PHYSICS 220 Spring 2010 Syllabus Instructors: Prof. Wei Cui (Section 1) Professor in Charge Office: Room 313 Physics Building Phone: 49-45395 E-mail: cui@purdue.edu Office hours: Tuesday 10-11 am and Wednesday 9-10 am Prof. Yulia Pushkar (Section 2) Office: Room 70 Physics Building Phone: 49-63279 E-mail: ypushkar@purdue.edu Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 12:30-1:30 pm Deepak Pandey (Recitation) Office: Room 11A Physics Building Phone: 49-43018 E-mail: dpandey@purdue.edu Office hours: Friday 12:30-5:30 pm Class: Textbook: Course Website: Room 114 Physics Building Monday, Wednesday, & Friday 10:30 11:20 AM or 11:30 12:20 PM College Physics, Nicholas J. Giordano (Brooks/Cole) Physics 220 Laboratory Manual, A. Lewicki, S. Comer, M. Zimmer http://www.physics.purdue.edu/phys220 CHIP Administrator: Dr. V.K. Saxena Lab Coordinator: Dr. A. Lewicki Office: Room 176, Physics Building Office: Room 142, Physics Building Phone: 494-9575 Phone: 494-5516 E-mail: saxena@physics.purdue.edu E-mail: lewicki@physics.purdue.edu COURSE STRUCTURE The course has three components: lecture, recitation, and lab. The lectures will be focused on developing an understanding of fundamental concepts; the recitations will be devoted to developing problem-solving skills; and the labs will give you a chance to test the laws of physics presented in the lectures. Note that different people are in charge of different components. PREREQUISITES College algebra and trigonometry
ASSIGNMENTS A tentative schedule of reading and homework assignments can be found on the course web site (Calendar). Hardcopies will be distributed on the first day of class. LECTURE In a lecture session, new material will be introduced. It will also be your chance to ask questions on the materials that you find hard to understand (based on pre-lecture reading). You should not be shy about doing so. Demonstrations will also take place during lectures to illustrate key physics concepts. If you are not prepared for even one lecture, you will quickly fall behind. We are confident that regular attendance in lecture and recitation classes will be rewarded with better grades. You are advised to go over the assigned reading material before coming to each lecture. To encourage active participation we will conduct interactive exercises in class. You will need an iclicker response pad to participate in the exercises. iclickers can be purchased at the Purdue bookstore. You must register the serial number of your iclicker via the Student Gradebook in CHIP or you will NOT receive any credit for the exercises. The interactive exercises will begin during the second week of class. The exercises will occur at random times during a class. You will receive 1 point for answering each question and 2 points for each correct answer. You are NOT allowed to switch to another section without a written approval from Prof. Cui. There will be test runs to check your iclickers during the first week of class. No excuse will be accepted for the loss of credit due to iclicker malfunction or your failure to register iclicker in CHIP. RECITATION In a recitation session, you will learn how to apply the concepts to solving actual problems in recitations. You will see examples of various types of problems that are relevant to the materials covered in the lectures and learn the techniques of solving them. A fraction of the time will be spent specifically on homework problems, providing tips on how to solve them but not the final answers. Interactive exercises will also be given at random times to gauge your learning in recitations, just like in lectures. Before each exam, a review session will be given. HOMEWORK We will use the Computerized Homework in Physics (CHIP) system for homework. There will be 15 homework assignments. Each homework problem has randomly generated input values so each student will have a unique answer. Make sure that you use your own input values when solving each problem. To receive credit your answer must be within ± 1% of the correct answer, so you are advised to carry at least 4 significant figures in your calculations. The CHIP homework is always due by 10 am on Fridays. The CHIP grading policy is as follows: A Multiple-choice problems have a limited number of attempts depending on the
number of possible answers. You will receive 100%, 75%, and 50% credit if you answer correctly before the specified deadline, less than three days after the deadline, and more than three days but less than one week after the deadline, respectively. No credit will be granted after one week past the deadline. Note that there is a limit on the number of attempts allowed. B Numerical problems have a maximum of 5 attempts before the deadline to obtain 100% credit. If you require between 6-10 attempts before the deadline you will receive 50% credit. Within three days after the deadline and within 5 first attempts, you will receive 75% credit. More than three days but within one week after the deadline and within 5 attempts, you will receive 50% credit. No credit is granted after one week past the deadline or after using all 10 attempts. Details on the grading policy can be found by clicking on the Grading Policy Details button found on any of the assignments in CHIP. EXAMS There will be two one-hour midterm exams and one two-hour final exam. The final exam will be cumulative. The chapters covered on each midterm exam and the room assignments for each evening exam will be announced and