All grades should be on blackboard

All grades should now be on blackboard, the final exam included. Your final course average is listed as FinalAvg. This is your grade for the course, with +/- boundaries at 7.5/2.5%. I will still need to double & triple check all my calculations before posting actual grades on myBama, which should be tonight.

Please look to make sure everything looks in order. The grade listed as "Q9exlab" was the last lab that you could do as a bonus - it ended up counting as an extra quiz to help boost the average there. (The quiz average ended at 80% overall.)

Again: if you're wondering if you made a + or - grade, it goes like this:

• A+: grade >= 97.5
• A: 92.5<= grade < 97.5
• A- 90 <= grade < 92.5

Repeat as necessary.

Final exam time is 2:00 NOT 12:00

I wrote down the wrong time when I looked up the final exam time. It is actually

Wed, June 24, from 2-4:30.

It is not at 12:00. Sorry for the confusion. Spread the word.

Final exam coverage

The final exam will not be totally comprehensive. It will have two sections, each of which will work like the previous exams.

Section 1: recent things, solve 3 of 5

• 14.3-10 
• 16.2-12
• 18.7-11

Section 2: review problems, solve 3 of 5

• all other material covered except
• Ch. 13, 17

You will be given a comprehensive formula sheet, and you can bring in a sheet of paper like before. The final exam is Wed, June 24, from 2-4:30. The final exam is in the lecture room, not the lab room.

UPDATE: I had listed the exam time incorrectly before, it is correct now.

Lab for Mon 22 June 2015

Tomorrow, you'll do a lab on calorimetry, it is pretty straightforward stuff. There will be a short quiz on temperature and heat.

Homework 3 solutions

Here you go. They are (partially) relevant to tomorrow's exam.

Exam 3 coverage

Exam 3 will work just like the last two. I've altered the coverage slightly, since I don't think we covered enough on waves yet to put that on the exam. So, the following sections will be covered on the exam:

Rotation/rolling/angular momentum/torque: 10.6, 10.8-10, 11.2-4, 11.6-8, 11.10-11

Gravitation: 13.2-8

Oscillations: 15.2-7

Problems for 17, 18 June

A couple of problems for tomorrow and Thursday. We'll go over most of them in class.

Lab for W 17 June

Tomorrow, you'll do a lab on standing waves. There will be a quiz on waves (Ch. 16).

grades on blackboard

They should be fixed now, with updates for Lab2 and Quiz5. Please check that everything looks OK.

Tomorrow's lab

Tomorrow's lab will be on simple harmonic motion.

Lab grades are not right

Somehow, all the lab grades got mixed up during upload. I'll fix it over the weekend, but if your lab grade isn't showing up correctly now, this is probably why.

Current grades

I've posted all the grades I have so far on Blackboard. I could spend a whole lecture explaining how Blackboard is a massive pile of fail, but it does work in the end, to some degree, so I'll not complain. It gets the job done, it is reasonably secure, but I can offer no further compliments.

Anyway. Here is what we have.

* Quizzes 1-4 are graded. I dropped the lowest quiz in calculating your overall average, as the quiz average is quite low. I don't have quiz 5 grades yet, but I suspect an upturn.
* Lab report 1 is there, I don't have lab report 2 yet.
* Homework problems 1-8 (through 8 June) are included, I've not finished grading later problems. Nothing dropped in calculating your overall average.
* Exam 1 is included, but not exam 2 yet.
* Your average before exam 2, including: quizzes 1-4 (dropping 1), homework problems 1-8, lab 1, and exam 1 is included as a separate column.

The main thing you should do now is check for discrepancies and bring them to my attention as soon as possible. If, for example, I'm missing a HW you're sure you turned in, we should figure this out quickly. Make sure your scores one Blackboard match what you've been handed back in general.

Exam 1 and its solution are available

Here you go.

Exam 2

Exam 2 is this coming Thursday 11 June during our usual lab time (8am) in our usual lab classroom (GAL 203). The exam format will be much like last time, and I again expect you will not need the entire class period. Recall that the lab period is outlandishly early in the morning, and it can't be helped.

Here are the sections from the textbook covered

• Work & KE (7.3-7)
• Potential energy (9.2-5, 7-8)
• Momentum (9.4-10; notably excluding center of mass)

There will be 5 problems in total, of which you must complete 4. There will be a formula sheet (much like this, but without the rotation stuff) providing all the basic formulas and any numerical constants you will need. You can also bring in one sheet of 8.5x11in paper of your own with notes, etc. What you put on the one sheet you bring in is entirely up to you, and you can use the front & back of the sheet.

Basically, same drill as last week, different chapters. 

this week's homework

Find it here. First problems due tomorrow (10 June).

Lab for tomorrow 10 June

Tomorrow we'll do two short procedures. One on the coefficient of restitution (how much height does a ball lose after bouncing), one is on statistical analysis demonstrated by card counting.

