tfister@u.washington.edu
Office hours: TuTh 2:30-3:20 pm
Instructor: Aurel
Bulgac
E-mail: bulgac@phys.washington.edu
Class:
MTuThF, 12:30-1:20, PAA A102
Office:
PAB B478
Phone:
(206)685-2988
Office Hours:
Tu 1:30-2:20 pm, F 11:30 am-12:20 pm in PAA, Study Center AM018
otherwise by appointment.
TAs:
Timothy T Fister
tfister@u.washington.edu
Office hours: TuTh 2:30-3:20 pm
Michael Endres
endres@u.washington.edu
Office hours: M 1:30-2:20pm, Th 1:30-2:20 pm
TA's will be available for Office
Hours in the Study Center AM018, PAA.
Keep in mind that this page is updated throughout the quarter
and it should be consulted
Course web page: http://faculty.washington.edu/bulgac/114S03/welcome.html
Epost
for Phys 114, Spring 2003 Send
an anonymous message to the instructor
Textbook:
Douglas C. Giancoli, Physics, 5th Edition, Prentice
Hall.
You might find the following link of interest and helpful:
Homework assigment:
You must have a computer account for email and work. Your homework
will be
In the homework portion, every week several problems will be posted
for you to
Since some problems unfortunately still have
bugs, you might run into the unpleasant
In addition I shall assign a number of problems from the end of each
chapter in
Click on the link http://tychosrv.phys.washington.edu/courses/phys114/spring03/
Some items of interest will be put on the web in pdf format. This
requires your
Exams: EXAMS
MAY NOT BE TAKEN LATE
THERE WILL BE NO MAKEUPS.
If for some reason you miss one of the midterms,
There will be three one-hour mid term exams
and one final exam. Each hourly
The final exam will be over all the material
covered during the quarter. The
Cheating will be dealt with harshly.
Grading:
Grading will be done on a curve with the class
average being about 2.75. This will
Homework will count for 10 % of the grade.
Each hourly exam will also count for
Your Grade = (Your exam score
- Average exam score)/Standard Deviation + 2.75
At the end of the quarter, your lowest exam
grade will be dropped and your course
The instructor reserves the right to modify
this grading procedure in any way as long
General remarks
All the mathematics you need to know to be able to take this course
is summarized in
This physics course provides the basis for all applications of physics,
and future physics,
Specifically, we are going to learn about Newtonian mechanics, which
as every schoolchild
Most 114 students are not planning to major in a mathematical science
like physics or
In class, you will learn a few facts about mechanics, and how to
make a few calculations that
Please feel free to ask questions in class, to ask for a revision
of some material "in different
The Physics Department runs a Study Center where assistance with
course work is available
NB Some of the material here has been borrowed from my colleagues'
webpages.
Very Tentative Syllabus
comprehensive
in case you might have a question concerning various policies
in this course.
Mirror: https://faculty.washington.edu/~bulgac/114S03/
Tycho
http://cw.prenhall.com/giancoli/
done on the web using a system called Tycho, developed at the University
of
Illinois. Thus system is still under development and so far
it has been greatly
appreciated by the students using it. There are essentially two
things we will use:
homework and gradebook.
solve. As you will discover immediately, there are two types of
problems:
a) Standard Homework Problems have a numerical answer. You
will get
immediate feedback as to whether the answer supplied is correct
or not. In many
problems, you can ask for pre-programmed help. Full credit is given
(if done
before the deadline) for the correct answer, independent of how
many submissions
were needed to obtain it. b) Interactive Examples are often
somewhat more
difficult problems (level 2 or 3 of Giancoli's text). Help in these
problems usually
comes in the form of more questions. The hope of the writers is
that solution of
these problems will lead to better conceptual understanding rather
than just
equation manipulation.
situation that you have the correct solution
but the computer would not budge and will
not accept it. If you are 100% confident that
your solution is correct, send me a detailed
e-mail, containg the name of the problem,
your numerical input (NB these
numbers differ from student to student), describe
your approach and write your answers.
The first five students who run into such
difficulties and send me a correct
solution
will have their score to that particular problem
raised by 50%. Those points will be added
to your final homework grade at the end of
the course.
the textbook, see the syllabus below. These additional problems
will not be graded
however. Each week I shall provide solutions
to the end of the chapter problems
assigned as well as to the rest of the problems
in the corresponding section. The
solutions would be accessible as links in
the syllabus. Many students in the past
have found these solutions extremely helpful in gaining a deeper
understanding
of the material presented in class and in the textbook. Please note
that some of
the symbols do not show up correctly, mostly various Greek letters,
so you will
have to do some guessing sometimes. There is no simple way for me
to correct
this.
to login into the Tycho system and do your graded homework. Follow
the
instructions on the login page. Your homework, exam and final grades
will be
posted using the Tycho system as well. The student database is updated
daily
during the first week of the quarter daily and every two days during
the second
week. If you experience difficulties login into the Tycho system
please write to
Laura Clement lclement@u.washington.edu
browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer) to have an Adobe Acrobat
Reader plugin.
the one you missed will be your low grade.
Please arrange your schedule so you
take the final exam at the proper time.
exam will consist of multiple-choice questions
and these will be machine graded.
No partial credit will be given. The exams
are closed book, but you will be permitted
to have one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of notes
to aid you, no xerox copies or any other
copies of any kind. In addition you will only
be allowed to have a calculator, an
eraser, a #2 pencil and a pen. Scratch
paper will be provided. Do not forget to
bring a bubble sheet/scantron (Standard Answer
Sheet). You can get them at
the Hub, By George and other places around
the campus.
problems on the exams will be very similar
to the homework or end of the chapter
problems.
vary depending on the performance of the class
as a whole. Approximately 5-10 %
of the class will receive 4.0,
and
0.7 will be the lowest passing grade. Please note that
the grade is entirely based on your performance and it has no subjective
element.
