Physics 2425: University Physics

(Formerly PHYS122 - Principles of Physics)

Fall 2014

Professor: Dr. Daniel K. Marble

Office: SCI 213E; SCI 232 (RBS Lab)
Telephone: 968-9880
Email: Marble@tarleton.edu

Office Hours: MW 2:00-3:00

Others by appointment or as walk-in

Class Hours: M,W,F 8:00-11:00 & 12:00-2:00

TR 8:00-12:15

Required Materials:
1. Fundamentals of Physics 10th ed. by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker (Primary
Textbook – Mandatory)
2. TIPERs: Sense Making Tasks for Introductory Physics by Hieggelke, et. al.
(Mandatory)
3. WebAssign Password – (Required: Purchase from the bookstore or over the
Internet at www.webassign.com)
4. Scientific calculator
5. Ruler & Protractor
6. Computer Headphones

Supplemental (Optional) Material:

1. Schaum's Outline Series: Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Michael Brown
2. Schaum’s Outline Series Mathematics for Physics Students by Steiner & Schmidt
3. Used Math – Clifford Swartz – Math Primer for Students Needing Additional
Help
4. Feynman Lecture Series Vol. 1 (Optional For Physics Majors)

Course Objectives:
1. Provide a working knowledge of the principles of physics that form the
foundation for future work in physics, engineering, chemistry, and hydrology.
2. Improve analytical thinking skills
3. Provide the necessary skills to allow students to analyze data including the ability
to determine possible sources of uncertainty and error.
4. To provide an insight into the actual way in which real science and engineering is
preformed including an understanding of the history of math, physics, chemistry,
and engineering.

Course: Physics 2425 primarily covers mechanics, gravitation, and harmonic motion.
Depending on the available time, a brief introduction to material on waves, relativity, and
fluids necessary for later course work may also be presented. Physics 2425 is a calculus-
based course intended for Physical Science, Engineering, Mathematics and other
Technical majors. The course is intended to provide the student with a strong foundation
for future course work in these fields as well as improving the student’s general problem
solving skills.

Co-requisite: Calculus I
High School Background: Physics (Preferably AP-B or higher)

Class & Pre-Class: Physics 2425 is a partially flipped class in which there is less
lecturing and more active instruction. Some of the traditional passive instructional
materials including class lectures are placed on the class website for students to watch
prior to coming to class. Each student is expected to have completed all outside pre-class
activities including reading the textbook and watching any assigned video lectures so
they can actively participate in the class discussion and class activities and finish them in
the required time. In order to master the material in PHYS2425, students may have to
work through the reading assignments multiple times using pen and paper. Students are
expected to visit http://www.tarleton.edu/Physics122/index.html, the PHYS2425 course
web site, prior to every class.

Post Class Work: Following class, students are required to complete the post-class
assignment including reviewing their notes and working assigned homework problems.

Attendance: Students are expected to be in class participating in an activity unless they

are ill or have been excused by the instructor. If a student must miss a quiz, activity,
exam, or lab due to an emergency or illness, they should contact the instructor as soon as
possible. If the instructor decides that the absence was excused, the student may be given
a make up the activity, quiz, exam or lab or the instructor may alter the weighting of the
student’s other grades. If the absence is unexcused then the student will receive a zero
for the missed graded event.

Cell Phones & Computers: All cell phones and personal computers are are to be turned
off during class.

Grading: The final grade for Physics 2425 will be based upon written examinations,
quizzes, homework, class activities, and lab work.

Exams:
Two exams will be given during the semester as well as a comprehensive final.
Exam 1 – Saturday October 11 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Exam 2 – Saturday November 20 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Final Exam (8:00 AM MWF): Monday December 8, 8:00 AM-10:30 AM
Final Exam (9:00 AM MWF): Wednesday December 10, 8:00 AM-10:30 AM

All students should make sure to clear their work and social calendars for these test days.
Student’s future courses will build upon the concepts covered in Phys2425/2426 so
student must learn the material in a manner that enables them to retain it. The course is
designed to develop skills that your future employer will expect you to have. Thus, all
exams are comprehensive and will test both the student’s conceptual and analytical
abilities. It is expected that most students will finish the exams in 2 to 2.5 hours, but a 5
hour time period has been reserved so that the student can demonstrate their mastery of
the material without feeling time pressure.

Quizzes:
Quizzes will be given in class throughout the semester in order to provide the student
with a measure of their progress, ensure students come prepared to class, and to
discourage test cramming.