Both are relatively short (in spite of the longish introduction on the first one), and you should have plenty of time to finish both.

For the lab report this week, that means you'll have 3 labs in total. You still only need to write a report on one of them, include the raw data for the other two as an appendix for your report.

(Also: there will be a short quiz on momentum.)

Lab for Mon 8 June

Tomorrow, you'll do a lab on momentum.

Quiz 4

Quiz 4 and an answer key can be found here.

Exam 1 is Thursday at 8am during the lab period

As you may be aware, exam 1 is Thursday during our usual lab time (8am) in our usual lab classroom (GAL 203). While this is a 2hr50min hour class period, I am designing it to be more like a 1.5 hour exam. You will have the full 2hr50min if you need it, but if you finish sooner (like I hope) you can just leave early.

Here are the sections from the textbook covered

• 1D motion (2.3-2.9)
• 2D motion (4.2-7)
• Force & motion (5.2-9, 6.5; friction noticeably absent)

There will be 6 problems in total, of which you must complete 4. Problems meaning no multiple choice, show your work. If you do more than 4, I will grade them all and use the best 4 (but try to get 4 done well first). There will be a formula sheet (much like this) provided with all the basic formulas and any numerical constants you will need, and you can bring in one sheet of 8.5x11in paper of your own with notes, etc. What you put on the one sheet you bring in is entirely up to you, and you can use the front & back of the sheet.

There will be heavy partial credit on the exam, so show all your work and be as clear as possible about what you are trying to do. You won't have to follow the homework template, but it won't hurt either.

Good things to study? Old homework and exams, and the homework problems I've given you so far. The exam questions will be easier than the homework I've given you, so don't worry too much. Doing the example problems in the book, or the odd numbered end of chapter problems is also good (so you can see the answer when you're done).

Now, 8am is a tough time for an exam if you're not a morning person. I'd advise first to get some sleep the night before, and second to exchange contact info with some of your classmates so you can wake each other up as need be. If you do oversleep for the exam, showing up late is fine. You won't get extra time on the exam, but you'll be allowed to take the exam up until 10:50. If, for example, you don't show up until 9am, you've still got 1hr50min. Better to show up late than not at all.

Quiz 2, 3 solutions

You can find solutions for the first three quizzes here.

Solutions for the first week's homework

Substantially complete solutions to the first week's homework are now ready, and can be found here. It is obviously particularly important that you read the solutions for problems you weren't totally confident about, but it is probably still worth skimming the solutions even for the problems you had no trouble with, just to be sure.

Also: brevity is not a strong suit. I tried to be explicit about exactly what I was doing at every step (with the exception of skipping a few algebra steps here and there that you should be able to fill in), and as a result the solutions are fairly long. There is no TL;DR version I can come up with that does a passable job of explaining things.

Lab for W 3 June

Tomorrow, we'll do a lab on friction forces.

Week 2 homework

Week 2's homework is out. First problems due tomorrow, we'll go over some of them in class.

Lab for Mon 1 June

Tomorrow, you'll do a lab on Newton's second law (forces). There will also be a short quiz, based on the reading for tomorrow (Ch. 5).

DataStudio software

Abhishek wrote up a nice guide to the DataStudio software we use in the labs for acquiring and analyzing data. You can find it here.

Homework hints (problems due 28 May)

Since we're just getting started, I'll give you some hints as to how to go about tomorrow's problems. We went over problems 4 & 5 in class, so you should be OK with those I hope.

Problem 6: The main trick here is to keep track of the time in our equations very carefully. Object 1 starts moving T seconds earlier than object 2. If our clock starts at t=0 when object 2 starts moving, that means object 1 has been moving for T seconds already. Therefore, wherever we would normally write t in our equations for object 1, we should use (t+T) to account for the head start. With that in mind, since you're given the initial position and velocity for each you can just write down x(t) for each and find their difference.

Problem 7: Like the last problem, you know the starting position and velocity for each object, so write down the two x(t) equations. (a) The second ball is at rest when its velocity is zero. They'll collide when the two x(t) functions are equal. (b) Relative speed just means finding the velocity of each ball at the time of the collision and subtracting them.

Problem 8: You'll suspect it covers half the distance in half the time, but that's not quite right - the ball is steadily slowing down as it rises. Since it goes faster for the first half of the motion, it covers more distance. Write down x(t), and find out how long it takes to get to the top of the motion and what that maximum height is. Then evaluate x(t) at half that time and see how far it has gone.

The "lab" period

Just as a reminder, since I wasn't all that clear about it initially, the "lab" period is usually going to be more than just doing the lab procedure and analyzing the data. Sometimes we'll want to do problems at the board after the lab, or a second activity, and sometimes the TAs will just want to make an announcement. Even if that isn't the case, the TAs also want to use any remaining time to help you with upcoming homework.