22.5 % of the grade, while the final two-hour
exam will count for 45 % of the grade.
Thus the final exam score will be treated
as two exams. Your score on each exam will
be normalized so that each exam, regardless
of the number of questions or the
difficulty of the exam, will count the same.
This score will be converted to an exam
grade point (2.3, 3.2, etc.). The approximate
(it can change slightly!) formula which
will be used is
grade will be the average of the remaining
three exam grades and the homework grade.
as no student receives a course grade lower
than one calculated by the method
described above.
Appendix A of the textbook, Please review various number notations,
solving linear and
quadratic algebraic equations and systems of 2-3 linear equations
with respectively
2-3 unknowns, plane geometry, areas and volumes and basic trigonometry.
biophysics, and chemical physics courses or topics you may have
to or be willing to explore.
The subject matter of PHYS 114 is mechanics, which according to
the dictionary means
[the] science that deals with energy and forces and their effect
on bodies. This definition
actually covers just about all of physics! But don't worry, here
we will focus on what we
can learn about the motion of ordinary-sized objects (for example,
bigger than a molecule
but smaller than a galaxy) moving at speeds much less than the speed
of light. Objects
outside these limits require quantum mechanics and relativity, which
you will hear
about if and when you take PHYS 116.
knows, relates the falling of an apple to the motion of a planet
in its orbit. Isaac
Newton's
triumph in bringing the heavens down to earth came when he was 24
years old, and he had
to invent calculus to finish the job. Our task will be much easier!
We will scrupulously avoid
any whiff of math beyond the high school level, although by the
time we are finished you
should be able to understand what calculus is all about and appreciate
its power.
chemistry, or an engineering field. But whether your interests are
in the life sciences, social
sciences, arts, or humanities, the content of PHYS 114 is fundamental
for scientific literacy, a
commodity which seems to be getting in shorter supply even as our
world gets more and more
technological.
someday might be handy contesting a speeding ticket, but mostly
we will focus on the process
of thinking used in science. Sometimes this is called the
scientific method. Really, it is an
approach to analyzing information that has been found to be astonishingly
successful - so much
so, that it took us from Newton's world of witch-burnings and horse-drawn
transportation to
our world of instant communications and jet aircraft in only 300
years. It provides a way to
distinguish what is probably right from what is probably wrong,
in an agreed-upon manner.
Unfortunately it is not universally agreed-upon, even yet - witch
hunts still go on...
Above
all, science is about clear and unambiguous communication of ideas.
words," and to use the office hours for a "smaller group" discussion
of particular topics. It
is very important that you keep up your reading and advance through
the homework
problems as the course progresses. It is almost impossible to get
a good grade without
working a fair number of homework problems.
for many hours Monday through Friday. There are a number of computers
in this room as
well where you can access the internet. The Study Center is
located in this building,
downstairs from the Foucault pendulum. In the Study Center there
are tables assigned to
different courses. Depending on the time of the day, there may be
one, two, or three Teaching
Assistants working through the tables answering questions.
At some times there will be
additional faculty assistance. Sign your name to the list on the
wall when you want individual
assistance, and as soon as a TA is available she/he will call your
name. Some students have
found useful to form "groups" who work homeworks together.
Dates
Topics
Chapter-Section
Homework Assignment
not graded, solutions
are here.
(chapter #.problem #)
March 31-April 4
Kinematics
Ch. 1, 2
1.3, 1.21, 2.2, 2.8, 2.9, 2.12, 2.14, 2.19, 2.20, 2.23, 2.24,
2.27, 2.29, 2.30, 2.41
April 7-11
Kinematics
Ch. 2, 3
3.1, 3.2, 3.8, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.20,
3.21, 3.26, 3.32, 3.45, 3.36, 3.51, 3.66
April 14-17
Dynamics
Ch. 4
4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.12, 4.18, 4.21, 4.23,
4.24 4.28, 4.30, 4.31, 4.32, 4.37
April 18, Friday
Exam #1
Chapters 1-3
April 21-24
Dynamics
Ch. 4
4.44, 4.45, 4.47, 4.49, 4.52, 4.56, 4.69, 4.72, 4.74, 4.77, 4.78,
4. 79, 4.80, 4.81
April 28-May 2
Circular motion and Gravitation
Ch. 5
5.7, 5.8, 5.11, 5.12, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19, 5.30, 5.35, 5.41, 5.43,
5.44, 5.45, 5.53
May 5-8
Work and Energy
Ch. 6
6.1, 6.4, 6.5, 6.7, 6.8, 6.10, 6.13, 6.20, 6.21, 6.22, 6.23, 6.24,
6.25, 6.27, 6.30, 6.31, 6.32, 6.33
May 9, Friday
Exam # 2
Chapters 4-5
May 12-16
Energy conservation
Ch. 6
6.36, 6.37, 6.39, 6.40, 6.43, 6.47, 6.49, 6.51, 6.53, 6.54, 6.58,
6.68, 6.69, 6.84
May 19-23
Momentum
Ch. 7
7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.7, 7.11, 7.16, 7.21, 7.23, 7.25, 7.32, 7.33,
7.57, 7.62, 7.74
May 26, holiday
Memorial Day
May 27-29
Rotational Motion
Ch. 8
8.11, 8.15, 8.16, 8.19, 8.24, 8.26, 8.31, 8.33, 8.36, 8.40, 8.41,
8.42, 8.62, 8.74
May 30, Friday
Exam # 3
Chapters 6-7
June 2-6
Rotational motion
Ch. 8
Thursday, June 12
8:30 - 10:20 am Final
Exam
Chapters 1 - 8
