Physics 1425, General Physics I

The aim of this course is to teach you to understand the physical world and to solve problems about that world. Both elements are important to you. However, there are goals beyond these. You will also have the opportunity to develop important problem-solving skills that will be useful beyond the realm of science and engineering. These include isolating/defining questions; abstraction; idealization; approximation; assessment of validity of simplifying assumptions; and the mathematical/conceptual modelling of simple phenomena.

Your grade in the course will depend on your ability to solve problems. You will achieve such an ability by understanding the basic concepts and by practicing on a large variety of problems. The lectures are oriented towards helping you understand why and how we understand what we do about physics, not simply towards helping you learn how to plug in formulas in order to solve rote problems. Understanding the concepts is the best long-term way for you to be able to solve the problems that an engineer faces.

Problem solving skills are honed by doing problems. You should look at more problems than the ones assigned as homework, at least to convince yourself that you would know how to handle them. Feel free to consult with each other on how to do the problems. Information about this course is available through the UVaCollab system from https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/portal. Search for "PHYS 1425" and you will reach the course web site.

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Course Structure

Grades:

Your grade in PHYS 1425 will be determined by (subject to change)

Clickers (class participation)	10%
Homework	20%
2 midterm exams	30%
Final exam	40%

Note: grades are computed using scores from the above components NORMALIZED to the mean and standard deviation of the class for each component. These numbers will be provided at the same time as your scores on the midterm exams and the final exam are provided. There is NO WAY to calculate/estimate your grade without taking these averages and standard deviations into account; don't even try. Odds are you'll either get depressed or overconfident. The mean grade for this class is typically in the B- to B range.

Note: No make-up exams are given! With a valid excuse before the exam, the remaining elements of the course will be appropriately averaged. Without a valid excuse before the exam, the exam grade will be a zero. We follow official university policy concerning valid excuses (official university travel, religious holidays, personal illness, or death/illness of an immediate family member).

All exams (midterm and final) will be a mixture of conceptual questions and homework-like numerical problems. All exams will be multiple choice. You will be allowed to bring in one 8 1/2" x 11" size piece of paper for each exam with anything written on one side of it that you choose.

You must have a calculator for the exams, but no other electronic devices will be allowed. This includes, but is not limited to, computers, PDAs, cell phones, smart phones, etc. The calculator you use may not be one that is incorporated into one of these latter devices. Any use of these forbidden devices on an exam will be considered an honor offense.

Final exam:

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM in Room 204

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Workshops

The workshops (PHYS 1429) are a separately administered and graded class. All questions regarding the Workshops should be directed to Mr. Bychkov (mab3ed@virginia.edu, 924-6843, Room 214).

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Homework

You will have homework due weekly. It will be done using the Internet service MasteringPhysics. The homework will normally be due weekly on MasteringPhysics Wednesday morning at 5 am. You will both find your homework and submit your homework answers on MasteringPhysics.

MasteringPhysics is ready for you to sign up. Our Course ID is MPNORUM5445004 and you can register at www.masteringphysics.com. Remember: the cost of registering covers you if you take the follow-on course 2415 in the spring semester.

You typically will receive 10 submissions on MasteringPhysics to obtain the correct answer. This means the average homework score in the class will be very high. Many of you will obtain 100%, and the average score is likely to be near 95%. This means your grade will suffer considerably if you do not do the homework. We believe it is essential to success in this class.

We encourage you to try every problem by yourself for the first 3 or so submissions. Then perhaps work with another student or form a study group. The homework is not pledged, but you serve yourself a great disservice if you do not do it yourself. Do not be surprised if you sometimes see a question similar to the homework on a midterm or final exam. MasteringPhysics uses random numbers so that each student has different numbers and answers for your homework.

Getting help on the homework:

• Questions regarding the assigned problems can be addressed to Mr. Norum after class, during office hours, or by appointment.
• Questions regarding the assigned problems can be addressed to TBA during office hours.
• The engineering school also provides tutoring assistance; consult the Dean's Office for specific hours.

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Clickers

Student Response System Transmitters or Clickers

Every student is required to have an iclicker in class to personally respond to the lecture opening reading quiz and to conceptual questions throughout the lecture. A part of your final grade will be derived from the opening multiple choice quiz that will be based on the reading assignment for that lecture and from your satisfactory participation in the ~3-6 conceptual questions given each day. The clickers allow you to respond anonymously. The Student Advisory Committee for this course has recommended we count the clickers as 10% of your final grade, and we plan to do so this semester. You will be able to use the same iclicker that you used last semester, but you will need to reregister it. You may also use a transmitter that has been previously used by another student, but you will need to register it in your name. These transmitters are for sale at the Newcomb Hall University Bookstore. You may use either the original iclicker or the new iclicker2 in class.

Relatively inexp[ensive iClicker apps are available for most if not all smart phones. However, it has been our experience that some of these apps are not totally reliable. Use them at your own risk. We will provide no compensation for answers not recorded due to a failure of such an app nor will we attempt to trouble shoot problems with the apps Click here for further important information.

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Attendance policy

Attendance at all lectures is strongly recommended. You are responsible for all assigned material, whether it is presented in lecture or not. You are also responsible for knowing the problem assignments and for any announcements that may be made in lecture of changes in the assignments, schedule, etc.

Obviously, if you are not in class you cannot get points for the clicker questions.

