Texts and prerequisites:

Required Texts: "Physics " Giancoli, 5th edition AND " Physics 2010 Lab Manual " ‘98-99.

(Lab manual available at the bookstore, or for free , here.)

Prerequisites: You will need a working knowledge of algebra, geometry, and trig at a high school level. No previous physics course is assumed. (College level logic, enthusiasm, curiosity and an open mind will be helpful!)

Reading and homework assignments:

Reading assignments: These are an essential part of this class! Reading the text before class is very important, as it will allow you to concentrate on understanding the lecture. Lectures will assume you have all done the required readings in advance! A tentative syllabus is here , but more detailed reading assignments will appear at each lecture, for the coming class. Short multiple choice "reading quizzes" may be given on occasion in lecture without notice.

Homework: HW’s will be administered via CAPA (Computer Assisted Personalized Approach). Assignments will be due every Friday evening by 9 PM. Each week, you will receive a personalized homework assignment (everyone’s homework is slightly different) and a password. You should work on the homework just as you would in any other course, but you will log on to a CAPA server (any recent versions of Netscape or IE should work fine) and "hand in" your homework solutions online. You will be told immediately if your answers are right or wrong. If wrong, you may try again with no penalty, up to some maximum number of tries set by the instructor. You can also leave and return to finish or try again later, as long as you are done before the deadline.

CAPA is in use in many schools around the country, and has received enthusiastic praise from both students and instructors! Late homeworks will not be accepted by CAPA. See the course website for more details, including what to do if you have problems. Generic homework solutions will be posted on the 2010 web page (after the CAPA deadline)

Group study is fine (encouraged!) as long as you always generate your final solutions by yourself.

Labs and Recitations:

Labs: Registration for 2010 places you in a lab/recitation section. These are held in Duane G-2B90 (basement level). There are 6 labs this semester, each lasting two hours. TA's will announce their policies for grading of recitation quizzes and labs. There is also a detailed explanation of lab grading on the website. You must attend the lab/recitation to which you are assigned. You need a quadrille-ruled lab notebook (the kind with a square grid on every page) and a lab manual . You’ll complete the lab write-ups during the two-hour lab section, and hand in your completed lab at the end of the session to your TA. (If you can’t complete the report during the period, you may only take the lab book home after obtaining your TA’s permission and instructions, with their initials in your lab book) Please record all lab data in pen in your lab notebook. You should carefully read and study the lab instructions before coming to lab;

NOTE! To pass this course, you must complete at least 5 labs, regardless of your performance on tests, homework, and quizzes. However, all 6 labs will still count towards your grade.

For those with legitimate written excuses, one missed lab may be made up. It must be made up before the end of the week that follows the missed lab. (Please try to arrange to make it up ahead of time if possible!) See the lab coordinator, Jerry Leigh (492-7368) with your legitimate written excuse to schedule make-up labs.

Recitation: On those weeks when there is no lab, you will still meet in G-2B90 with your TA for a recitation. Here, you will discuss physics, ask questions, learn methods for solving hw problems, and sometimes turn in extra hw problems or take quizzes, which count towards your grade.

Exams: Exams are scheduled for Tuesday evenings, Sept 14, Oct. 12, and Nov. 9 from 7:30-9:00 PM, in locations to be announced. The final will be Fri., Dec. 17, 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM. (location TBA).

The exams will be closed book, but you will be allowed one 8.5"x11" formula sheet. You can write anything you want on your formula sheet (both sides) but you must write it by hand - no Xeroxing and no typing allowed. There will not be any makeup exams. Persons absent for a serious medical reason, or with prior approval from Prof. Pollock, may be excused from one midterm exam. Medical excuses must be submitted no later than 1 week following the exam.

Grading: The total grade weighting will be 20% for HW's/ hw problem writeups and quizzes (combined, but CAPA will be the majority of this); 12.5% for each of the three midterm exams; 27.5% for the final exam, and 15% for the labs. (Scores from lab reports and homeworks or quizzes graded by TA’s will be normalized so that each TA has the same average score, to correct for differences in individual grading styles.)