Office: SC 1W20

Telephone: 8077

e-mail: bedrog@rpi.edu

Professors:     Gary Adams         Gary Bedrosian

                        Timothy Hayes     John Schroeder

                        Dan Sperber         Morris Washington

                        Ingrid Wilke         Xi-Cheng Zhang

A. Ability to Work Well in a Group

B. Research and Development Skills

1. Development of conceptual understanding through observation of physical phenomena.
2. Reasoning about physical phenomena on the basis of available evidence.
3. Use of experimental data in the development, testing and refinement of theoretical models.
4. Evaluation of data sets containing extraneous information and/or noise in regard to identifying relevant/important information.
5. Experimental design.
6. Application of physics knowledge to engineering/design problems

C. Use of Computer Tools

1. Data acquisition.
2. Data plotting.
3. Data fitting and theory modeling.

1. 1D and 2D motion with constant acceleration.
2. Newton’s second law in 1D and 2D.
3. Conservation of momentum.
4. Calculations of work done by a force.
5. Spring forces.
6. Potential energy.
7. Conservation of energy.
8. Rotational inertia.
9. Conservation of angular momentum.
10. Newton’s universal law of gravitation.
11. Electrostatic forces for point charges (Coulomb’s Law).
12. Electric fields for point charges.
13. Electric potential and electric potential energy.
14. Forces on and motion of a charged particle in electric and magnetic fields.

1. Relationships among and definitions of displacement, velocity, acceleration and force.
2. Newton’s first and third laws.
3. Variables important in rotational motion.
4. Torque.
5. Work-Potential energy theorem.
6. Impulse-momentum theorem.
7. Electric Dipoles.
8. Magnetic fields and forces.
9. Lorentz forces.
10. Scalar (dot) and cross products of vectors.

Course Format: The course schedule is designed so that coverage of a new topic begins with your reading the assigned material in the textbook. The next class period, your professor will give you a short lecture on the same material, and answer any questions you may have about what you have read. Following the lecture, individual students will work at the board (with coaching) to solve a few short problems based on the reading and lecture. You will then work on a group activity in class that is related to your reading and the lecture. The class activity should help to further clarify the topic. Your homework assignment for that class (due the following class period) is based on the material that was covered in the reading, lecture, and activity.

Classwork:

1. Problem(s) of the Day: After the lecture, we will spend about 15 minutes solving the problem or problems of the day. These will be brief numerical exercises, similar to homework and exam problems, based on the lecture that was just completed. One or more students will be selected by the professor to come to the board and work on the problem with coaching. This is not a test; it is a process of learning by doing. This part of class will not be graded. It is also a good way to get to know your classmates. You can expect to be called to the board at least once during the semester.
2. In-class activities: Our Physics I course is based on learning through activities, so this is the single most important part of the course. You will be assigned to work in teams on experiments and/or problems in class. Each activity has a corresponding Word document that will be posted on the Physics I web site shortly before the first section works on it, and left there the remainder of the semester for you to review. There will be a limited number of hard copies to use in class, but these should not be written on as the same copies are used for all sections. Each member of the team will answer the activity questions on her/his own sheet(s) of paper, but will work together on the activity. The activity papers will be collected and graded. Your ability and willingness to work as part of a team will be evaluated and considered in assigning that grade. In-class activities which are missed cannot be made-up without a written medical or other valid excuse as per RPI policy. Under special circumstances and with prior approval from the instructor, a student may attend another section and complete the activity there with one of the teams. Generally, it is not possible to make up an activity unless you can make it up in another section. The reason for this is that most activities require particular equipment to be set up prior to the class and are designed to be done in a group. You will be allowed to drop one activity grade – this will be your lowest grade or a 0 if you skipped an activity without a valid excuse. Even if you are excused, you are still responsible for the material in the activity. Students must collect all graded activity papers from the graduate teaching assistant . All students should hold onto all graded papers. No questions about activity grades will be addressed without a complete written record.
3. In-class quizzes: You will be given a very short quiz during the last few minutes of most class periods. These quizzes must be taken individually (not as a team effort) and will be graded. The quizzes will be based partly on the reading assignments and lectures, but predominately they will be based on the in-class activities. Taking and grading the quizzes will be handled with WebAssign (like the homework). Quizzes which are missed cannot be made-up without a written medical or other excuse. You will be allowed to drop one quiz grade. Cooperation (or communication with others) during the quiz, or taking the quiz outside of the classroom will be considered a violation of the course academic integrity policy discussed below.

Academic Integrity Policy: The development of teamwork skills is a course objective in Physics I and II. Hence, all students are expected to participate actively in a collaborative group of students when working on the in-class activity. However, each student must turn in her/his own activity write-up containing only work to which she/he contributed. In other words, we expect you to participate on the team and not just copy other people’s work. Activity write-ups from groups of students will not be accepted. No student will submit an activity in the name of any other student. This is considered cheating by both students involved and will be handled according to the policy for academic dishonesty stated below.

Discussing homework problems and getting help with them is permitted. However, collaboration of any sort during an examination or quiz is prohibited and considered academic dishonesty. The first occurrence of academic dishonesty will result in an F for the course.

Exams: There will be three major (1 hour) exams in this course. They will be held on Tuesday Feb. 11, Tuesday Mar. 25, and Tuesday Apr. 22 . Exams will be held from 7:00 PM to 8:25 PM. Rooms will be announced before the exam.

In each exam, including the final, you will be given a formula sheet. You are allowed to use ONLY those formulas (or equations that you derive in writing on the exam paper from those formulas) in the solution of exam problems. Constants will be provided on the formula sheet or in the problems as needed.

