Phys 6A, UC Santa Cruz, Fall 2008 Welcome to “Introduction to Physics I”!

Phys 6A, UC Santa Cruz, Fall 2008
Welcome to “Introduction to Physics I”!

Instructor: Gey-Hong [Sam] Gweon, ISB 249, gweon at ucsc.edu, (TEL) 9-1806
Lecture hours: 8–9:10 am, MWF, Thimann Lecture 3
Office hours: 9:15–10:30 am, MWF, and 12:30–1:30 pm, Tues, ISB 249 (or by appointment as necessary/possible); Also, upon request, I have set up another block of office hours, 12:15–1:15 pm on Monday, but please note that this last block will be a bit “unofficial.” This means that if I have some other important schedule then this “unofficial” office hour block may be cancelled for that week. The chance of the cancellation is very low, however, and, in the event it has to be cancelled, I will announce it in previous class(es).
Websites: The following sites are frequently updated. Check them out for latest uploads etc.

http://samphy6a.blogspot.com (blog website – leave your questions regarding homework etc. as comments)
lecnotes (lecture notes)
sols+ (solutions, etc.)
quizzes (quiz)

News Flash?: Looking for news flash items? Since 10/23, the blog site above is the platform for them. Older items can be found here: old-news-flash.html
TA discussion session hours: Here is the schedule as of 9/26/08: ISB 207_Fall08.htm. You can attend any discussion sessions designated as “6A/L.” You may also find discussions in “5A/L” helpful in the unlikely case that you cannot attend any of the “6A/L” sessions.
Text: Essential University Physics with MasteringPhysics, Richard Wolfson [Chapters 1-14; Vol. 1 suffices] (Pearson, Addison Wesley)
MasteringPhysics: The MasteringPhysics course ID for this course is SAMPH6A. Please use this information to enroll yourself at the MasteringPhysics website (http://www.masteringphysics.com). You will be assigned homework through that web site. When you enroll, please enter your UCSC student ID as well.
Advice for using MP and getting help As of now, each time one tries an incorrect answer, there is a small reduction of score. I would think that this policy is reasonably fair in that it encourages a careful approach, while at the same time the reduction ratio is not really huge to make students paranoid about trying couple of solutions. Of course, after one tries two or three times unsuccessfully, one has to become more and more careful, since it eventually becomes the crossroads between ~80 % and 0 %.
My best advice would be definitely not to try solving a difficult problem on one sitting. If you do not get it right in two or three trials, it may be the best strategy for you to [print out that problem?], close your browser, breathe deep, shake off your frustration, read/think some more, work on the problem again with pencil and paper, and get some help [from me, TA, friends].
I’d be quite happy to give helpful advice over email ("virtual office hour"), as it is already happening now, but under one important condition: you have to express your concerns in a reasonably understandable way. An email message along the lines of "I think this problem is useless. I know I am correct. The answer did not make any sense!" does/will not motivate me to help you, if only because I am not given enough information. On the other hand, informative, but brief, email messages like "I did A, and got B, because I thought <some reasonable assumption>. The computer says my answer is incorrect. If it is, which part of my reasoning is incorrect?" will naturally motivate me to investigate the issue and give you feedback (as long as I have time – I can promise a reasonable turn-around time of roughly a day, if not much shorter).
Important! If you want to make sure that I consider your comments that you choose to leave on the MP website, please check "Yes" on the question "Would you like this comment to be e-mailed to your course administrator?" (that administrator is me) in the "Item Survey" section. This way, you are making sure that I will definitely read your comments.
Of course, if you think that the computer made a mistake, you can email me any time along with some reasonable, brief information. I will investigate and make sure you receive the credit you deserve.
I-clicker: I-clicker will be required during class. Register your clicker on the web http://www.iclicker.com/registration/ or with me.
Extra general help: Prof. Bruce Rosenblum has kindly volunteered to help you with general aspects of physics problem solving skills, especially if you just have to get an excellent grade from this course. He will hold office hours Th 1:30-3:30 in ISB 218. However, it will be wise to call him ahead of times at 9-2326, if you want to meet and talk with him. He can be available throughout Thursdays, but, on the other hand, he may not come to his office at all, if no student makes an appointment with him. His focus will be on students who need to do well in Physics 6 but may, on occasion, find the text, lectures, or the general approach to physics problem-solving unfamiliar. His thoughtful notes for you can be found here: Rosenblum Tips.pdf.
MSI: This course includes Modified Supplemental Instruction support. The MSI Learning Assistant is Dennis Ho, dmho at ucsc.edu. The MSI Learning Assistant sits in every lecture and has the most up-to-date information regarding this class. Accordingly, a student is required to attend MSI regularly if they are requesting a tutor (see LSS Tutoring Service below). When and where? Tue: 10-11:15AM [Oakes Learning Center], Tue: 6-7:10PM [ARCenter 221], Wed: 12:30-1:40PM [Oakes Learning Center].
LSS Tutoring Service: Learning Support Services (LSS) offers many academic programs to UCSC students. One of these programs is a tutoring program, which is available to all UCSC students and is generally small groups (up to 4 people per group). Students are eligible for up to 1 hour per week per course and may sign-up for tutoring at https://eop-apps.ucsc.edu/OTSS/tutorsignup/ on October 10, 2008 at 10:00 am. Students must attend MSI first before they are eligible for small group tutoring. [Students requesting tutoring services in addition to MSI will need to go to a least one MSI session, and continue to go to MSI sessions as a condition of tutoring.] The following student(s) have been hired to support this class.
Nicole Brescia (nbrescia at ucsc.edu), Michael Kozina (mkozina at ucsc.edu), Chao Wang (cw34038 at ucsc.edu)
Lecture Plan: The rough lecture plan, adjusted as we go along, is as follows.


