Currently, there is no reading assignment with feedback due for this class.
The reading assignment feedback page can be reached after logging in at http://cannoli.mps.ohio-state.edu/class/student.php?preselectedclass=16. Once you are logged in choose "Physics H131 - Fall 2007" and then "submit current assignment". If you do not see a "submit current assignment" button, there is no open assignment available.
If you want to learn more about the teaching technique "Just-In-Time Teaching" which is what these reading assignments are officially called, you may look at Gregor Novak, Evelyn T. Patterson, Andrew D. Garvin, and Wolfgang Christian, Just-in-Time Teaching: Blending Active Learning with Web Technology, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999, ISBN 0-13-085034-9)
Prof. Ralf Bundschuh
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Grader: Adam Hauser
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Grader: Mario Badal
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Lab TA: Ed Smith
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Tutor: Steven Avery
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| Classes (lecture): | Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays 2:30pm-3:18pm (group 1) and 3:30pm-4:18pm (group 2) |
| Location (lecture): | Smith Lab 1009 |
| Classes (lab): | Mondays 10:30am-12:18pm (group A), 12:30pm-2:18pm (group B), and 6:30pm-8:18pm (group C) |
| Location (lab): | Smith Lab 2052 |
| Web page: | http://cannoli.mps.ohio-state.edu/phyh131 |
| First class: | Wednesday, September 19 |
| Midterm exams: | Friday, October 12, and Friday, November 2, in class |
| No class: | Monday, November 12 (veterans' day) |
| No class: | Thursday, November 22 (thanksgiving) |
| No class: | Friday, November 23 (Columbus day) |
| Last class: | Friday, November 30 |
| Final exam: | Thursday, December 6, 11:30-3:18 (two of the four hours) |
| Credit hours: | 5 |
| Prerequisites: | 1 entrance unit of physics or chemistry, Math 151, concurrently Math 152 or Math 161 or higher |
Below, you find the problem sets and their solutions.
Below, you will find the quizzes and their solutions.
The following links take you to the weekly summaries. They are meant to help you recap what you learned every week. The concepts and facts in the weekly summaries are also the basis of the conceptual questions on the quizzes and exams.
You can access the online class system under http://cannoli.mps.ohio-state.edu/class/student.php?preselectedclass=16. In the online class system, you can find the points you got for your homework solutions and quizzes and check on the results of the exams. You also submit the answers to reading assignments through this system and you can look up old reading assignments.
You identify yourself to the system using your last name and your four digit PIN. The first time you log in your PIN are the last four digits of your phone number as it is on file with the registrar's office. You are required to change this PIN at your first login. It is recommended to try the system out as soon as possible so that you know that you can log in successfully once the first reading assignemnt comes around.
In this class we will learn about one of the most fundamental concepts in Physics, namely conservation laws. We will see that many aspects of the motion of particles can be understood from these conservation laws alone. Then, we will move on to an even more refined description of the motion of particles. Specifically, we will cover:
Thomas Moore, Six Ideas That Shaped Physics, Unit C (ISBN 0-07-229152-4) and Unit N (ISBN 0-07-239712-8)
We will cover about three chapters per week. You are expected to read the upcoming chapters ahead of class so that classroom discussion can focus on deepening your understanding rather than on transmitting facts.
The grade for this class is determined by a weighted average of the weekly problem sets, the weekly quizzes, the reading assignments, the lab, the midterm exams, and the final exam. There will be no curve grading. The grades will be determined according to the following scheme:
| percentage | grade |
| 95%-100% | A |
| 90%-95% | A- |
| 85%-90% | B+ |
| 80%-85% | B |
| 75%-80% | B- |
| 70%-75% | C+ |
| 65%-70% | C |
| 60%-65% | C- |
| 55%-60% | D+ |
| 50%-55% | D |
| 0%-50% | E |
As a student at The Ohio State University you are expected to follow the Universities Code of Student Conduct. Make sure to review this document at http://studentaffairs.osu.edu/resource_csc.asp. You may also want to check out Ohio State's Ten Suggestions for Preserving Academic Integrity at http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/ten-suggestions.html. Faculty and TAs are required to report any indication of scientific misconduct.