We give you an hour and a half for the exams but we aim for one hour’s worth of questions. Normally, there are multiple-choice and true/false questions, short problems (needed one or two formulas to solve), and complete problems with partial credit. To make sure that you get all the partial credit you are due – not to mention making it easier to grade – please try to present your work in a neat and logical format.

There will be no make-up exams, but there will be conflict exams. The difference is that a make-up exam is a different exam given at a later date, while a conflict exam is the same exam but started a few hours later on the same day or first thing in the morning the next day. If you know ahead of time that you are going to miss an exam, for any reason, tell your instructor. Often these problems can be handled. If you are taking another course that conflicts with the exam times, try to move the other course to another time, or to miss it on the dates of Physics I exams. If this is not possible, make arrangements to go to the conflict exam. If you have a learning disability recognized by RPI, you should come to the conflict exam so that we can give you extra time, even if you don’t have a schedule conflict.

Final Exam: The final examination is optional. However, if you miss one or more unit exams, excused or not, the final is mandatory. If you are satisfied with your grade after all activities, homework, and unit exams are complete, then you are finished with Physics I. (See the next section for how we determine grades.) However, if you are not satisfied with your grade, particularly if you have one or more low unit exam scores, you can attempt to raise your grade by taking the final. If you do take the final and hand it in for grading, it counts as two unit tests, giving you an effective total of five exam scores. We drop the lowest score of the five scores, computing your exam average from the best four. Taking the final does not guarantee you a higher grade; it could lower your grade if you do poorly.

The final exam lasts three hours, but we aim for two hour’s worth of questions. The format is similar to the unit exams, but twice as long.

The exam date will be scheduled by the registrar. We do not know the date of the final until quite late in the semester. We have often been scheduled on the last day of exams. Hence, until we know the date of the final, do not plan to leave campus before the end of the final exam period. No special arrangements will be made for students who cannot take the final at the scheduled time. Physics I is an introductory course and so if you have a conflict between our final and another final, you will likely have to reschedule the other final.

Grades: Your course grade will be determined as follows:

Exam Grades: 65% (3 unit exam average or the best 4 out of the optional final counted twice plus 3 unit exams)

Homework Grade: 10% (drop 10 points worth)

–Combining all work you submit via WebAssign except for the post-activity quizzes.

In Class Work: 25% (drop 1 quiz and 1 activity)

–Broken down 2/3 for activity, 1/3 for quiz grades

Remember, there are no make-up activities, quizzes or exams and no late homework will be accepted without a written excuse or prior arrangement.

Laptop Computers: Your laptop computer is an integral part of the course. We expect that the overwhelming majority of students in each section will bring their laptops to each class. The peak need tends to occur near the end of the class when everyone is taking the post-activity quiz. Since there is only one desktop system in the classroom, students who do not have their own laptops to log into WebAssign to take the quiz will be at a disadvantage. During most activities, each team will need at least one laptop for data collection, plotting, and analysis. In some activities, it may be necessary for each team to have more than one laptop.

We will use the Studio Physics CD to load software into the laptops during the first week. After the software is loaded and the Physics I files are copied to your hard drive, you should not need the Studio Physics CD in class. Studio Physics CDs and codes for WebAssign are bundled with the textbook as a package. If you buy a used textbook, the course CD and WebAssign license card are available separately at the bookstore.

Because you will be working closely together with people of diverse cultures and backgrounds, please do not have wallpaper, screen savers, and other pictures visible on your laptop that you would be embarrassed to show to your grandmother. This is the same rule of common sense and courtesy you will find when you are working in any major corporation, university, or research laboratory.

Expectations: If you are registered to take Physics I at RPI, then by definition you have the academic and intellectual prerequisites to do well in the course. However, whether you actually do well (or not) will depend on your diligence. Over the years we have been teaching, we have discovered several common problem areas that can hinder a student’s success in Physics I. (This applies to your other RPI classes as well.) Here are some words to the wise:

1. Come to class and participate. Physics I is an activity-based course, meaning that we assume you will be doing most of your learning while participating in the activities. If you are not in class – both physically and mentally – you are missing most of the learning. Some students get the notion that they can miss half or more of the classes and still pull out a decent (or passing) grade by doing really well on the exams. That does not work!

2. Do the homework. The homework problems were specifically designed to reinforce the material that we covered in class. There may be one or two "challenge" problems in a homework set that will make you think harder than average, but for the most part the homework problems are straightforward examples of the principles and methods we just learned in reading and classroom work. You will find that many exam questions are similar to homework problems.

3. Get help early if you need it. The first two items above can and should be done in collaboration with your fellow students. They are your first source of quick help if you get stuck on something. But if you are coming to class every day and making a good faith attempt to do the homework, and you still aren’t "getting it," contact your professor or the course director as soon as possible for extra help. Physics I builds as it goes, with later concepts depending on earlier ones, so if you are weak on something near the beginning of the semester, it will affect your success the whole way through.

4. This isn’t high school. Most students at RPI had a decent high school physics course. At first glance, the list of things we study is similar to what you may have covered in high school physics. However, we cover these topics faster, more rigorously, and in more depth. Our problems and exam questions tend to be more complex and require greater understanding of the underlying principles than most high school physics problems. "Seat of the pants" methods that may have worked well for you in high school will not suffice for Physics I. This is particularly true, for example, when you analyze the motion of an object subjected to several different forces with different directions. Keep an open mind to learn the methods as we teach them in Physics I and you should do fine.