Class: 12-12:50 M Tu Th F Room 46 Culler Hall

Objectives: Physics 181-2 aims to introduce, to the student, the basic laws of nature, including classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, statistical physics, electromagnetism and relativity. These "laws" are actually models successfully employed by contemporary physicists in describing physical phenomena. The course is designed to include modern physics concepts as early as is practical and in that respect differs from the traditional introductory physics course. In 181, we will examine particle mechanics, followed by wave phenomena, culminating in a look at the microworld where objects exhibit both wave and particle characteristics.

Text: Principles of Physics, 2ndEd. Raymond A. Serway Saunders Publishing Company

Instructor: Michael Pechan

Room 17 Culler Hall

Phone: 529-4518 Email: pechanmj@muohio.edu Web:http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~pechanmj

Office Hours - 11 to 12 M Tu Th F

Grading: Three (3) one-hour examinations 60%

Final examination (comprehensive) 25%

Homework 15%
 

Grade scale: (guaranteed not to be higher) 90 - 100 A 80 - 89 B 70 - 79 C 60 - 69 D < 60 F

The grade scale is a guarantee. For example, if your average score on all examinations and homework is 90 or above you are guaranteed an A for the course. You might get an A for a lower average than 90 but there is no guarantee. In any event, the final grade scale will not differ significantly from the guaranteed scale.

Homework: Homework will encompass responses to exercises and problems taken from the text or handouts. The assignments will be made in class posted on my Web page. A subset of the homework assigned will be designated as "team" homework and will be collected (one set per team). All members of the team will receive the same grade. Since all assigned homework is "fodder" for exams it is in the best interest of each student to understand the homework and rather than to relegate that responsibility to the most capable member(s) of your team.

Class participation is encouraged and will be a consideration in determining the final grade in borderline cases.

Exams: Examinations, held from 7:30 - 9:30pm on the days indicated in the following schedule, will involve a combination of free response and multiple-choice questions. The questions will be drawn from the homework, class examples and lecture demonstrations and discussions. Answers will be posted following each exam to provide immediate feedback on your performance. The final exam will be held in Room 46 Culler at 12:30pm on Tuesday, Dec. 12.

Make up exams: NONE ARE GIVEN. If you have a legitimate reason for missing an exam, the instructor will assign an estimated score based upon the following:

where YA = your average on the exams you took, CA= class average on those exams and CA(missed) = class average on the exam you missed.

Assignment of this score is not automatic - you must inform the instructor, in writing, of your desire to utilize this estimation and the reason for missing the exam. An incomplete course grade will be assigned to anyone who misses two or more exams.

Laboratory: The laboratory is a separate course. You should be enrolled in a section of PHY 183 for the laboratory and should obtain a lab manual from one of the bookstores.