December 14, 2007
The class will be curved. Draft for the grades should be posted later today. Please make your comments by the afternoon of Mon Dec 17, when I intend to file the grades.
December 7, 2007
During the Exam Week, help will be available in the Help Rm. on Monday Dec 10 and Wednesday Dec 12, from 2 to 3pm as during regular weeks.
December 4, 2007
A couple of more areas with poor performance on the midterms, that are likely to be revisited on the final, are light in vacuum and in a transparent medium and motion of charges in a magnetic field. Familiarity with chapter 30 material is required for the final, at least at the level of being able to answer questions regarding chapter's summary.
November 28, 2007
Looking ahead towards the Final, the exam will be comprehensive, but there will be some areas of emphasis. In particular, the most recent material, that has not been covered in Midterm 4, will be emphasized. In addition, areas of weakness exhibited in the Midterms are likely to be revisited. Those include the force on a charge in magnetic field, magnetic field produced by straight wires, operation of optical elements and operation of polarizers. This list will be updated upon a detailed analysis of class scores on exam problems.
November 20, 2007
Midterm 4 on Tue Nov 27 will be on the material covered up to and including section 27.2 (photoelectric effect) in Serway 7th edition. The midterm will emphasize the material from and including chapter 24 on in that edition. Problems in the homework sets 10 (from Glass Magnification on), 11 and 12 (up to Retarding Potential) pertain to that material.
October 31, 2007
Midterm 3 on Tue Nov 6 will be on the material covered in chapters up to and including 23 in Serway 7th edition. The midterm will emphasize the material from and including chapter 21 on in that edition. Problems in the homework sets 7 (from AC Source on), 8 and 9, as well as thetwo first problems in set 10, pertain to that material.
October 11, 2007
Midterm 2 will be on the material covered in chapters up to and including 20 in Serway 7th edition. The midterm will emphasize the material from and including section 18.4 on in that edition. Initial problems from homework set 7 (up to energy stored in an inductor) still pertain to chapter 20.
September 20, 2007
Midterm 1 will be on the material up to and including resistors in series and in parallel and combination of the connections.
September 11, 2007
Those who cannot reach the MSU campus for exams should note that the deadline for submitting information on a proctor for Midterm 1 is Sep 12, see the off-campus exams section of the Syllabus.
Otherwise, I (P.D.) am traveling to a conference from Sep. 12 to 22 and my Internet access may be spotty then. The primary on-line help during the time will be provided by Daniel Schindel and Prof. Remco Zegers, both Loncapa users within the course. With any administrative issues requiring immediate attention, please turn to Prof. Zegers (zegers@nscl.msu.edu).
August 31, 2007
Thanks to those who have submitted the "Exam Poll" responses. The poll has shown that the proposed Tuesday and Wednesday times for the exams each created about the same number of scheduling problems for the individuals. However, some of you have provided more information on your schedules and it became apparent that many problems could be eliminated by simply scheduling the exams later during a day. I have managed to get a reservation for Tuesdays at 7:45 PM on the days shown. I do not intend to change the times of the exams anymore and do not intend to schedule any general alternate times for writing of those exams. Any remaining scheduling conflicts with the exams need to be solved individually by the students.
August 28, 2007
This week, PHY232/232C instructors will be present in the Help Rm, 1248 BPS, from 1pm to 6pm on Thursday Aug 30.
August 27, 2007
Apparently, Wednesday intended as a midterm exam day creates scheduling conflicts for some students. In trying to resolve those conflicts within the course, an option might be to move the midterm exams to Tuesday at 6:00 pm. To poll the students regarding their preferences, a "No-Credit Exam Poll" problem has appeared under Loncapa. If you care about the issue, please submit answers until Thursday, Aug. 30, noon. For the moment, please treat the Wednesday exam days as tentative.
August 26, 2007
The manned hours in the Strosacker Help Room will be still settled during the first week of classes, as teaching assignments and schedules of the teaching assistants get finalized. During that week we will at least ensure the presence of an instructor during a long block of hours on Thursday, Aug 31.
August 25, 2007
Welcome to Virtual University. PHY 232C is now open. The course syllabus can be viewed at:
Help in solving assigned problems may be sought by posting questions in the 'Post Disccussion' area under each problem. Answers directing the posters towards a solution may be posted by other students or by instructors. Under no circumstances outright solutions to the problems may be posted. As detrimental to the educational process, such posts will get deleted; repeated offenders may face disciplinary consequences. Questions that may afford an answer within few sentences may be furthermore directed to the instructors through the mail system under Loncapa.
For those who can reach the MSU campus, help in the Strosacker Learning Center, Rm. 1248 Biomedical and
There will be four midterms and one final exam given on the MSU campus – specific dates, times and locations will be shown in the syllabus. There will be no make-up exams. However,
Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy