound copies of the course notes are now available at the SUPe store, on the shelves.

The notes packets are $37.85, or about 15 cents per page for 251 pages. Keep in mind that nearly all the figures are in color, so they are giving you a good price on these. It is a tough price to beat if you want to print them up on your own ... the library wants 25 cents per page, for example.

Again, they are not required, but I do recommend them. From next week on, starting with electrostatics, I think they will be a big help. You can still view them online if you'd rather not buy them.

Physics Help Desk Hours

The hours for the physics help desk are now posted. They may change slightly in the next week or two, as the GTA's schedules may still change.

Find them here [link on page], or here [directly to pdf].

Note that all of the help center hours are in the afternoon/evening.

Tomorrow's Exercises (28 Aug 07)

Below is a link for tomorrow's exercise:

Relativity Exercises [pdf]

You don't need to print these out ahead of time if you don't want to. Once the lecture portion is finished, you will break up in to groups to work on these exercises, and you can print them at that time.

Of course, I'm not stopping you from reading them ahead of time, but it is not necessary.

"Lab" for tomorrow

We will not have any proper lab "experiments" this week while we study relativity. Rather, we will work on in-class exercises and problem solving during the second half of class tomorrow and Thursday.

So, for tomorrow, all you need to do is glance through Ch. 26 a bit, and be ready to solve problems in groups. Nothing to print out or bring to class this time. There will be work due at the end of class, however ...

This is a temporary thing, just while we finish relativity. Proper labs will begin next week when we start with electrostatics.

Course introduction

The course introduction is available now as a PDF ... here [pdf].

This file contains all the official sort of information for your reference.

A few figures I'll use to discuss relativity are there too.

Welcome to PH102, Fall 2007

It worked very well last semester, so once again I am blogging ph102. There are many good reasons for doing this, but most importantly, it lets me keep you up to date on a daily (or better) basis. Browsing the archives will give you an idea of how I run things.

Bookmark this blog, it will be your main source of information this semester. I suggest you check it in the morning before class, if you are not into the RSS madness.

A few things to note:

• atom/rss feeds available. you even can get updates on facebook
  
• search for "rss" under facebook apps
• you can post comments and give me feedback or ask questions.
  
• you can post anonymously
• I will respond promptly
• all posts are archived and search-able
• I try to tag all the posts to keep things organized
  
• this blog is public. no grades/personal info of any kind will be posted. your privacy will be preserved
• do not add any personal information in comments if you don't want it public
• there is no 'undo' on the internet
  
• inappropriate comments will be swiftly deleted
  

I keep very late hours. Don't assume it is too late to send a message, Futurama is on at 1:30.

Here are a series of informative posts from last semester which will be useful to get you started:

Logging on to WebAssign (homework system)

Useful online resources

Course Calendar (Google Calendar; no account required to view)

Finally: I am trying to write a ph102 book. The notes available at the supestore (not required) are the first draft of that book, save a couple of unfinished chapters. I will greatly appreciate any comments you might have on the notes, suggestions for improving clarity, and especially finding and squashing obvious bugs.

Final Exam Grading

Take home finals are interesting to grade. You had a lot of resources at your disposal, in principle, but so do I.

Now, I grant you, question 1 may have looked a lot like a book problem (Ch. 15 number 51 in particular), but it differed in a couple of crucial ways.

Those of you that noticed these differences, or just went ahead and solved the problem as stated without looking did just fine. Restating the book's solution did not yield a lot of credit on the other hand ...

Final Exam, II

I will be out of town this Friday (4 May) through Monday (7 May). I may be able to monitor email during this time, but not terribly often (maybe once or twice a day).

Your TA (and the rest of the physics help desk staff) is around, though, so go find Mr. Wofsey or another GTA if you have questions between Friday and Monday.

Also: extra weight will be given to particularly clever solutions to the exam problems, even if they aren't quite right. So explain your reasoning and logic as well as you can and you will do far better. Even if you can only explain in words how you *would* solve the problem, but couldn't get it to work, you will receive some degree of partial credit.

Final Exam

As discussed, in class, your final exam is take-home. Here are the rules:

• The exam must represent your own work.
  
• You will sign a statement to this effect.
• You must work 10 of 12 problems and show your work.
  
• No work shown = no credit.
• Partial credit will be given.
  
