Locations & Times

• For "lecture"-101 Seaver Hall, 10:00- 10:50 MWF
• For lab- 117 or 119 Seaver Hall, select one of the ten sections
• For "virtual" meetings- The course has a web page (and associated BlackBoard space) that can be found Here!. 

Required Text

• University Physics by Sanny and Moebs (McGraw-Hill, 1997). 

Books on Reserve at the Library

• University Physics, Volume 3 (Modern Physics) by Sanny and Moebs (McGraw-Hill, 1997).  This contains some great chapters on quantum mechanics and modern physics.
• Six Easy Pieces and Not-So-Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman (Helix Books, 1995 & 1 997)  This books contains some of Feynmanís lectures on physics.  The topics range from "what is science?" to Einsteinís general relativity; all of them are very readable.
• What Do You Care What Other People Think? By Richard Feynman (Norton, 1988)  This is an autobiography, sort of, of one of this countryís greatest physicists.  But, the stories arenít so much about physics rather practical jokes, playing the bongos and other antics.
• Physics in the 20th Century by Curt Suplee (Abrams, 1999) This book covers most of modern physics in a very informal manner- just the right mix- 1/3 history, 1/3 physics and 1/3 photos.
• Used Math by Clifford Swartz (AAPT 1993)- This covers very practical math for the sciences- geometry, claculus as well as complex numbers and statistics.  You may not see much of the math in this book until later courses, but the calculus section is useful.
• Precalculus Mathematics in a Nutshell by George Simmons (Kaufmann,1981)-  This book focusses on algebra, trig and geometry.  These three topics are essentials for every scientist and engineer.  The book does a great job of explaining the hows and whys and not simply giving you reference tables.
• How Things Work by Louis Bloomfield (Wiley,1997)- This book covers everything from seesaws to microwave ovens.  It is written in a very casual manner that makes for easy reading.

Instructor

• Who am I?: Jeff Phillips (a.k.a. Dr. Jeff)
• Where I "live": 106 Seaver Hall
• When I tend to be "home": MTWF 11:00- 12:00 and T 2:00- 5:00  (Iím normally around my office and more than willing to meet with students at other times.  You may want to call or email in advance if you want to avoid a trip to an empty office.)
• Other ways to contact me: phone-338-7811 and email- phillips@lmu.edu

Responsibilities
Student responsibilities include (but not limited to):

• Coming to class prepared which includes actively reading the text, trying various example problems, and studying any additional handouts.
• Attempting all homework, this can be done either individually or in study groups with your classmates (simply be careful not to rely on your classmates so much that you cannot solve problems by yourself on tests).
• Asking questions when material is unclear, this can be done during office hours, in class or via email.
• Regularly check email for schedule or policy changes.

Dr. Jeffís responsibilities include (be are certainly not limited to):

• Being receptive to student feedback and suggestions concerning both course content and design.
• Providing opportunities for students to assess their own progress.
• Employing several modalities (verbal, visual, tactile, etc) when introducing topics so as to accommodate different learning styles.
• Maintaining a respectful and student-centered environment.

Exercises
         Some "problems" you will encounter will be more straightforward than others.  This is not to say that they will always be "easy".  Think of this type of homework as the drills you might run over and over in practice or the scales you play until you can play them without thinking.  All of these simplified practices can be referred to as exercises (which will help to differentiate them from problems).  Before you can move on to playing Mozart you need to know your scales.  Similarly, you wonít be solving physics (or engineering) problems without first mastering the fundamentals through exercises.  Exercises are usually (but not always) characterized by certain features:

• They may involve only a single application of one major principle, so that deciding on an approach to the problem is simple.
• The question is clearly stated as the need to find some specific physics quantity, e.g. velocity, energy, force, so that the relevant physics description is often suggested by the problem itself.
• Just enough information has been provided for you to determine a numerical value of the desired quantity, so that describing the situation and problem approach are simplified.
• All quantitative information is given in a simple set of units, so that if the correct principle is applied, the numerical solution will be correct.
• They often resemble other exercises which you may have recently encountered (from either class or the text).  Because the objects described in the exercise and their relationship are similar to other examples given, visualization of the problem is simpler.

         Often exercises will be given to you in the form of a worksheet that is related to either what we did in class or what you are to read for the next class.  Other exercises may be in the form of end of the chapter problems from the text.  Also, in-class we will often perform mini-experiments or work on problems in groups which will be considered part of your exercise grade.  Exercises will normally be graded them according to the following system:

10- very thorough explanations and solutions
8 - good effort, complete, mostly correct
6 - incomplete (looks like something thrown together ten minutes before class) 
0 - ouch!; either you failed to turn in your worksheet on time, or you made no effort

         As you can see the grading here emphasizes making a good faith effort.  Exercises are designed to help you focus your studying on the essentials and begin to apply the concepts to straightforward "problems".  You shouldnít feel as though you need to work on the exercises in a vacuum- work with other students and ask Dr. Jeff questions.
 

