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Physics 214 August 23, 2006
Lecturer:
Tomás A. Arias, 522 Clark Hall, x5-0450 (muchomas@ccmr.cornell.edu);
Lectures: TR 9:05-9:55, 11:15-12:05; Office hours: Tue 9:55-11:15am.
TA and administrator:
Doug Fitchen, 327 Clark Hall, x5-1064 (dbf2@cornell.edu); Secs. 7, 14.
Party and Collections TA:
Ethan Geil, 11 Rockefeller Hall, x4-4521 (ecg33@cornell.edu); Secs. 5,
15.
Lab TA: To be determined; Labs. 3, 13, 16.
Other TAs:
Alan Giambattista, 130 Clark Hall, x5-6035 (agg1@cornell.edu); Labs. 2, 10, 11.
Johannes Lischner, 604 Clark Hall, x5-6311 (jl597@cornell.edu); Secs. 3, 9; Lab 1.
Jiajun Xu, Newman 420, x5-5725 (jx33@cornell.edu); Secs. 10, 11; Lab. 7.
Online information:
All course materials will be distributed online. Lecture notes,
information and links will be provided at the web site above. In
addition, problem sets and announcements will be available on Blackboard. Finally, a Google calendar of major class events can
be found as a Google public calendar listed under ``Physics 214''.
Textbooks:
Lecture notes on the web (http://www.muchomas.lassp.cornell.edu/P214/).
Physics 214 Laboratory Manual.
Optional: Young and Freedman, University Physics, 11th
edition. A.P. French, Vibrations and Waves.
Getting the most from the lectures:
Students generally get more out of a lecture if they have a sense of
the material to be covered and some questions already formed in their
minds. Selected short readings will be assigned at the top of each new
problem set. It is highly recommended that this reading be done, even
if cursorily, before attending the corresponding lecture.
Problem Sets:
Beyond the readings and the lectures, the third element of the
learning process is working the weekly problem sets. Students should
feel free and are encouraged to discuss and ask conceptual and
practical advice on the problem sets from the teaching staff and from
each other. The problem sets are meant to encourage discussion but
also make up a part of the grade. Therefore, after the discussion
process, students are to sit down and write up the solutions by
themselves. If you and your study partner end up using the same
sentences and variable names in your solutions, this is a sign that
you are collaborating too closely. To help you find study partners,
we will be having problem set ``parties'' from 7-9pm in 701 Clark
Hall on the nights before due dates.
There will be approximately twelve (12) problem sets. The problem
sets will be available on the web Thu of the week prior to their due
date. The problem sets must be returned to the collections TA
outside of the classroom between 4:45pm and 5:00pm sharp on the
due date. Late problem sets absolutely will not be
accepted and will receive a grade of zero. To mitigate unfortunate
circumstances, the lowest two of your problem set scores will be
dropped in forming your problem set average.
Quizzes:
To encourage keeping up with the class, there will be
three class-wide quizzes scheduled in section during the weeks of
September 4-8, September 18-22, October 16-20. Each section TA has
the prerogative of giving additional quizzes as necessary and to be
included in the participation grade. (See below.) To mitigate
unfortunate circumstances, the lowest quiz score will be dropped
in forming your quiz average.
Participation:
A small portion of the total grade (5%) is alloted to participation
in section and labs.
Prelims and Final:
There will be two (2) one and one-half hour
prelims (7:30-9:00pm October 3 and November 2, both in RF Swartz
and RF 230) and one (1) two and one-half hour final exam (2:00-4:30pm
Tue. December 12, location to be announced) The final will focus on
the last third of the course and is not meant to be cumulative except
in so far as concepts from earlier in the course are reused in later
parts. Only Professor Fitchen can excuse you from prelims and exams
for extremely extenuating circumstances. He must be notified at
least twenty-four hours prior to the prelim/exam.
Conflicts must be given to Prof. Fitchen at least two weeks prior
to the corresponding prelim or final.
Labs:
The course includes four labs, each of which is graded as pass-fail.
Attendance at all labs is required and makes up an important part of
your grade. (See section on Grades below.) The labs are described in
the Lab Manual. We will be doing...
Conflicts are your responsibility. You must check at least one
week in advance with the other Lab TAs (listed above) to find a
section for which there is room. You must also notify your TA to ensure
you receive proper credit.
Grades:
The relative weighting of exams and problem sets will be
Section (Problem sets 10%; quizzes 10%; participation 5%) 25%
Prelim I (October 3, 7:30-9:00pm) 25%
Prelim II (November 2, 7:30-9:00pm) 25%
Final exam (December 12, 2:00-4:30pm)25%
Labs (Important: each missed lab will lower your grade by one
mark; i.e., B- becomes C+ then C, etc.)
The class's overall performance throughout the semester will determine
the final distribution of grades.
Partial Credit:
Partial credit, particularly on exams, will be awarded generously only
in those cases involving minor algebraic errors. Incomplete physical
reasoning or simply writing down formulas without physical
justification will not result in credit for the problem in question.
Great pains will be taken to implement a system with uniform grading;
therefore, awards of partial credit will not be adjusted on an
individual basis as it would be grossly unfair to the rest of the
class to adjust the credit of one student with out adjusting that of
the entire class. Granting partial credit to the entire class
uniformly assures that the system is fair.
Grading Corrections:
You are strongly encouraged to bring to
our attention cases where graders have mis-graded, including simple
mistakes, not noticing information which you provided in your
solution, and not giving credit for valid alternate solutions. To
resolve these matters, please write a brief explanation of the grading
error and submit this written explanation along with the paper to
be corrected directly to your TA. This must be done at the end of
section in which your paper is returned. Grades become final
immediately after the period in which your paper is returned.
Written explanations such as ``The grader didn't see the rest of the
solution on the top of the next page,'' or ``I believe my alternate
solution to 3(b) wasn't graded properly because ...'' will suffice, but more
information may be provided if you feel it helps your case. If it is
a case of an alternate solution please be sure to write ``alternate
solution'' explicitly.
Good luck!!!
This semester we will study what happens when not one or two, but many
millions of particles interact. We will also develop skills and tools
for analysis which are important in many disciplines of engineering.
It is a pleasure for us to teach this course. Also, you will
understand the intellectual underpinnings of three Nobel prizes (two
of which are Cornell associated) if you follow the course closely to
its conclusion! We wish you all a productive, enjoyable and
stimulating semester.