• You may use a calculator, your textbook, and notes.
• "Notes" includes anything posted by me, e.g., prior exam solutions.
  
• Exams must be returned by 5pm on 11 May 2007
• Exams may be placed in my box in Gallalee or Bevill, or brought to my office.
  
• Scanned exams will also be accepted by email in PDF format.
  

More details will be provided in class today. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask (email or a comment on this post preferred). Any questions that come up (or hints given) will be answered here for the benefit of the entire class.

The exam is available HERE.

Exam III results, overall grades

Today in class you will get exam III back.

The average for the multiple choice section was 78.4%, and 83.15% for the problems. Thus, there is no scaling. The bonus question was worth a flat 5%. Your overall grade is (MC % + PR % + 5% bonus). The overall average was 83.14% - 7 D's, 9 C's, 13 B's, and 13 A's.

You also voted overwhelmingly to make the labs worth more in place of the clicker grade. The final grade breakdown is thus:

Labs: 18%
Quizzes 10%
Homework 10%
QED report 6%
Hour exams 12% each (36% total)
Final 20%

Exam III

As you know, Exam III is tomorrow. The following sections are covered (exclusively):

Ch. 23, Sects. 1-4, 6
Ch. 26, Sects. 5-9
Ch. 27, Sects. 1-3, 5, 6, 8
Ch. 28, Sects. 1-3, 5

The exam will be half problem-based, and half multiple choice. Each portion is worth 50% of the total grade. The multiple choice will cover all sections above, while the problems will be restricted to the sections in Ch. 26-28 (i.e., no problems from Ch. 23).

There will be generous partial credit given for the problems, none for the multiple choice. You will be given a list of 8 problems of equal weight, and you can choose any 4 of them to solve. There will be 12 multiple choice, you should do all of those.

There will be one bonus question, worth about as much as one normal question.

Study example problems, your homework problems, and the quizzes to date (all solutions are now online). In particular pay attention to the conceptual questions within the chapter and at the end of the chapter.

You should bring a calculator and a formula sheet to the exam. The formula sheet can consists of two sides of an 8.5x11" sheet of paper - either two single sides, or one page front and back. It may contain any information on it you like, written in whatever manner you like.

UPDATE: look here

Office Hours Today

I will be around my Bevill office (228) most of today. Give me 30mins heads-up by email or phone (8-0449) if you have questions and want to come by.

Quiz solutions ...

I have posted a solution for quiz 7 in the usual place. Direct link.

The quiz 8 solution will follow soon, hopefully by morning so you can look it over before Thursday's exam. Most of quiz 8 was straight from the homework questions, so you should be OK on that one ...

UPDATE: A quick solution for quiz 8 is now there too ...

Some relativity notes ...

... are online now.

Scanned handwritten notes, in the usual place.

UPDATE: atomic physics, refraction & lenses, more relativity, and some quantum notes are now there too.

Exam III review

There are some review questions for exam III up on WebAssign now. Recall that chapters 23, 26, 27, and 28 are covered on the exam.

More details on the exam structure will follow today, as will at least hand-written notes from those chapters.

Astronomy Public Night and Public Talk

Highly recommended. Basically the last chances for the semester to see the cool telescope in action ...

-----

The Department of Physics and Astronomy will host a pair of public events this Friday, April 27, beginning at 8 p.m. Dr. Gene Byrd will give a public talk on the Milky Way's nature and outside galaxies, "Spiral Arms in Disk Galaxies: Beautiful Patterns and Dark Matter," at 8 p.m. in 227 Gallalee. Immediately following the talk, the observatory will be open for a close look at the moon and Saturn (weather permitting).

For more information, call the Department office at 348-5050 and ask for the faculty member in charge of the date in question. We also ask that you give us advance warning if you are bringing a large group, so we may plan accordingly. We keep an email listing to be notified as new observatory events are scheduled; email lmonroe@bama.ua.edu to be added to the list.

For future dates of viewings, please visit www.astr.ua.edu/Public.html

Atomic Spectra Lab today ...

Here is the procedure

It is a lengthy but good lab, so we will devote plenty of time to it.

This is almost certainly your last lab too, for what that's worth.

Homework & What's next

We are a bit out of sync on homework right now. Your latest assignment came out earlier today on WebAssign, and is due next Monday at midnight. It covers Ch. 27, Quantum Physics.