Problem sets will be handed out every Wednesday starting on September 19. The problem sets will also be available on the course web page. The problem sets are due the following Wednesday at 10am (this means that you either have to submit them in Tuesday's class or hand them to the students behind the counter in the Physics Administrative Offices first thing on Wednesday!) Students who cannot attend class are requested to give their solutions to a fellow student or hand them to the students behind the counter in the Physics Administrative Offices (Physics Research Building 1040) on the same day. If you have a good reason for not being able to complete your homework by the due date please contact me for approval of an extension and put it into my mailbox by the approved extended deadline. In the interest of protecting the grader from extra work due to homework trickeling in late, unapproved late homework and homework submitted directly to the grader's mailbox will not be accepted.
The solutions of the problem sets will be discussed during each Wednesday's class. You are strongly encouraged to discuss about the problem sets and any other aspect of the class with your fellow students. Group solutions to problem sets by two people working together are accepted. However, the solutions have to be hand-written by both students, either alternating weekly or within one week's solutions. Typed solutions will not be accepted.
The problem sets will largely consist of problems from the textbook. The problems in the "advanced" category will not be counted in the total points available for a problem set and thus can be used to make up for points lost in other places.
You are expected to read the upcoming chapters of the textbook in preparation for every single class. You will be required to answer a few questions on the reading assignment. The reading assignments will be announced on top of the course web page as well as in class. On days on which reading assignments with web questionnaires are discussed in class you have to answer some questions about the reading using the online class system by 3:59am the day of class. Your answers will not be graded; the only requirement is that you submit the questionnaires on time. However, since the answers to these questions will help focus the discussion during the class to those issues you had difficulties with during your reading, it is in your own interest to answer these questions as honestly as possible. It is also not implausible that some of these questions might reappear on the exams. Your credit for this section of the course is the fraction of the reading assignment feedbacks that you have submitted on time.
You will be given a short quizz in each Wednesday's class (with the exception of the first class on September 19). These quizzes will cover the material of only the week since the last quizz. The two worst quizzes will be thrown out when calculating your percentage for this course component.
Lab is a required component of the course. If you fail lab (by not attending or by obtaining an E in the lab component) you fail the whole course. Your lab percentage is determined from a combination of pre-labs, performance in the actual lab, and a lab report.
The midterm exams will take place on Friday, October 12 and on Friday, November 2, in class. Students who have any problem with the dates of the exams are asked to contact me as soon as possible. The first midterm exam will contain a problem related to the problem sets up to the one due on October 9 (set number 3) and a few conceptional questions related to the lectures up to the class on October 11. The second midterm exam will contain a problem related to the problem sets up to the one due on October 30 (set number 6) and a few conceptional questions related to the lectures up to the class on November 1. They will be closed book exams.
The final exam will take place on Thursday, December 6, from 11:30am to 3:18pm in our usual classroom. The final is a two hour exam and you can choose any two hours during this four hour interval. However, in order to minimize disturbances you are strongly recommended to either start at 11:30am or at 1:30pm. Students who have any problem with the date of the exam are asked to contact me as soon as possible.
The exam will contain several problems which will have a close resemblance to the problem sets of the full quarter with a strong emphasis on the second half of the quarter. There will be one problem asking for conceptual understanding and knowledge of basic definitions. It will be a closed book exam.
Attendance during the lectures is strongly encouraged but not required. However, the problem sets will be closely related to the contents of the class and it is every students responsibility to keep up with announcements, etc., made in class if not present. In order not to disturb your fellow students I strongly discourage arriving to class late. I prefer you not coming to class over you coming in late. Attendance during the labs is required.
Students with any special needs are asked to inform me at their earliest convenience.