The main point being: once you've finished the lab procedure, please ask the TAs if you are done, or if they need you to stick around. Even if they say you are done, you're free to stay and ask them for help with the homework if you like.

Lab for Thursday 28 May

Tomorrow, we'll be following a slightly different procedure than the other classes. You can find it here. The introduction (~6 pages) is an explanation of how trend lines work, so you have some understanding of what you're doing, but isn't strictly necessary to complete the lab. 

Notes on 1D motion

This covers yesterday and most of today. They don't cover anything that's not in the book for the most part, but you may find them useful.

Quiz 1 and its solution

You can find quiz 1 from this morning, as well as a solution, here.

First day's homework problems

By now most of you should be worrying a bit about whether you know how to do the first homework problems or not. Don't worry too much - we'll go over at least one of them in the lab period tomorrow, and you'll also have time during the lab period to ask questions.

For the first problem, you're given a function m(t) and want to maximize it. Find its maximum like you would any other function ... like you did in Cal 1 a million times.

For the second problem, constructing a unit vector is accomplished by dividing a given vector by its own magnitude, making a vector of unit length. So if you can find the separation vector and its magnitude, the unit vector is just dividing one by the other.

The third problem is to verify that in fact you did learn about vectors at some point. Magnitude should be easy. For the angle, use the dot (scalar) product. You'll remember how to do this.

Slides for 26 May (first class)

Here are the slides I'll be using during the first class. They contain all the official sort of information about how the course will work.

Homework for the first week

Homework is (probably) going to be a little different than what you are used to. We won't be doing online homework, for a variety of reasons I'll likely give in the first class. However, hand grading is not really a tenable option with the brutal summer schedule. The compromise is that I'm basically going to spot check your homework - I'll assign several problems, but grade only one. 

• For each class, except possibly days with exams, I will assign several problems (~5 typically). 
• At the start of the following class, I will ask you to turn in one, and only one, of these problems. You will not know in advance which problem I'll chose to grade. 
• The rest of the problems will not be graded, but you will get solutions for all problems.
• I will assign the problems about a week in advance, with about a week's worth of problems at once. This way you can work ahead if you want. 
• The homework for the first week is already posted. The first class is on Tuesday, and you have three problems assigned for Wednesday. At the start of Wednesday's class, I'll announce which problem I want you to turn in, and you'll turn it in.* 
• This will repeat pretty much every day, though you'll have the weekend to worry about Friday's problems.
• I'd like you to use the template format for homework. You don't need to print and write on the template, just use the same headings and follow the same format. You won't need the "Numeric Solution" box very often. 

This should all be clear after the first class. You are allowed to collaborate on homework, but everyone must turn in their own copy of the homework. By "collaborate" we mean "help" rather than "copy" - help each other out if you get stuck, check your answers, but don't just copy each other's work. 

*Ideally just that problem, but if you have other problems on the same sheet you can turn the whole page in. I'll only grade one problem, but we don't have to waste paper.

More detailed schedule

Here is a more detailed schedule than what is on the syllabus. I list for each class the main and secondary/tertiary topics, as well as lab procedures and exams (exams will be during the lab periods). I also list which chapters of the textbook (HRW) you should read before each class, and which sections (volume.chapter) of the Feynman lectures might be useful as supplemental reading.

Lab 1 (Wed 27 May 2015)

Your first lab experiment (Wed 27 May) will be on uncertainty analysis. The main idea is to learn how to handle data, particularly to assess its accuracy. You can find the procedure here.

As we'll discuss in class tomorrow, you will do 2-3 labs each week, but only have to write a formal report on one of them. The data from the other lab(s) you are not reporting on will be graded, but no writeup is required. Your weekly lab report is due the following Monday, and should follow the template provided.

Welcome to PH105-050, summer 1 2015

We'll be getting started in just a few days, here is some useful information about the course and some supplemental resources.

• Syllabus (UA only link, public link) - includes daily schedule
• Supplemental reading: the Feynman Lectures on Physics
• most of the relevant material is in volume 1
• I'll post a list of how the chapters correspond to the textbook
• related content from previous courses I've taught
• example HW, exams, notes, etc.
• ph105 - used the same textbook in Sum2012
• ph125 - same textbook for all instances
• ph101 - algebra-based, but many of the problems are similar
• lab procedures and schedule - sometimes we will use an alternate procedure for the listed labs. Check here to be sure.
• Math guide. It is by no means "short" as the title suggests, and I do not expect you to read the entire thing in detail. Rather, treat it as a collection of mathematical facts that you might find useful throughout the course.
• Problem solving template. I will go over this in lecture, but it is meant to give you a structure you can use to assist in solving problems. It will not make the process purely mechanical, but it should serve to guide your thought process in solving problems (particularly as they get more difficult later on). 
• Wolfram Alpha. If this thing can't solve your math problem, either it doesn't have a solution or you've posed the question poorly. Try this, or this, or this to see a few things it can do.