PHY 231 - Introductory Physics I

Syllabus for sections 1-16 (Dr. Glasmacher)

Lecture Transparencies

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 33 34 35 36

Lectures

All lectures meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in room 118 PA.

Sections  1- 8  8:00 -  8:50 am Dr. Thomas Glasmacher
Sections  9-16  9:10 - 10:00 am Dr. Thomas Glasmacher

Dr. Thomas Glasmacher can be reached anytime by e-mail to glasmacher@pa.msu.edu. Scheduled office hours are on Monday from 10:30-12:30 in room W106 Cyclotron (phone: 333-6418) or you can send e-mail and we can arrange for a mutually agreeable time.

Additional information relating to this class will be posted throughout the semester on the world-wide web at http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/1997fall/PHY231/.

Textbook

John D. Cutnell and Kenneth W. Johnson, Physics, 3rd edition, New York, Wiley and Sons (ISBN 0-471-59773-2). The reading assignments are listed in the schedule below.

Homework

There will be 14 individualized assignments. You will need to pick up a new assignment sheet with your name each week to do your homework. Assignments are only available in class, before and after each lecture. Students have the option to use MSU's CAPA system to enter their answer by 6 PM Friday evening, otherwise solutions along with the assignment sheet must be turned in at the start of the lecture on Friday morning. The two lowest homework scores will be dropped when calculating your final grade.

Quizzes

There will be unannounced quizzes in class (approximately one per week). The lowest quiz score of the semester will be dropped to accommodate one unforeseen absence. There will be no makeup quizzes.

Exams

There will be three 1-hour midterm exams and one 2-hour final exam. There will be no makeup exams for the 1-hour exams. The midterm exam with the lowest score will be dropped. The exams will be personalized and closed-book.You will need to bring a valid student id or driver's license to be admitted to the exams. The exams will be based on lectures, the text, quizzes, and assignments.

The midterm exams are scheduled for September 19, October 10, and November 7 during the regular class periods. The final exam is scheduled for December 10 from 3-5 PM for all sections. Please check your calendar now to make sure that you will be available.

Grades

Your final grade in this class will be based on your performance with the following weights:

Homework 40% Two lowest scores of 14 assignments will be dropped
Quizzes 5% Lowest score will be dropped
Midterm exams 20% Lowest of 3 midterm scores dropped
Final exam 35%  

The following scale is guaranteed. It may be lowered slightly, but will not be raised.

To achieve 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0
you need 90% 84% 77% 70% 63% 57% 50%

Assistance

Students can interact with each other and instructors for this course in the Physics Learning Center (B2 Kedzie) and get assistance with the class material and homework assignments. The schedule for the Physics Learning Center is available at http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/1997fall/PHY231/plc. To facilitate discussions among students at all hours we have set up a web-based system at http://www.nscl.msu.edu/phy231 where you can can post questions, answers, and comments to specific homework problems and read the answers to previous questions. Teachers will answer posted questions which have not received replies from fellow students periodically. Please send an e-mail to your lecturer if you feel that you do not receive a reply to a posted question in a timely fashion.

Schedule

Mon  Wed  Fri
Reading in text Homework Assigned Due
 8/25  8/27  8/29
none 1.1-1.3,1.5 1.6 1.7-1.8
Set 1 8/25 8/29
H-day  9/3   9/5
 -  2.1-2.3 2.4-2.7
Set 2 8/29 9/5
 9/8   9/10  9/12
3.1-3.3 4.1-4.4 4.5-4.8
Set 3 9/5 9/12
 9/15  9/17     
4.9-4.12 5.1-5.6 none
Set 4 9/12 9/19
9/19 Midterm 1      
 9/22  9/24  9/26
6.1-6.4 6.5-6.8 7.1-7.2
Set 5 9/19 9/26
 9/29 10/1  10/3 
7.3-7.5 8.1-8.3 8.4-8.6
Set 6 9/26 10/3
10/6  10/8      
9.1-9.3 9.4-9.6 none
Set 7 10/3 10/10
           10/10 Midterm 2    
10/13 10/15 10/17
10.1-10.3 10.4-10.8 11.1-11.4
Set 8 10/10 10/17
10/20 10/22 10/24
11.5-11.7 11.8-11.10 12.1-12.3
Set 9 10/17 10/24
10/27 10/29 10/31
12.4-12.6 12.7-12.10 13.1-13.4
Set 10 10/24 10/31
 11/3  11/5       
14.1-14.3 15.1-15.4  - 
Set 11 10/31 11/7
           11/7 Midterm 3      
11/10 11/12 11/14
15.5-15.8 15.9-15.11 16.1-16.4
Set 12 11/7 11/14
11/17 11/19 11/21
16.5-16.8 16.9-16.10 17.1-17.3
Set 13 11/14 11/21
11/24 11/26 H-day
12/1 12/3 12/5
17.4-17.6 none  - 
Review Review Review
Set 14 11/21 12/5
12/10 Final Exam 3:00 - 5:00 PM      

PHY 231

This document http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/1997fall/PHY231/syllabus1-16.html was last updated on 20 August 1997 by Thomas Glasmacher.