The good news is, of course, that there are very few homeworks left this semester ...

For the remaining weeks, we will cover Quantum, Nuclear, and Atomic physics. Time permitting, there will be one special lecture on a "current topic" related to research here at UA. Possibly during dead week.

Finally, exam III has been moved to the Thursday before dead week. I will entertain particularly compelling arguments for other dates.

Humor

Science is hard

Passed along by one of your classmates ...

For today's lab ...

We measure Planck's constant, roughly.

Procedure

READ THE PROCEDURE. Really.

Relativity exercises

There are a few sneaky things in these exercises. And, one outright error.

For number 10, Webassign simply has the wrong answers coded. So I will tell you the answer Webassign wants for part a is 316 s ... the real answer is more like 296 s. Part B we will cover in class on Thursday.

For number 4, you want to set up something like "mv = (0.97)(gamma)mv" if you are supposed to find the velocity for 3% error.

For number 6, keep in mind that you want the difference in velocities between the Enterprise and the Klingon ship, as observed from the Enterprise. One of the velocities you put into the relativistic velocity addition formula should be negative ...

Some of the other problems have subtleties, but nothing beyond what we covered in lecture or what you might find in the example problems. There will be time to field some questions in class on Thursday.

And, I hope to have the relativity notes online before week's end.

Homework

My bad, I mistyped the due date for the homework ... as a result, it came due last night and it should not have.

I just switched the due date to Monday evening to fix the problem. You all should be able to work on it now.

Relativity Links

Neat pictures and graphs

Einstein himself on the subject, a popular account.

Special relativity applet for today

An applet to explore time dilation and length contraction.

And some follow-up questions.

The questions are due at the end of class.

Slides from today on lenses

Here you go

Random optics links

Site with explanatory optics images

Neat atmospheric optics

Negative refractive index

Tomorrow's Lab (27 Mar 07)

Tomorrow we will do a short lab on lenses.

You can find the procedure here.

Also: there is new homework on Webassign, covering Ch. 22 and the first part of Ch. 23 (mirrors). Since I put it up about two days late, you get about two more days - it is due this coming Sunday at midnight.

Exam II scores and distribution.

The second exam is graded, and it went better than expected. The average was 84.64% with a standard deviation of 12.41%, so there was no need for scaling. The usual 90/80/70/60 scale applies.

In the end, each of the 8 questions you answered was worth 10 points, for a total of 80 points. Full credit on the bonus question was 5 points extra. Heavy partial credit was given, including on the bonus question. Below is the grade scale out of 80, for convenience:

> 72/80 = A
> 64/80 = B
> 56/80 = C
> 48/80 = D
< 48/80 = F

Pluses and minuses are given at +/- 2.5% from the grade breaks (e.g., 97.5% = A+, 87.5% = B+, 92.5=A-).

Below is the histogram for the exam. Quite a few A's and C's. There were only 3 failing grades, and the lowest of those was only 5 points from passing - 5 points which can easily be made up if you rock the homework (hint, hint).

Next is a plot showing the percentage of students choosing each problem, and the average score for that problem. Clearly, numbers 1, 8, and 9 were tough. Numbers 10 and 12 were sleepers - the few who answered them did very well, disproportionately so, but they were largely ignored. Otherwise, there were no surprises as to which problems you chose, and the scores were in proportion.

Exam II Solutions

Can be found here.

UPDATE:

A couple of small typos I found so far in the solutions are now corrected.

I've nearly finished grading the first four problems (well, almost no one did #1), and so far it looks very good. They will be graded and handed back this coming Tuesday. Tomorrow in recitation I will go over the solutions in detail.

FYI: I am counting off very little for obvious algebra/math mistakes if I can trace back where you went wrong.

Physics & Astronomy fall course lineup

Well, Fall registration begins soon. Need another science class? PH102 hasn't been so bad?

This is what we have for the fall:

Physics course descriptions, and Astronomy course descriptions.

