Homework submission

Just a couple of things that will make grading easier for me:

1) Putting your last name in the filename you send helps a lot, so I don't have to rename everything. For example, "p_leclair_HW1.pdf" is really handy. "leclair_p_HW1.pdf" is even better, since it alphabetizes nicely I look at all the files together.

2) If you know how to do it, combining separate scanned pages/pics into a single file is good, but don't spend too much time figuring it out if you don't know how. I can suggest how to do this on various platforms if you're interested.

3) If you turn in a hard copy, I don't necessarily need a copy of the problem set itself, you can just turn in your work.

4) Include "PH102" in the subject line of the email, and possible HW1 or something like that to help the filtering.

Basically, it costs a little more time if I get 30 emails with a subject like "homework" or "physics homework" and filenames like "homework.docx" or "hw.jpg". I can sort this out very easily, I'm mainly pointing these things out because it probably isn't something you thought about. I wouldn't have either, until I started taking email homework submissions.

These are really just suggestions, I'm happy to deal with any sort of files you send. I can read pretty much any file format you can think of (that is not a challenge, btw), and keep things pretty organized, so it isn't a huge deal. The main point is: if you can save me some seconds per submission, this is nice because I have 68 students between two sections.

Just to reinforce: there haven't been any problems at all so far, even with the cell phone pics (many of you have good phones, it seems), I'm just letting you know what would help if it isn't difficult for you.

Also, thanks for the cat pictures. Nice looking cat.

Lab 2: uncertainty & standard deviation

Thursday's lab will deal mostly with how to assess uncertainty in measurement, and introduce you to some key data analysis techniques. The procedure is here, please read through it quickly before Thursday's lab period.

You might also find this short PPT presentation useful/amusing. Basically, it applies the same statistical techniques to a very simple experiment: drawing cards from a well-shuffled deck.

HW1 / Due Fri 9 July

Homework 1 is out, due this coming Friday by the end of the day. Hard copies can be turned in at Friday's class or in one of my mailboxes, you can also submit your homework by email.

Most of these problems deal with material from today's lecture, which we'll review a bit on Thursday, including example problems similar to those on the homework. During Friday's class, I'll help you set up some of the harder problems and answer any last-minute questions you might have.

Slides from today's lecture

Here are the slides from today's lecture, which includes the course overview, all the figures I used in explaining relativity, and a few extras.

Welcome to PH102 / Summer 2010

Welcome to PH102! At the bottom of this page, or here, you will find our course calendar, which you should review carefully. A small spreadsheet with the schedule and each day's reading can be found here. We will stick to our schedule rigidly, as our time is quite short over the summer semester.

You may also want to look over the course syllabus and other information, which you can find here. The slides I'll present in lecture will also show up online shortly, I will post separately here to let you know.

Finally, I have written some fairly lengthy notes for this course, and my lectures will follow these notes for the most part.