Welcome to Physics 131! 

This class is intended for physics, engineering, and other science majors. It is a 5-hour physics course, the first in the sequence of 131, 132, and 133.

All policies outlined in the "Academic Guidelines for Students", posted on Ohio State Lima's homepage (http://lima.osu.edu/) apply to Physics 131.

Class Times: This class consists of three lectures, two recitation session, and a lab session per week. Lecture is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9:10 -10:10, recitation is on  Monday and Wednesday from 1:30 - 2:30. Labs are scheduled for Wednesday 2:30 - 4:30.

Room: 312, Science Building, for lecture, recitation, and lab.

Instructors: Dr. S. Jeschonnek (lecture and recitation), Dr. A. Shoup (lab).

Offices: Dr. Jeschonnek's office is 310 A, Science Building, Dr. Shoup's office is 315, Science Building.

Dr. Jeschonnek's Office Hours: Wednesday and Friday 10:15 - 11:15, and by appointment. In general, you may just drop in at my office. I'll be there most of the time except on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I'm working on my research projects in Columbus.

Dr. Shoup's Office Hours: Before and after lab. You also may just drop in.

Contact Info:  You can reach Dr. Jeschonnek  by e-mail, jeschonnek.1@osu.edu, or by phone (419) 995 8201. You can reach Dr. Shoup by e-mail, shoup.31@osu.edu, or by phone (419) 995 8018.

Getting help: Whenever you have a problem with the topics covered in class, please see me. It can save you a lot of trouble later on if you get help early. You will need everything discussed early on in the class to understand the material covered in later chapters, so don't hesitate to ask questions.

Prerequisite: Math 151 or equivalent. Previous knowledge of physics is not necessary. You need to know algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. If you should have problems with math, please feel free to ask me any math questions you might have. Also note that free math tutoring is available in the Heath Learning Center on the third floor of Galvin Hall.

Textbook: Randall D. Knight, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 1st edition, published by Addison Wesley, textbook and workbook. The ActivPhysics OnLine website is designed to be used with the book. The website can be accessed free of charge at http://www.aw-bc.com/knight

Calculator: A scientific calculator is provided for students during class. No other calculators may be used in quizzes and exams.  In this way, no student will have an unfair advantage.  I encourage you to familiarize yourselves with the provided calculators.

Website: Our class has its own web page at http://www.lima.ohio-state.edu/academics/physics/. The syllabus and assignments will be posted there, and the dates of the exams. You will also find other interesting information there. I will also use Carmen, to post the lecture transparencies,  homework solutions, and scores. You can log into Carmen at https://carmen.osu.edu/

Assignments: You will get homework assignments each week, both end-of-chapter problems and workbook exercises. You will submit the end-of-chapter problem homework using a web-based homework service, WebAssign. For more information on WebAssign, see the separate handout. You should be ready to present and discuss your solutions in recitation. You should also take care to collect all your assignments in a binder, so that you can review them before exams.

Workbook Exercises: You will be assigned the workbook exercises as soon as we have covered the material in class. The worked exercises are due at the beginning of the next class day. There are many exercises; they build up your knowledge in small steps, so they should not be too difficult (if they seem difficult, ask me for help). In order to allow for the occasional mistake, if you get 80% of the exercises due for a particular day right, then you will receive the full score for that day's workbook assignment, 4 points. If you get 60% - 80% right, you will get 3 points, for 40% to 60% right, you will get 2 points, for 20% to 40%, you will get 1 point, and less than 20% right will lead to zero points. 

Homework extensions: For the entire quarter, you may use three extensions for homework. Each extension lasts for one week, and will be given on request. You do not need to give a reason for wanting an extension. It is your job to make sure that you take the extensions when you need them, and do not waste them early on. Once you have used your three extensions, either on regular homework, workbook exercises, or a combination, you will receive no other extensions.

Reading the text: It is mandatory that you read the assigned chapters before we start discussing them in class. You should also re-read the chapters while we discuss them in class, and afterwards. In order to enhance student learning, and to optimize the use of class time, I will not repeat simple facts, definitions, and derivations from the assigned reading. During class time, we will focus on concepts and methods, and you will practice them by actively working on examples and activities in class, often together with a classmate. Note that this is similar to the procedure e.g. in English classes: when reading a book or a play, you do not spend the class time listening to the instructor reading from the relevant book, but you read the text ahead of time. In class, you will typically study and discuss some particularly important passages in depth. This is the strategy we will use in our physics classes, too. The problem of how to teach physics most effectively has been studied very carefully, and the results were best when students were actively involved in learning, in contrast to listening to lectures.