Week	Lec	Date	Topics


0	1	Sep 26	Introduction, Units, etc.

1	2	Sep 29	Intro, Motions in 1D

	3	Oct 1	Motions in 1D

	4	Oct 3	Const Accel Motions

2	5	Oct 6	Vectors, Motions in 2D/3D

	6	Oct 8	Projectile Motion

	7	Oct 10	Examples

3	8	Oct 13	Circular Motion, Force and Motion

	9	Oct 15	Force and Motion

	10	Oct 17	Midterm #1

4	11	Oct 20	Newton’s 3rd Law

	12	Oct 22	Tension, Hooke’s Law

	13	Oct 24	Examples, Friction

5	14	Oct 27	Friction, Work

	15	Oct 29	Power, Work-Energy Theorem

	16	Oct 31	Conservation of Energy

6	17	Nov 3	Energy; Rotations

	18	Nov 5	Rotations

	19	Nov 7	Rotations; Angular Momentum

7	20	Nov 10	Angular Momentum

	21	Nov 12	Harmonic Oscillations

	22	Nov 14	Oscillations

8	23	Nov 17	Midterm #2

	24	Nov 19	Many Particles

	25	Nov 21	Collisions

9	26	Nov 24	Gravity

	27	Nov 26	Gravity

		Nov 27	Thanksgiving Holiday

10	28	Dec 1	Statics

	29	Dec 3	Waves

	30	Dec 5	Review

Final Exam

According to http://reg.ucsc.edu/soc/2088/sched.html#Fall2008, it is Monday, December 8, 12:00–3:00 P.M.

Evaluation

Approximately the following weighting factors will be used for the evaluation: 10 % for quiz, 25 % for homework, 17 % for midterm #1, 18 % for midterm #2 and 30 % for final. The evaluation will be absolute, not relative, so your classmates are your friends, not foes. Quiz will consist of clicker questions in [almost] every class (except the first one). So, it will be important that you attend classes. As long as you participate in quiz, my plan is to make sure that there will be hardly any variation in quiz scores. There will be weekly homework (announced on Wednesdays, due one week later). I will not accept homework that is late by more than a week. For a late homework, the score will be multiplied by 0.8 [10-24-08: This is only if you submit all problems exactly one week late. The actual grading scheme on MasteringPhysics site is per day and per site basis.] Please let me emphasize that doing homework diligently is likely the best way to succeed in this class! Exams will be closed books. You are allowed to have one scientific calculator in exams [but no notes or books]. If unforeseeable circumstances force you to skip class (so, quiz), homework, or exam, please notify me ahead of times with appropriate documentation. If deemed appropriate, we can then discuss a reasonable make-up plan. The appropriate documentation is needed for full credit. An exception is when you notify me before class for quiz. The notification can be an email or a phone message left on my answering machine.

Quiz policy update [10-22-08,10-20-08,10-10-08]

To date, the adoption process of i-clickers has been a bit rockier than I had hoped. However, I think we are almost there. As of now, only 8 students are unregistered with my software (they received an email from me yesterday; Even unregistered students should keep using their clickers in class.) Also, I feel that some quiz questions went through a trial-and-error period. For these reasons, I will give full credits to everyone, on quizzes taken so far, regardless of your participation or getting the right answers. From Monday of Oct-13, however, all quizzes will be graded in a strict manner. Here is the grading scheme.

If you participate in quizzes during the class, the following rules apply. If your final answer was correct, then you get 100 % of credit. If your final answer was not correct, then you get 95 % of credit. For most quizzes, you will have two chances to try.
If you do not participate in quizzes during the class, the following rules apply. Below, a “written report” means a report that includes a full explanation about your choice of the answer (A,B,..,E), not just the answer. The written report can be an email message. If you prefer, you can come to my office hours, and report on the quiz verbally, instead of a written report (this is the verbal report mentioned below).
- If you notify me (by email or in person) before class why you cannot participate, and if you submit a written or verbal report on the quiz within 4 business days from that class time, then you will get credits. First, if the reason why you could not participate was a legitimate one (like going to a conference or being ill) then your report will give you 100 % credit, if correct, and 95 % credit, if incorrect. Second, if the reason was a less defendable/honorable one (like forgetting to bring the clicker), then you get 90 % for the correct answer, and 85 % for the incorrect answer.
- [10-20-08, some modifications here] If you did not notify me before class, and miss quiz, then there are two scenarios. First, if submit your written or verbal report on the same day, you get 90 % for the correct answer, and 85 % for the incorrect answer. Else, if you submit your report within 4 business days, then you get 80 % for the correct answer, and 75 % for the incorrect answer.
- No action within 4 business days means 0 %.
General remark: please read lecture note and textbook before class!
For your peace of mind, I will make it a rule to email all of you, after each class, regarding whose quiz scores have been recorded and whose did not.
[10-22-08] If you participate in classroom discussion for quiz and explain a quiz solution really well in class, then I will write down your name and your quiz score for that day will be doubled.