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Lectures

Session	Date	Chapter(s)	Sections	Topic
#1.	Tue, Aug 27	1	1-7	Introduction, Measurement, and Estimating
#2.	Thu, Aug 29	2	1-8	Describing Motion: Kinematics in One Dimension
#3.	Tue, Sep 3	3	1-9	Kinematics in Two or Three Dimensions; Vectors
#4.	Thu, Sep 5	4	1-5	Dynamics: Newton's Laws of Motion
#5.	Tue, Sep 10	4	6-8	Weight, Problem Solving
#6.	Thu, Sep 12	5	1-4	Newton's Laws: Friction, Circular Motion
#7.	Tue, Sep 17	5	5-6	Nonuniform Circular Motion, Velocity-Dependent Forces
		6	1-2	Gravitation and Newton's Synthesis
#8.	Thu, Sep 19	6	3-8	Gravitation and Newton's Synthesis
#9.	Tue, Sep 24	7	1-4	Work and Energy
#10.	Thu, Sep 26	8	1-4	Conservation of Energy
#11.	Tue, Oct 1	8	5-9	Conservation of Energy
		9	1-5	Linear Momentum
		1-7		Exam # 1 (Minor Hall 125, 7:00-8:30 PM)
#12.	Thu, Oct 3	9	6-10	Collisions, Center of Mass, Rocket Propulsion
#13.	Thu, Oct 10	10	1-7	Rotational Motion
#14.	Tue, Oct 15	10	8-10	Rotational Kinetic Energy
		11	1-3	Angular Momentum
#15.	Thu, Oct 17	11	4-9	General Rotation, Conservation of Angular Momentum
#16.	Tue, Oct 22	13	1-8	Fluids; Pascal's and Archimedes's Principles
#17.	Thu, Oct 24	13	9-14	Bernoulli's Equation, Applications
#18.	Tue, Oct 29	12	1-3	Static Equilibrium, Elasticity
#19.	Thu, Oct 31	12	4-7	Structural Strength, Fracture
#20.	Tue, Nov 5			Election Day - vote if eligible
#21.	Thu, Nov 7	14	1-4	Oscillations; Simple Harmonic Motion
#22.	Tue, Nov 12	14	5-8	Pendula; Damped and Forced Oscillations
		17	1-3	Temperature, Thermal Expansion
		8-13		Exam # 2 (Minor Hall 125, 7:00-8:30 PM)
#23.	Thu, Nov 14	17	4-10	Ideal Gas Law
		18	1-4	Kinetic Theory of Gases
#24.	Tue, Nov 19	19	1-6	Heat, First Law of Thermodynamics
#25.	Thu, Nov 21	19	7-10	First Law of Thermodynamics
#26.	Tue, Nov 26	20	1-4	Second Law of Thermodynamics; Heat Engines
	Thu, Nov 28			Thanksgiving Day
#27.	Tue, Dec 3	20	5-11	Second Law of Thermodynamics; Entropy
#28.	Thu, Dec 5			Catch up and/or review

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Discussion Sessions

There are no Discussion Sections per se, but will be available in room 220 of the Physics Building on TBA to help you with the homework and to answer physics questions. However, he will NOT do your homework for you!

If you are interested in hiring a tutor see the Departmental secretary; she usually has the names of graduate students who are willing to tutor. The Engineering School also provides tutorial assistance.

Remember that the homework is always due on Wednesday morning at 5 am.

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Summary of Course Rules

These rules may seem onerous and perhaps a bit pedantic, but they are needed to avoid misunderstandings. There is a story, in some cases an incredible one, behind almost every one. A set of unambiguous rules is particularly needed in a class of this size where, unfortunately, it is impossible to be as flexible as in smaller classes.

Class:

• Cell phones must be turned off during class.
• Open laptops are permitted only in the uppermost row.

Exams:

• Exams will only be given on the date and time indicated on the syllabus. The dates and times are outside of normal class hours without exception.
• By enrolling in this course you are acknowledging that you can take the Exams at the times given in the syllabus.
• If you cannot make an exam for a valid reason (see below) then you must inform me ahead of time, unless of course you are physically unable to do so.
• Valid reasons for missing an exam are:
  • an incapacitating illness or injury,
  • a death in the family,
  • a University sponsored trip.
• Invalid reasons for missing an exam include:
  • a job interview,
  • death of a pet,
  • late return from vacation,
  • early departure for vacation,
  • oversleeping,
  • attending a family reunion, etc.
• No make-up exams will be given, even for valid excused absences. If you miss an exam with an excused absence then the other exams' weights will be increased accordingly when determining your final grade.
• For students with a crowded final exam schedule - three or more exams in a row - we will allow you to take the other section's final, but only by prior arrangement.
• All material covered in class, and assigned in the syllabus is fair game for the exams.

General:

• We do not give incompletes. If for whatever reason you cannot keep up with the course requirements then you are expected to withdraw from the course.
• We do not give any extra credit work.
• We will enforce all of the rules of the University of Virginia's Honor System, including those associated with academic fraud. By enrolling in this course, a student implicitly agrees to be bound by that honor system and its rules.
• The honor pledge is implicit for the exams and final exam. By turning in any one of those items, with or without a written pledge, a student agrees to be bound by the honor pledge and the UVa Honor System with regard to that item.
• If, in my judgement, it is beyond a reasonable doubt that a student has committed an honor violation with regard to a given exam, that student will receive an immediate grade of "F" for that work, irrespective of any subsequent action taken by the Honor Committee.
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Links

• On-line integrator