Activities & Homework:

Daily class activities will be assigned and taken up throughout the semester as part of the
student’s homework grade. In addition, weekly homework assignments will be assigned
and collected using the automated homework system WebAssign. The remaining portion
of the student’s grade will be determined by lab work and projects.

Lab: In order to receive credit for the course, a student must complete the lab portion of
the course by successfully finishing all lab assignments. These include redoing
successfully for no credit those labs for which they received a failing grade of zero.

During lab, we will cover additional materials as well as perform hands-on activities. The
student should plan to spend the entire three hours in lab every week. If a student receives
a zero for missing a lab, they must still arrange a time with the instructor to complete the
lab in order to complete the course. During lab, computers are only allowed to be used
for lab work. They are not to be used while the instructor or student group is presenting
material or to complete homework assignments without instructor approval. Students not
working with their team on their labs or using computers in an unauthorized
manner will be given a grade of zero and required to make up the lab.

Time Requirement: Because Physics 2425 requires students to use math and science
skills learned in other classes as well as learning and study skills beyond simple memory
and recall, it is a challenging course for most students. However, most students even
those with poor backgrounds can succeed in Physics 2425 if they develop the necessary
study skills and consistently spend the required time.

PHYS2425 is a professional course rather than a general core course. For some students
this may be the first time they have taken such a course. As a professional course
PHYS2425 has a larger time commitment so students should consider their academic,
work, and outside activity schedule to see if they have sufficient time to dedicate to
PHYS2425 or delay taking the course till another time. An average student should expect
to spend between 12 and 16 hours outside of class reading their textbook, notes, etc.
every week. In order to be successful, it is important that the student develops a
consistent study schedule instead of cramming for quizzes and exams. The student
should perform the pre-class assignments of the web for each particular module. The
student’s study program should include working through each equation in the textbook,
reviewing previously covered material, working problems, and noting questions for the
instructor. The process of learning physics is similar to that of learning to play football
or the flute in that it is not a spectator activity. Each student is expected to come to class
with questions and prepared to engage in an interactive discussion with the class and
instructor on the assigned material. Students should make frequent use of the instructor’s
office hours whenever they are having difficulties. In addition to posted office hours,
students should feel free to come for assistance anytime the instructor is in his office.
Students can also contact their instructor for help using e-mail or the WebAssign help
desk.

Other Opportunities: Physics 2425 students have access to a wide range of professional
opportunities outside of class. These include
a) working with Tarleton faculty on projects with the particle accelerator on
problems in material science and physics or with Tarleton’s telescope.
b) joining the Society of Physics Students (SPS) at Tarleton,
c) attending the joint meeting of the Texas Section of the American Physics
Society (APS) and American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) in
April at Tarleton State University
d) doing science demonstrations at area schools

Tarleton has state-of-the-art research facilities including a particle accelerator laboratory

and a scanning electron microscope. The accelerator facility worth more than $2 million
dollars and was donated by the California Institute of Technology. Over the years, the
facility has been used to analyze electronic materials and to perform basic research in to
ion atom collisions bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in external funding.
Tarleton’s telescope is the largest undergraduate telescope facility in the world. For
students with computer programming experience, Dr. Wyatt in Math is doing
supercomputing simulations of various physics phenomena. Dr. Goderya is doing
artificial intelligence for astronomy applications. Dr. Hibbs is doing research in near earth
asteroids and Dr. McCoy is doing research in Mathematical Physics. Students interested
in these projects should contact Dr. Marble.

Supplemental Instruction & Tutoring: Tarleton provides Supplemental Instruction (SI)

for PHYS122. An upper-level physics major who previously made a high A in the course
acts as the SI leader providing problem solving and study sessions during the evenings.
Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. The SI leader for
PHYS122.010 and PHYS122.020 for fall 2014 is Chris Marble. In addition to SI, the
Department of Chemistry, Geoscience, and Physics operates a tutoring center in Science
104 to provide individual tutoring for students. These services are provided for free to
students to ensure their success so take advantage of them.

Disability Statement:

It is the policy of Tarleton State University to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act
and other applicable laws. If you are a student with a disability seeking accommodations for this
course, please contact the Center for Access and Academic Testing, at 254.968.9400
or caat@tarleton.edu. The office is located in Math 201. More information can be found
at www.tarleton.edu/caat or in the University Catalog.