Physics-wise, "Modern Physics" PH253 is something you can take right after 102 (if you have Calculus II), and has a very high "cool" factor. It will cover some similar topics as the last portion of PH102, so if you like the remaining portion of PH102, or liked "QED", you will probably like PH253. Our current description:

"Modern Physics" refers to the developments in physics beginning with the revolutionary work of Einstein, Planck, Bohr, and others. The basic principles of special relativity and quantum mechanics will be taught with illustrations drawn from reaction kinematics in high energy collisions, particle accelerators and medical imaging devices, atomic and molecular properties, and the electrical and thermal characteristics of liquids and solids. The course will conclude with a survey of what is currently known about nuclei and elementary particles and their role in cosmology and stellar evolution.

Astronomy-wise, AY101 has no prerequisites, and is just a lot of fun. Learn all about space and cosmic phenomena. A short description:

History of astronomy, the solar system, stars, galaxies, and the universe; recent discoveries about pulsars, black holes, and quasars will be discussed.

Astronomy night and public talk next Tuesday

Heinrich Paes, one of our Physics professors, is giving a public talk next Tuesday tonight, which will lead into the telescope observing session run by Phil Hardee (another Physics professor).

Public talks are just what they sound like - cool cutting-edge physics presented at a very general lay-person level, no real physics background required. Public nights involve anyone who shows up getting to observe through our monstrous telescope on the roof of Gallalee. Weather permitting on the latter.

Here are the specifics:

Tuesday, 27 March

"Traveling Back in Time with Neutrinos in Extra Dimensions"
--- Heinrich Paes
--- 7:30pm in 227 Gallalee

Observing session - the Moon, Saturn
--- Phil Hardee
--- 8:00pm - Gallalee roof

Even more details here and here, with listings for future events.

The telescope we have is very impressive, and Prof. Paes is our newest faculty members doing very cool theoretical high energy and astroparticle physics. Supersymmetry, extra dimensions, time travel, cosmology, the fate of the universe ... really fundamental stuff, with profound philosophical implications.

So the whole thing has a very high "neat" factor, you should go.

Slides on Mirrors (Ch. 23)

In today's class (20 Mar 2007) I will be using numerous images in our discussion of mirrors.

I suggest following along in class with the images on your own screens, rather than printing these out. Nearly all of them are in your text, so printing them will not gain you much. Following along on-screen might be useful if you have trouble seeing the projection screens in class, however.

In any case, you can find them here.

Exam II details

UPDATE: The section numbers below REFER TO THOSE IN THE TEXT, not the ones in my notes. The section numbers on my notes are somewhat different.

----

Exam II will be held this Thursday (22 Mar 2007) during the normal class time. It will cover chapters 19-22 in the text, specifically these sections:

Ch. 19, Sect. 1-9
Ch. 20, Sect. 1-4, 6, 7
Ch. 21, Sect. 1-3, 7-12
Ch. 22, Sect. 1-5, 7

The exam will be entirely problem-based (no multiple choice!), with generous partial credit given. You will be given a list of 12 problems, and you can choose any 8 of them to solve. Chapter 19 will have the most questions, chapters 20 and 22 about the same, and chapter 21 the least.

There will be one bonus question, worth about half of one normal question.

Study example problems, your homework problems, and the quizzes to date (all solutions are now online).

You should bring a calculator, and a formula sheet to the exam. The formula sheet can consists of two sides of an 8.5x11" sheet of paper - either two single sides, or one page front and back. It may contain any information on it you like, written in whatever manner you like.

Course notes are at this point fairly complete, excepting Sections 1-3 of Ch. 21. Consult the text for those missing sections.

Chapter 20 notes, EXAM II

Chapter 20 notes are now online here. They may be updated a bit tomorrow and Tuesday, but the proper topics are all there.

The portion of chapter 21 notes on ac circuits should follow tomorrow, as will a description of Thursday's exam. Until then, refer to sections 1-3 in Chapter 21 of the text to supplement the notes.

I have not set Exam II in stone yet, but you will have to solve something like 10 problems out of a pool of 20 - you pick which problems to attempt. No multiple choice, but heavy partial credit. It will cover Chapters 19-22, with perhaps one question on chapter 23 (which we are covering this coming Tuesday).

Chapter 22 notes are as up to date as you need for the exam. As usual, all notes are hosted here.

Reminder: Report on QED

Just a reminder that your report on QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by R.P. Feynman is due one week from today ...

