| Lectures: | MTWR 12–12:50 pm (in Kearney Hall, room 212). |
| Instructor: | Zlatko Dimcovic (dimcoviz@onid.orst.edu). Office: Weniger 215 (737 1726). |
| Hours: | MTWR 1:15–2:30 pm (or by appointment), in Weniger 215. |
| Textbook: | “Physics for scientists and engineers,” by Randall D. Knight (Second Edition). |
| Laboratory: | T/R in Weniger 200. The needed lab packet is one pdf file. Lab TA: Chris Reidy. |
| Recitations: | Tue or Wed, 2pm in Weniger 275. Recitation TA: Matt Cibula. |
This course aims to help you develop understanding of elementary principles and laws of mechanics; more than this, it aims at providing training – you should develop skills needed to solve problems dealing with covered material. To this end, the class is run through examples and by solving problems, as much as possible. But the most important (critical) part in all this is that you do a lot of practice! To support this, a number of practice problems are suggested each class (other than the graded homework); working on them is instrumental for your progress. (And this is at best a minimum: you should do many more.) Solving problems is your best tool for building understanding of the material – with an ability to use it effectively. Please note that nothing can substitute for hard practice. And please do not hesitate to ask for and use assistance of everyone involved in the course!
This course is part of the OSU Baccalaureate Core and fulfills the requirement for study related to Physical Science.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Critical thinking is a fundamental part of science and at the heart of physics. In many ways, Physics is the discipline of modeling and problem solving. In this course, you will be taught to look at new situations and make assumptions about the situations that allow you to make appropriate simplifications to apply physical models. Critical thinking in this class is being able to:
MTH 111, MTH 112 and MTH 251. Corequisite: MTH 252. The most important mathematical skills that you will need for this course are solving simultaneous equations, vector analysis, derivatives and integrals. You are advised to review this material as soon as possible.
In many classes we will be doing quizzes: a simple problem to solve, or a (very slightly) less-simple problem to set up. Typically this should take no longer than around 5 minutes, and group-work is generally encouraged. These are firstly intended to give you a chance to try out the material being covered. They also provide both you and me with some measure of what you can do in real time. We will start with quizzes most likely in the second week of the class.
Solving problems is something you cannot do without in this class. You will need to solve a lot of problems in order to actually understand this material. Throughout the course, I will suggest problems for your practice. (This is only to make it easier, specially in the beginning. You can, and certainly should, simply pick practice problems out of the book on your own.) Once a week there will be graded write-up homework (sometimes slightly challenging), assigned during the week. You write it up and submit, normally within a week. Grading goes as follows: half of the grade is for completeness (please do all assigned problems!), the other half is for one problem, chosen to be graded. These problems are intended to be of medium difficulty, and occasionally challenging. You are welcome to discuss them with your peers, with me or the TAs. But note that what you submit must be your own work, that you understand fully and can defend if needed. I suggest you use this as an opportunity to practice how to write up problems in physics: set it up well, explain what is needed – but keep explanations reasonable; like you would in an exam. Or, you can choose to write it up fully, explaining every last bit, so that you have a detailed record of your work and thinking, for your later reviewing. This is not required though; what you need for the grade is an exam-style write up. Please note: this homework is not sufficient practice; it is only meant to stimulate your own work. You need to solve many more problems in order to actually absorb this material.
Here you will deal with physics supporting and complementing the course material rather well. These labs often do not follow the class strictly, and require some additional effort from you. I hope you find them interesting! Lab attendance and satisfactory performance are mandatory. You must attend and pass all labs so that you can get full credit for the lab and for the course. Up to two labs can be made-up (if missed), during the last week of the class. You are strongly advised not to miss any labs though.
There will be one midterm and a final exam. All exams are made up of problems to solve. The final exam is comprehensive (it covers the entire term). The final will be given right at the end of the class, tentatively on Friday Aug 14th. Exams are closed book and closed notes, while needed formulas will be provided.
The course components described above combine for the final grade as follows: quizzes 5% and homework 10%; lab 20%; midterm 25%, and final 40%. The (tentative) grade breakdown is:
| 90+ % = A | 80-89% = B | 70-79% = C | 60-69% = D | (below 60% = F) |
Please note It is the responsibility of the student to withdraw from the course if they do not wish to receive a letter grade. The last day to withdraw is listed in the current schedule of classes. An incomplete grade will not be assigned unless a student has discussed it with me in advance and a signed agreement between the student and instructor has been created. The incomplete grade requires the student has a good reason for making the request, has a passing (C) grade on submitted work, and there is only a small amount of coursework that remains to be completed. An incomplete grade cannot be given just because a student is not satisfied with their performance in the course.
Students who have any emergency medical information of which I should be aware, or who need special arrangements in the event of evacuation, or who have documented disabilities which may need particular accommodation, should speak with me as early as possible, certainly no later than the second week of the term.
All students are expected to uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity in their academic work. With the exception of in-class group work, all graded work is to be done on an individual basis. Any incidence of academic dishonesty will be dealt with in accordance with OSU policies.