posted on the course web site one week before the exam date. We will not respond to e-mails asking what will be on the exam or where you need to take the exam. All exams will consist of multiple-choice questions and be closed book. You MUST show your student ID before you are allowed to take an exam. Those with adaptive learner status must email to or speak with Prof. Cui or Prof. Pushkar no less than one week before each exam to receive special arrangement. The exams will take place on: Midterm Exam 1: Feb 22, 2010, 6:30 7:30 PM Midterm Exam 2: Mar 29, 2010, 6:30 7:30 PM Final Exam: TBA The locations will be announced at the course web site. There will be no class on the day of an exam. Please use this information to resolve any exam conflict as soon as you notice it. As a rule of thumb, smaller classes are more flexible in scheduling exams. In case a conflict cannot be resolved, you must notify Prof. Cui or Prof. Pushkar of the situation no less than two weeks before each exam, along with the name and contact information of the instructor for the other class. Note that if the other class offers makeup exams, the situation would not be considered a conflict. The data and time of the final exam will be announced later on the course web site. ABSENCES AND EXCUSED GRADES There is no way to make up missed midterm exams or iclicker interactive exercises. Unexcused absences will be assigned a zero score. Excused (EX) grades will be given only in one of the following circumstances: (1) illness; (2) personal crisis (e.g., automobile accidents, required court appearance, death of a close relative, weather conditions that make it impossible to get to the university); and (3) required attendance at an official Purdue activity (e.g., athletics). You must contact Prof. Cui or Prof. Pushkar as soon as possible but before the exam, except for emergency situations, to discuss your
situation. Appropriate documents (e.g., a written note from a doctor, with his/her name and phone number included) will be needed to judge the merit of the excuse. No more than one exam can be excused. Missing the final exam cannot be excused. At the end of the semester, an EX grade will be replaced by the average score of the exams that you have taken. As for iclicker exercises, 6 lowest lecture scores and 3 lowest recitation scores will be dropped in the derivation of your final grade. This is meant to cover all circumstances that prevent you from attending lecture or recitation classes, so there is no need to submit any document for missed lectures or recitations. GRADING Your final grade will be based on a possible 1000 points derived as follows: 2 Midterm Exams 300 points Final Exam 300 points Laboratory 150 points CHIP Homework 100 points Recitation Exercises 50 points Lecture Exercises 100 points Total 1000 points The exact cut-offs for letter grades will not be determined until the end of the semester. Note also that you must pass (50% or better) the lab in order to pass the course. The requirements for passing the lab are given in the separate document on lab policies. It is important to note that the lab is administered separately from the lecture. Dr. Lewicki is the person in charge of the lab. During the semester, you should regularly check that your exam, homework, and iclicker exercise grades have been correctly entered into your Gradebook in CHIP. It is your responsibility to bring any issues with your assigned grades to the attention of Prof. Cui immediately and certainly have them resolved before the final exam week. We will NOT consider any unresolved issues after the final exam week. GETTING HELP You are strongly encouraged to seek help from the instructors in person during their office hours on any questions that you may have. You should avoid using emails for such purposes. You may get additional help from teaching assistants in The Physics Help Center that is located in Physics Room 11. Hours when the help room is staffed will be posted on the door soon after the semester starts. To report problems, you should contact: Mr. Pandey, homework-related issues Dr. Saxena, CHIP-related issues Dr. Lewicki, lab-related issues
Prof. Pushkar, issues related to lecture section 2 Prof. Cui, issues related to lecture section 1, as well as all other logistical issues If you email, please make sure that you include PHYS220 on the subject line, to avoid having your message appear as spam and thus filtered out. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY Cheating will not be tolerated. Just don t do it! It is not fair to other students or to you. If you are willing to put in the effort of attending classes and doing homework, you will have no problem earning a respectable grade. Discussing homework problems with other students is not considered cheating and is in fact encouraged. However, direct copying of others work is considered cheating. Use common sense. If a student is found to be cheating on homework or iclicker exercises, s/he will receive 0 points for that part of his/her grade, and possibly F for the course in more serious cases. A student caught cheating on an exam will receive an F for the course and be reported to the Dean of Students. In more serious cases, the student may be suspended or expelled from the university. The same applies to all parties involved in cheating. EMERGENCY In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. Please check the course web site for information about changes in this course