Physics II

Winter 2000

Course Overview



Instructor: Dave Feldman Email: dave@hornacek.coa.edu
Office: Third Floor Arts and Sciences Phone: x249, 244-9836
Mailing List: physics2@hornacek.coa.edu Office Hours: TBA
Tutors: Anthony Yartel Help Sessions: TBA


Course Overview

As our primary text we will use the Six Ideas books by Tom Moore. We will cover part of unit E and part of unit R.

I have several goals for this course:

  1. I want you to gain a firm understanding of the main ideas of special relativity, and get a broad introduction to electricity and magnetism.
  2. I want to help you improve your quantitative literacy, problem solving skills, and mathematical confidence.
  3. I want you to learn independently about a topic of your choosing.
  4. I want you to gain experience orally presenting technical information.


Evaluation

Your evaluation will be based on the following: I will assign grades (for those who so opt) by following the guidelines on page 8 of the COA Course Catalog. I do not have any quota of A's, B's, etc.


Policies and Stuff: First Draft

  1. The final version of this and related documents can be found on the course web page, http://hornacek.coa.edu/dave/Teaching/Physics.2.W00.
  2. Homework will be due Fridays at 5pm. More than one unexcused late homework assignment will result in me mentioning this in your narrative evaluation and may result in a lowering of your grade.
  3. You are strongly encouraged to work together on homework. You can also consult me, class tutors, other faculty, friends, and family. However, the homework you hand in should represent your own understanding. This means that if your friends get a homework problem and you don't understand how they did it, you shouldn't photocopy their solution and turn it in.
  4. Exams will be open notes, open book, and (essentially) untimed. You may not, however, get any help from any humans during the exam.
  5. Information on what is expected for your final presentation can be found in a separate document.
  6. I will almost always assign reading for each class. You should do the reading, and come prepared with written questions. Click here for details.
  7. In order to make time for final presntations, we'll need to schedule a few extra classes toward the end of the term.
  8. Instead of me presenting examples, I plan on assigning a short problem that a pair of students will present in class. This presentation is highly informal.
  9. More than two missing homework assignments will result in a grade no higher than a C.
  10. As I plan on sending out homework assignments and other information via email, it is important that you check your email regularly.
  11. I expect you to attend class and labs.
  12. Unlike Physics I, there will be a lab worksheet that I'll want you to hand in and that I'll evaluate. More info can be found here
  13. Academic misconduct -- cheating, plagarizing, etc. -- is bad. Any cases of academic misconduct will result in a judicial hearing, as per pp. 14-15 of the COA handbook. Possible consequences range from failure of the assignment to expulsion. For more, see the revised statement on academic integrity passed by the faculty last winter.


[ Dave ] [ Physics II ] [ COA ]

Web page maintained by dave@hornacek.coa.edu.