Your paper must adhere to the following basic requirements:

• Five double-spaced 8.5 x 11 inch pages, single sided

• Font size no larger than 12pt

• Margins no greater than 1.5 inches (3.8 cm)

The paper is due by the Thursday class following the spring holidays, viz., 22 March 2007. Submission may be either by hard copy, or electronically via email (PDF preferred, MS Word/other acceptable). The report is worth 6% of your total grade

You should read this book, and prepare a paper based on one of the four chapters of the book. The content of this paper is somewhat open, but you must touch on what you learned from the chapter you chose to write about, how it may or may not be relevant to your major field of study, and how it explains aspects of phenomena around you.

UPDATE:

You can use diagrams, so long as they are essential to your arguments and do not take up excessive space. If you use more than two figures, you should another half page of text.

MIT Video lectures

MIT has put many of its intro physics lectures online, including a huge number from one of my all-time favorite lecturers, Prof. Walter Lewin. His lectures are famous at MIT, and were even on the campus cable TV for many years.

Probably of all the courses I have taken or sat in on, Prof. Lewin's are the best in terms of lucid explanations and fantastic demos. The math level is higher in many cases than what we use, but math is not crucial to most of his explanations

Prof. Lewin's course on electricity and magnetism (including optics)

Prof. Lewin's course on waves and vibrations (also including optics).

If you feel like there is something you're not getting so far, Prof. Lewin usually has a brilliantly clear explanation, well worth the time to check out. I have watched many of them in the last few days, and learned quite a few things myself!

All his lectures are available as RealPlayer video files, for free.

Many other resources are available through MIT's OpenCourseWare as well, from video lectures to course notes, perhaps you can find useful info for other courses as well.

And, have a good spring break!

Lab 8 Mar 2007 / Ch. 22 notes

We will have a short lab today, roughly half the time of the previous lab or a bit less.

The procedure.

Also, the chapter 22 notes are fairly well completed right now, and available in the usual place. You will also find some extra pictures and figures that I will use in class today. (Warning, 5Mb PDF file.)

FYI: I am not holding you responsible for the section on Huygen's principle.

Preliminary Ch. 21/22 notes

UPDATE: the Ch. 22 file was not uploaded properly, so there is only 1 page there. Look for the more complete notes this evening.

Rough notes covering the end of Ch. 21 and the beginning of Ch. 22 are now online.

The Ch. 21 notes covers only EM radiation, the ac circuits part is not finished yet. The Ch. 22 notes do not extend to the end of the chapter yet.

Over spring break, all notes will be brought up to date (in time for Exam II).

As usual, the notes are here.

Lab Procedure 6 Mar 2007

Today's lab is on reflection and refraction. The procedure is here.

Weather

You may have noticed the impending inclement weather.

Remember that in the case of a tornado *warning* (not a watch), all university activities are automatically suspended.

So long as it is only a tornado watch, as it is right now, we will hold class today. There will not be a lab, and we will not cover significant amounts of new material as many people may not want to be out in bad weather.

Lab Procedure 27 Feb 2007

Today's lab is on ac circuits.

Here is the procedure

You will also need to use a Physlet for the prelab questions.

Homework due Fri 2 Mar ...

Just a reminer that there *is* webassign homework this week, due Fri 2 Mar one minute before midnight.

This one covers Chapter 19 (magnetism).

Quiz 4, Exam I solutions

Both are online, though the exam solution is somewhat abbreviated at the moment.

Go here, and you will find both.

Quiz for Friday 23 Jan 2007

There is, in fact, a quiz this Friday. Five questions, multiple choice.

It will cover chapter 19. You would be wise to study magnetic forces and probably the mass spectrometer example in particular.

Lab Procedure 22 Feb 2007

Today's lab will be on inductance and induced EMFs. Here is the procedure.

Several things will be explained in class, so don't worry too much if this doesn't make sense right now. You should also have some time to work on the homework problem if all goes well.

Site traffic this semester

Looking at the traffic on the course blog this evening, it was interesting to see the variation by day of the week. Class periods are obviously Tue-Th:



Most of the site traffic is between 8am-4pm each class day:



This implies to me that 1) most people print the notes just before class (which is fine, just good to know), and 2) the site is accessed frequently during class (no surprise there either).

The geolocation overlays are just neat. Very few *repeat* visitors from odd locations, but a few here and there. Overall, hits from pretty much everywhere. (Note: the size of the dots scales with the number of hits from that location.)