Reading Quizzes: At the beginning of each class, we will have a reading quiz over the reading material assigned for that day. It will in general consist of two multiple choice questions, and you will have five minutes to take the quiz. For every correctly answered reading quiz question, you will receive half an extra point. There is no make-up for missed reading quizzes.

Extra Points in Recitation: During the Monday recitation session, we will discuss the more difficult homework problems. An extra point is given to students who volunteer to put a homework problem on the board and explain their solution. There is a cap of 40 extra points per quarter; these 40 points may come from a combination of reading quiz points and recitation extra credit points.

Labs: We have eight labs during the quarter. The labs serve to reinforce the concepts discussed in class, they are mainly about understanding physics, not about experimental techniques. You will work and discuss physics in groups of at most three students. Your lab partners will change each week.

Absence: You should try to attend all sessions of the lectures, recitations, and labs. Your active participation will make it much easier for you to understand the concepts and to hone your problem solving skills. In order to allow for unavoidable absences, one recitation quiz score and one lab score will be dropped. If you miss a quiz or a lab, this will  automatically be the score you drop.  Make-ups are given only if you miss a second quiz  with a documentation of your excuse, e.g. a note from your doctor. Labs are designed for group learning and often require more than one student to run the experiments. Therefore, no lab make-ups will be given. If you have a documented excuse for missing a second lab, you will receive the average score of your other labs for the missed lab.

Exams: There will be two midterm exams and a final exam. The final exam will cover all the material discussed in class. The problems on the exams and on the quizzes in recitation will be similar to the assigned homework problems and questions. If you miss a midterm or final without a valid, documented excuse, you will receive no points.

Tentative Final Exam Date: Monday, March 12, 8:00 am - 9:48 am.

A Word on Collaboration: Physics and engineering tend to be "team sports", i.e. physicists and engineers typically work in groups of varying sizes to solve problems and work on tasks. It is allowed and even beneficial for you to discuss the steps leading to the solution of workbook or WebAssign homework problems. However, you should make sure that while discussing and working on problems together, everybody plays an active role. If you work in a group of three, one student might be the manager in charge of getting the problem solved, another the skeptic, critically checking the work and asking questions, and another the recorder, writing out a correct and clear solution. You should occasionally switch roles and group members, to practice for real life situations. If there is a person who is just copying other's work, without an effort of his or her own, that person will not be able to solve the problems on exams, leading to a bad grade. Note that in a professional setting, that person would most likely get fired or demoted pretty quickly. That person is no help to the group at all.  Keep in mind that straight copying is academic misconduct, with all its unpleasant consequences.

Grade: Your grade will be based on your performance on the WebAssign homework, workbook exercises, labs, quizzes, midterms and the final.

Final ............................................................................. 300 points
Midterms .....................................................................  300 points (= 2 x 150 points)
Quizzes ..........................................................................100 points (5 best quizzes, 20 points per quiz)
Homework .....................................................................100 points
Workbook Exercises ......................................................100 points
Labs ...............................................................................100 points

Homework points correspond to the percentage of the problems you solved correctly. They are not identical to the number of points you have scored in WebAssign. Example: Over the course of the quarter, a total of 237 points was the maximum that could be reached in homework points. A student who received 201 points out of the 237 scored 85%, and therefore will receive 85 points for homework in the above scheme. A similar mechanism is applied for workbook exercises and lab points. All labs have equal weight.

Any course work (homework, lab reports) must be submitted by Friday of the last week of classes.

Students have to demonstrate a sufficient understanding of physics in each part of the course in order to pass it.

Your final grade is assigned as follows:

Physics 131 is a Physical Science course in the Natural Science category of the GEC. The goals and objectives for this category are:

Goals/Rationale: Courses in natural sciences foster an understanding of the principles,  theories and methods of modern science, the relationship between science  and technology, and the effects of science and technology on the environment.

Learning Objectives:
1. Students understand the basic facts, principles, theories and methods of modern science.
2. Students learn key events in the history of science.
3. Students provide examples of the inter-dependence of scientific and technological developments.
4. Students discuss social and philosophical implications of scientific discoveries and understand the potential of science and technology to address problems of the contemporary world.