"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%