Ch. 19 Lecture Notes

They are not *quite* finished, but should be complete by the end of Monday.

Here you go.

You are not responsible for sections 19.2 and 19.10.

No quiz tomorrow

Since you already had an exam this week, no quiz tomorrow.

We wil cover neat stuff tomorrow, like how electric motors and permanent magnets work though.

Also: I hope to have Chapter 19 notes up over the weekend, I have fallen a bit behind this week.

The exercise for today ...

... will be some online applets.

We will do Exploration 27.1 and 27.3 ... NOT the illustrations or problems, but explorations.

Write up the anwers to the lettered questions at the end of each "physlet" and email them to me, one per group.

Exam I results

Exam I has been graded, and the results were good. No scaling was necessary. The class average was 81.25% (19.5/24), with a standard deviation of 11.2% (2.69/24). Letter grades would be something like this:

A = >90% (>21.5)
B = 80-89% (19-21.5)
C = 70-79% (17-19)
D = 60-69% (14.5-17)

There were half points on question 1 and the bonus question. Below is a histogram of the scores. There were 7 A's, 19 B's, 13 C's, 4 D's, and 2 F's.



An exam solution will be posted by the end of the week.

Exam I Details

Exam I is, as you know, scheduled for Tuesday, 13 February. It will cover the following sections:

Chapter 15, Sections 1-6, 9
Chapter 16, Sections 1-4, 6-10
Chapter 17, Sections 1-6
Chapter 18, Sections 1-5

It will be multiple choice, and roughly 25 questions long. I suggest studying the "quick quizzes" and "conceptual questions", in addition to the worked-out examples in each chapter. Roughly half the questions will be conceptual or qualitative (no calculations), and roughly half the questions will involve real, live quantitative answers. With units.

The exam will be in the usual classroom, at the usual time. I will devote the first 15-30mins of class to answering last-minute questions, after which you will have about 90 minutes for the exam.

You will want a calculator. Make sure it handles simple trig functions and powers of ten at least.

I will be available on Monday for office hours most of the day (in Bevill).

You can bring in ONE standard 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper, containing any information you like. This could include pictures, formulas, example problems, or even the first few chapters of "The Count of Monte Cristo" in a very small font. Whatever you think might help. You can use both the front and back, typed or written, crayon or pencil, your preference.

One interesting variant is to write from left to right with a red pen, and then turn the page 90 degrees and write over the top of that with a blue pen. If you can then lay your hands on a set of 3-D glasses ... presto.

Quiz Solution / 2 Feb 2007

The quiz from last Friday (and a solution key) is now online here.

Quiz for Friday 2 Feb 2007

Just as a reminder, tomorrow's quiz will cover Chapter 18, sections 1-4.

Which basically means the quiz will be on resistor combinations.

Five questions, multiple choice.

Ch. 18 Lecture Notes

A first complete draft of the Ch. 18 lecture notes is ready[PDF].

As the notes imply, your responsibility for Ch. 18 is only sections 1-5. Sections 6-8 are very neat though, and you should read them anyway :-)

Lab Procedure 1 Feb 2007

Today's lab will be on charging and discharging capacitors in "RC" circuits, which will not coincidentally be the subject of the lecture immediately prior to the lab.

You can find the procedure here[PDF]

Lab Procedure 30 Jan 2007

A preliminary laboratory procedure for today can be found here.

In this lab, you will explore the relationship between current and voltage for parallel and series combinations of resistors. You will attempt to verify the rules for finding equivalent resistance, and learn a more realistic sort of electrical characterization.

You will be using the same (new) hardware and software as in last week's laboratory, which should make this lab go more smoothly. Use of excel will be required this time, however, which often negates potential time savings.

Updated notes

The notes for Chapters 15, 16, and 17 have been updated. In particular Ch. 16 has an example of how to break down complicated capacitor arrangements (from the homework problem), and Ch. 17 is now more complete, including last week's quiz with solution.


Section 17.3 is not yet included in the notes ("Current and Voltage Measurements in Circuits"), refer to the text for now.


Preliminary notes are available for Chapter 18, though they will be very incomplete until late Mon 29 Jan.


View a listing of the notes to date.

26 Jan homework hints

Here[PDF] is number 5 all but solved for you.