Problems
         If exercises are the practice drills of this course, then problems are the scrimmages or recitals.  Just like in a scrimmage, successfully solving a problem will require you to use the fundamentals you have previously mastered.  In contrast to exercises, problems have the following characteristics:

• They may require the application of multiple concepts and/ or multiple applications of the same concept.
• The question may not be stated as the need to find any particular quantity; the problem may ask for a judgement, in which case you must decide what quantities you need to find in order to make a good judgement.
• The problem statement may include information which is not useful at all.  On the other hand, some important information may not be expressly provided; you will have to provide that information from your own general knowledge.
• Quantitative information may be provided in unfamiliar or inconsistent units.
• The situation described may appear new to you; it may appear that you have never seen a similar problem.

         As you can tell from this list, problems tend to be much more like what you can expect to encounter in "the real world".  In fact, it is safe to say that no matter what you profession (from engineer to journalist) you will face many more problems than exercises. 
         Since the course focuses more on how you do a problem rather than whether youíve gotten the right answer (this is true on tests as well), the grading of problems will emphasize process as well as correct physics.   What is most important is that we improve our problem solving and critical thinking skills.  Thus, in writing up problem solutions, you should write out complete solutions.   We will discuss the level of necessary detail later in class, but the basic criteria will be- can somebody else read your solution and understand each step.  This means no ESP should be necessary when trying to understand a solution. 
         Problems will largely be graded on your use of the problem solving algorithm.  As is mentioned in the problem solving handout, the model (the pictures, words and equations) are your answer to a problem, not just the final numerical result.
         Just as with the exercises youíre encouraged to work collaboratively on the problems - studying together is a good way to learn physics.  But donít just copy work from a friend!  You will help yourself in the short run (good score on the homework assignment, maybe) but punish yourself in the long run (youíre not learning anything, and itíll show on tests).
 

Laboratory
         Details about labs can be found in the guideline section of the Physics 103 Lab Manual.
 

Participation
         As with all courses at LMU, each student is expected to contribute to the course.  This doesnít necessarily mean that you have to present a 30 minute lecture on quantum electrodynamics; rather, simply asking questions or sharing your ideas is all it takes.  As was mentioned several times before, people learn best when they do something or they try to explain it to others.  So, by participating in discussions you will not only help yourself, but also your classmates- definitely a win-win situation.
         Weíll try and be as flexible as possible, not going too fast, but this course will require each of us to work outside of class, to come to class prepared, and to participate.  It is important that everybody asks questions when theyíre unsure about something.  Ask in class, after class, in office hours, over email ,etc.  With sufficient feedback (both students giving to the instructor as well as the instructor giving to the students) we should be able to keep the course at a reasonable, yet challenging level.
         In addition to in-class discussions we will have out-of-class discussions in which you are asked to participate.  There is an electronic whiteboard set up at LMUís BlackBoard web site.  There you will find a board just for our class.  BlackBoard is basically a system to handle forms on web pages (with some extras thrown in).  The board will be divided into section or pages and on those you can post comments or questions.  Anything is fair game- suggestions on how the course is run, unaddressed questions from readings or class discussions, conversations about a concert in which you're performing, and on and on.
 

Assorted administrative policies
         Cheating, plagiarism, submission of the work of others, etc. violates LMU policy on academic honesty & integrity and may result in penalties ranging from a lowered grade to course failure or expulsion.  Often students will be allowed to work together in groups on homework assignments, but this does not mean you are able to turn in somebody elseís work.  Any group work (in or out of class) is meant to be a collaborative effort that improves the studentsí understanding of physics as well as team working skills.  When in doubt as to whether or not group work is permitted, or what exactly constitutes collaborative teamwork versus plagiarism, ask Dr. Jeff.  A further discussion of the campus policies and student obligations are given in the Undergraduate Bulletin.
         Homework (exercises and problems) will be accepted up to 24 hours after the due date (unless otherwise stated assignments are due at the beginning of class).  However, there is a late penalty of a 50% reduction in the score.  So, if you turn in a worksheet the next morning and receive 8 points out of a possible 10, then your actual grade becomes 4 points out of 10.  Assignments will NOT be accepted after the 24-hour grace period.