Fall 2011 syllabus & schedule

Here you can find all the gory course details (grading, policies, etc)
Here you can find a detailed schedule, assignment due dates, required and suggested reading, etc.

My office hours this semester will be:

MW 1-2 in Gallalee 323

F 12-2 in Gallalee 323

TuTh 1-3 in Bevill 2050

Final Exam

Ok, a couple of days later than planned, but here it is. You probably will not like it. Do not delay in starting, it is not something you can bang out in a couple of hours over coffee.

I will post hints over the next days on various problems, with increasing helpfulness as the deadline gets closer. Feel free to ask for clarification if you aren't sure how to get started. They are not easy problems, but I think you can handle them. The final exam is due back to me by 5pm next Thursday, 10 Dec 2009.

You're allowed to use your textbook and notes (which includes posted solutions/notes from this page), and I would consider Wikipedia fair game, but random googling for answers is not. You will need to sign your exam, stating that you've played by the rules. A bit much, I know, but those are the breaks when you get a take-home exam ... anyway, with most of these problems you would not have much luck googling anyway.

Also, HW8 solutions are out. Exam III solutions should follow this weekend, since they might be of some utility for the final.

Also.

Oblig

If this is relevant, let me know. Won't be a problem.

The Jewish high holiday season is upon us. Rosh Hashana, the celebration of the New Year, begins Friday evening, September 18, and continues through the end of the weekend, while Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins Sunday evening, September 27, and continues all day Monday the 28th. If at all possible, please give your Jewish students who are observing these holidays some consideration should the observance conflict with papers, exams, or other class assignments. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Much thanks in advance.

Rescheduling

After looking at the semester's schedule a bit, I have decided to adjust the schedule. Mainly I would like to cover circuits and more 'practical' matters sooner rather than later. This is partly to give you a brief interlude from the hardcore vector calculus, and partly to facilitate labs getting more interesting sooner rather than later.

Next week, we'll discuss dipoles & dielectrics (Ch. 4 Griffiths). On Friday you'll have your first exam, which will primarily cover chapter 2 in Griffiths, with a bit on dielectrics from chapter 4. More on this as it gets closer; the exam will have 3-4 problems for you to solve, much easier than the homework.

After dielectrics, we'll take a week's interlude to cover ohm's law and (non-inductive) circuits. Mathematically it should be a welcome relief. Most of this will be taught from my own notes (which you will receive), and the focus will be on analyzing and designing basic circuits.

After that week-long 'break,' it is on to magnetism and induction for about two weeks. This will give us what we need to discuss general ac circuits (damped harmonic motion from PH125 will make a return).

Exam 2 will take place during the week leading up to mid-semester study break (the Monday before the break), and it will cover magnetism and circuits. Your midterm grades, due that Wednesday, will reflect exams 1 & 2.

This is just a re-shuffling of the previous schedule (delaying magnetism by a week and moving up circuits). If any more time is needed here or there, we will 'adjust' by shortening geometric optics. Given the significant time we will spend on EM waves, geometric optics will be all but a foregone conclusion by that point.

Pig Flu / Aporkalypse Now

If, for some reason, you end up missing an exam due to the pig flu, I will weight the final proportionally more.

If you miss something else due to the apparent pig flue epidemic (e.g., homework, quiz, lab), you can either make it up (if done within a short time) or receive a 'bye' on that particular assignment.

I do not become ill while teaching, as it turns out. I did teach with nearly a dozen hour-old stitches in my right hand and a head full of painkillers, but illness is right out. So I'll be there.

Just sayin'. Apparently, this is a Big Deal. Wash your hands, go to the med center, procure notes, etc.

(I am not belittling the public health threat here. I am, in fact, mocking the general response to and hysteria surrounding the public health threat.)

Lab safety

Remind me next time that you each need to print & sign one of these.

It carries no real legal obligation whatsoever, it is more of a 'gentleman's agreement' than anything.

Help desk schedule

Once again this semester, all 100-level physics teaching assistants are pooling their office hours to better assist you. Here is the current schedule. Office hours are in 203 Gallalee.

First homework, syllabus

Syllabus ... it includes the all-important grading information.

Homework 1 ... mostly math. Your first problems are due Wed 26 Aug, the rest are due Fri 28 Aug.