UPDATE 5:51pm: number 8 part b is also mostly solved in the link above.

Quiz for Friday 26 Jan 2007

FYI: there will be a quiz this friday, 5 multiple choice questions. Closed book.

The questions will be restricted to material from Chapter 17, sections 1-4, the subject of today's lecture.


UPDATE: the quiz and solution can be found here. Note the new "quizzes" link on the right sidebar.

Ch. 17 Lecture Notes

Partial lecture notes for Chapter 17 are available:

Chapter 17 alone [PDF]

Thusfar, notes for only about half of the chapter are complete. YMMV.

Lab procedure 25 Jan 2007

This lab procedure has two parts, since you are being introduced to some new hardware and software.

Lab introduction, hardware, and software: Read Me First

This document will explain all of the hardware, software, and components you need. You will not get far without it.

Lab procedure: Read Me Second

This document walks you through the lab procedure.

In this lab, you will explore the relationship between current and voltage for three types of devices: a resistor, a capacitor, and a light-emitting diode. This will introduce you not only to basic electronic components, but also the data acquisition software and hardware you will be using in the future.

Finally, the hardware and software for this laboratory, and several more, have been developed here at UA. This is the first semester they will be used in a class. Development and refinement is ongoing, so your (anonymous) feedback will be appreciated and valuable. Leaving anonymous comments on this blog is one possibility.

Lab procedure 23 Jan 2007

A preliminary version of the lab procedure for today can be found


here [PDF]

Read the lab before class if you have time, but there is no need to print it. This lab has recently been modified and may be altered just before class.

Ch. 16 Lecture Notes

A draft of the Ch. 16 lecture notes are now online.

Chapter 16 alone [PDF]

All notes to date [Larger PDF]

Or, follow the link on the right sidebar for the notes listing or cumulative document.

Homework II is out

Homework II is now out. It didn't show up last night due to an error on my part (the "first visible" date was set incorrectly).

This homework set covers Chapter 16 of Serway & Faughn, and is once again 10 (equally weighted) questions. Due date is Fri 26 Jan 2007 at 11pm.

There will be recitation time on Fri 26 Jan devoted to homework question.

Webassign login

Lab procedure 18 Jan 2007

In today's class we will investigate charge distributions and electric forces using online simulation "applets." You can find the applet here.

The password and username to access these applets will be given in class.

Today's lab is also paperless - all instructions are given below (or in class), your lab report will be electronic-only and turned in by email.

---------------------
Exercise I

1. Open up "Exploration 22.2: Explore the Effect of Multiple Charges."

2. Following the on-screen instructions.

3. Follow the procedures and answer the questions at the bottom of the page. Type your responses into, e.g., Word or Notepad as you are doing this, your lab report will be entirely electronic. Be sure to include all group member's names at the top of this document. Use any program you wish, so long as you are able to include images (see below).

4. When you have finished question "g", take a screen shot (snapshot, picture) of your configuration (hint: four charges works well). Instructions on how to do this are below. Put this screen shot into your lab report document. If you use Microsoft Word, this is easily accomplished, ask if you are unsure.

5. Finish all the questions for this exercise. Your lab report document should contain all of your answers, clearly marked by exercise and question number, all group member's names, and your screen shot.

6. Keep your document open for the second exercise ...

Exercise II

After you have finished the first exercise:

1. Go back to the table of contents (the link above).

2. Open up "Exploration 22.6: Run Coulomb's Gauntlet."

3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

4. Follow the procedures and answer the two questions at the bottom of the page. Finding a working configuration of charges is difficult, but it can be done with only three additional charges, if you think carefully before you start.

5. Record these responses in the same document as Exercise I above.

6. When you have finished question "g", take a screen shot of your best configuration. You will not be penalized if you could not find a working solution, only if you do not try.

Finishing Up

1. Your lab report document should contain clearly marked, well-reasoned, and (reasonably) grammatically correct responses to all of the questions for both exercies.

2. Your lab report should include 2 screenshots of charge configurations, which should be embedded within your electronic lab report.

3. All group members' names should be included at the top of the document.

4. When you are satisfied with your report, email the resulting document to Dr. LeClair. Pkease include `PH102' in the subject somewhere.

