Updates:

• 3/23   Final exams may be picked up from Laura Clement. Course grades are available on Tycho.

• 3/17   The web site for Physics 123B (Sp04) is now available.

• 3/17 (UPDATED)   Solutions to ALL parts of final are now posted on solutions link. They will remain posted until next Monday.

• 3/16   Here is an announcement for a course that may be of interest to some of you. A similar course was offered this quarter.
  
  Join our seminar! ENGR199B, "Women, Computing, and Collaborating" Wednesday 12:30 - 1:20, Spring Quarter 2004
  Are you creative? Good at planning or organizing? Do you enjoy working with others? Do you have a knack for keeping track of details? Want to make an impact on society? You might enjoy a career in computing!
  Spring quarter we will be holding a 1-credit seminar entitled "ENGR 199B: Women, Computing & Collaborating." The class will focus on discussions of computers and how they impact our society. We will also learn fundamental computer science concepts through fun, hands-on activities. This is the perfect opportunity for freshman and sophomores interested in computer science to learn a little about the field before jumping into a full-fledged programming course. For more information, please check out the website here .

Important Links

Index of what follows

Office hours and contact information

• Administrative enquiries:
• Laura Clement  lclement@u.washington.edu   C136 PAB  543-4982
• If you wish to talk with an academic counselor about becoming a physics major or minor, or have general questions about the physics program, please contact Margot Nims [margot@phys.washington.edu, C139 PAB, 543-2772].


• Lectures:
• Prof. Steve Sharpe   sharpe@phys.washington.edu   B406 PAB  685-2395
• Office Hours: Monday 11-12, in my office. Tuesday 11-12 in the study center. Additional hours prior to exams will be announced in class and on this page.


• TA: (grading homework and exams)
• Kristine Washburn  kristine@astro.washington.edu   B339 PAB 543-9095
• Office Hours: Monday 12:30-1:30 in her office and Tuesday 1:30-2:30 in the study center. In addition, Kristine has study center hours (for all students in intro physics classes) Tuesdays 3:30-4:30 and Thursdays 1:30-2:30.


• Tutorials (Please note that attendance is mandatory):
• Prof. Peter Shaffer    shaffer@phys.washington.edu   C218 PAB  543-6705


• Laboratory (Please note that attendance is mandatory):
• Prof. Henry Lubatti    lubatti@u.washington.edu    B301 PAB  543-8964
• Policy concerning doing labs in other sections

Text books

• Resnick, Halliday and Krane, "Physics", 4th edition (not 5th), mainly Vol. 2 (extended) but we will also use vol 1. Note that the extended part of volume 2 will be needed for Phys 123B.
• McDermott and Shaffer, "Tutorials in Introductory Physics", 1st edition.
• Lab Manual for 122 (details of availability TBA).

Additional Reading

• Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton and Matthew Sands, "The Feynman Lectures on Physics", Addison-Wesley, (ISBN: 0201021153). This is a three volume set. These lectures are fantastic supplementary reading, though hard to learn from the first time.

Study Center

• Teaching assistants wil be available for consultation in the Physics Study Center located in Room AM018. It is staffed from approximately 9:30am-4:30pm on weekdays.

Pre-tests

• Weekly short pretests will be administered on the web. These are intended to start you thinking about concepts that will be addressed in the tutorial later in the week. Pretest questions will be posted in the tutorial room. Completion of pretests will be a factor in determining your course grade.

Homework

• Weekly "lecture HW" assignments will consist of about 10-12 problems divided between two components:


• Problems using the computer-based Tycho system. The Tycho web page provides instructions as to how to log in. PLEASE NOTE: you only need to do the problems listed as 122 Honors---although you have access to the regular 122 problems if you want more practice. Homework must be submitted over the web. Deadlines will be announced with each assignment; the typical due date will be 9:20am Wednesday the week after it the assignment is announced, with a second deadline (for 70% credit) at 9:20am Friday. (Note that these times will usually differ from those in the regular 121 sequence.) See here for more information on using Tycho.


• Problems from the text (HRK) plus occasional problems that I write. These will be assigned in class each week and will be due in class the following week, usually on Wednesdays. Solutions will be posted on the web here.. The assignments will be listed here. A few (typically two) problems from each assignment will be graded in detail. Problems with grading should be addressed to the TA: attach an explanation of the concern, written on a separate sheet of paper, to your homework, which itself should not be changed.

• Tutorial homework will be assigned and collected in tutorial sections. One problem from each assignment will be graded in detail.

Exams

• There will be three one-hour midterms (tentative dates: Fridays January 23rd, Feb. 13th and Mar. 5th) and a two-hour final exam (Wednesday March 17, 8:30-10:20am). All will take place in the lecture room, A118. Each exam will consist of various types of problems: some similar to the homework assigned in lectures, others based on material discussed in the tutorials, and others related to laboratory experiments. There will be a roughly equal mix of multiple choice and standard questions. The one-hour exams will emphasize the material covered in the prior two or three weeks, but may include earlier topics too. The final exam will be comprehensive. The standard cover sheet for exams is here .


• All exams will be CLOSED BOOK with one sheet of notes allowed---four such sheets for the final. Calculators are allowed and recommended. You must bring a bubble sheet.


• If you think there is an error in the grading of an exam, or in the adding up of points, you may return your exam for regrading. To do so, you must resubmit the exam at the beginning of the lecture following the one in which the exams were returned. Attach a brief note to the exam (preferably using the regrade form ) explaining the possible mistake(s). Do NOT make any marks or changes on the original exam. Please note that portions of each exam are photocopied, and that a regrade request may trigger a regrading of other parts of the exam as well, so that it is possible that your total score may decrease.


• Examples of previous exam questions will be posted before each exam on the handouts link . Solutions will be posted after the exams, along with exam statistics.

Course Grade

• Your course grade will be computed using weightings close to the following.
• 30-35%---your two best midterms
• 25-30%---final exam
• 15%---laboratory (notice that this is changed from the previous 20%, reflecting the reduction in number and grading of labs)
• 7.5%---lecture homework (changed from 5%)
• 7.5%---Tycho homework (changed from 5%)
• 10%---tutorial homework
• Note that your lowest midterm score will be dropped, and that there will be NO make-up exams. Normally a grade of 0.0 will be given to students who do not take the final or who miss two midterms.
• A grade of 0.0 will also be given to anyone not completing 6 labs (out of the total 8), irrespective of their performance in the rest of the course.

Links to Physics Career/Major Information

• Information on Majoring in Physics at UW.
• UW Women in Science and Engineering
Provides networking, mentoring, tutoring, Study Center (for Credit!)
• UW Chapter of the Society of Physics Students
• American Physical Society Reports on Physics Employment, including
• The Early Careers of Physics Bachelors (pdf file)
• State-by-State listing of Companies Hiring Physics Bachelors
• American Physical Society's Scholarship for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors .

More Information on Topics Covered in Lecture

• Information about electrostatic generators
from the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham. (There's lots of other neat stuff on the site too.)
• "Physlets" interactive web problems in E&M
• How Stuff Works: Semiconductors
• Superconductors