GTA Help Center office hours

Once again this semseter, we are having all of the PH 10x TA's pool their office hours. This means that any TA for any 100-level physics course is available some time during the week to help you -- you can see which ever TA has the most convenient office hours for you.

These common office hours are held in 215 Gallalee. You can find the current schedule here, or in the "links" sidebar on the right side of this page.

In-class exercise hints

Since I had several questions about today's webassign exercises, I quickly typed up some hints on numbers 1 and 3:

Exercise hints [PDF]

They are due at 11pm, hope this helps.

(Update 02:04) When entering numbers in scientific notation into Webassign, do so like this:

1.2e-3

or this:

1.2E-3

Not like this:

1.2*10^-3

The first two are accepted, the last one is not.

Quadratic equation solver ...

All Hail Google.

This should make your lives much easier.

Google accounts

If you would like to subscribe to the course calendar, but do not have a Google account, send me an email or leave a comment. I have plenty of invites left.

This will give you a Google email account as well ("gmail"), which can be handy.

This offer is open only to enrolled students / TAs / etc.

Ch. 15 lecture notes

A first draft of the Ch. 15 lecture notes are now online.

Chapter 15 alone [PDF]
Everything to date [PDF]

Or, follow the link on the right sidebar for the notes listing or cumulative document.

Right now, these notes only cover 15.1-15.5, the material I hope to get through on Tues 16 Jan. By week's end, they should encompass the whole chapter. Remember: these are my notes, not yours, provided for your reference ... They are not a substitute for, e.g., going to lecture and/or taking your own notes. YMMV.

For the record: sometimes notes will be available before lecture, and sometimes they will be available after lecture. Certain sections may never appear entirely.

C'est la vie.

How to log onto webassign

All of you now should have accounts in WebAssign. I have automatically set up usernames and passwords:

your username = [first letter of first name][last name]

So, for example, if your name is "Jebediah Dingus", your username is "jdingus".

your password = [last four digits of your CWID]

your institution = "ua"

Some of you may have problems logging in, usually due to someone else already having taken your username. If you cannot log in, send me an email.

If you have used webassign in the past, you do still need a new access code for this semester. These codes come with a new textbook, or can be purchased online for about $15 (if you have a used book, for example).

Useful resources

Just a small collection of links you might find useful throughout the semester.

Math and Numbers

Google Calculator It does unit conversions ...
Quadratic Equation solver
Fundamental Constants (NIST)
Trig formulas
Math World
Wolfram Integrator solves integrals ...
SI derived units
Wikipedia | Unit conversions

Reference

World of Physics
Physics
Dictionary
Wikipedia | Physics Many links ...
Physics and Astronomy Online
Education and Reference
How to take notes effectively

Online Courseware

MIT Open Courseware
Physics applets

Physics Student Resources

UA Society of Physics Students
American Physical Society Internet
Resource Page
American Institute of Physics
Student Resources Page
Institute of Physics

"Fun"

Wikipedia | Strange units
Bad Movie Physics
Bad Movie Astronomy
Physics
Movies
Skateboard physics

Course Calendar

Further attempting to go paperless and so forth, this semester's course calendar is available as a Google calendar.

Click the button below to subscribe to the calendar if you wish.



The current month's calendar will always live at the bottom of this page for your viewing pleasure.

Course information

Information on course policies, grading, etc., can be found in this document [PDF].

This information is subject to change at my discretion.

Welcome to PH102

In an attempt to make things easier for everyone, this semester I am attempting use this blog to make available all course information. There are a lot of reasons for doing this, as opposed to hosting my own page on bama.ua.edu as I have done in the past. Here are a few.

* the easier it is for me to post information for you, the more likely it is that I will do so.

* atom/rss feeds

* you can post comments and give me feedback ... and I will reply

* there is no sense in reinventing the wheel ...

So bookmark this blog, as it will be your main source of information for PH102 this semester. A few other points:

* all course info, notes, solutions, etc., will be posted as links to PDFs

* course notes will be available by chapter, or as a compilation

* I will delete inappropriate comments

* all past posts will be archived and searchable, e.g., for retreiving links to old notes

* since this blog is publicly viewable, no grades or personal information will be posted here or anywhere else. your privacy will be preserved.

* since this blog is publicly viewable, think before you put any personal information in comments.

* anonymous comments will be allowed

More and more info will start showing up here soon, so keep checking back.