Physics 1403 Announcement Page

Dr. Myles' Future Teaching is discussed Here.
You MUST be enrolled concurrently in Physics 1403 Lab. Exceptions?? See Dept. of Physics office (Sc. Rm. 101, 742-3767)! Lab Syllabus.

Please note these Calendar Items!!!; A. Exam III WILL BE Wednesday, December 2!!; B. FINAL EXAM is Friday, December. 11, 4:30-7pm. COMPREHENSIVE!!; Location: Chemistry Room 49!; Note: This day & time were built into the schedule of classes before you registered, it's in the Syllabus, I mentioned it in the first class, & I've mentioned it almost every class for a few weeks now. So, I'll be very unhappy if someone tells me that they bought a non-changeable ticket to fly home before this time & date because they didn't know about it!; 1. Assignment #8: ASAP!! Read Ch. 7 (Linear Momentum). Ch. 7 Lectures. A Ch. 7 problem assignment is on Mastering Physics.; THE COURSE THEME IS NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION.; Ch. 7 introduces the concept of Momentum, discusses Newton’s 2nd Law in terms of Momentum, & shows that, combining Newton’s 2nd & 3rd Laws for two masses in collision leads to Conservation of Linear Momentum. This is then used to analyze many types of simple collision problems.; 2. Assignment #9: ASAP!! Read Ch. 8 (Rotational Motion). Ch. 8 Lectures. A good strategy is to download Lectures BEFORE I cover the material in class. You can print them, several slides/page. Rather than try to take notes on everything in class, you can follow along on the printed Lectures making extra notes. A Ch. 7 problem assignment is be on Mastering Physics. A Ch. 8 problem assignment will soon be on Mastering Physics.; THE COURSE THEME IS NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION.; Ch. 8 discusses N's Laws for objects rotating about an axis passing through the center of mass. Students often consider this chapter to be the most difficult one in the entire course. Likely, this is because there is lots of new terminology to learn and many new concepts. However, as we proceed in the chapter, I think it will help to remember that every rotational concept or relation that we introduce and discuss is 100% analogous to at translational motion concept that you (are wsupposed to) already know. To help you with this, I have prepared a one page summary (Power Point) of all relevant rotational concepts and relations, along with their translational analogues. That table is downloadable from the lecture page Here.
: 3. EXAM III: WILL BE Wednesday, December 2!!; 4. FINAL EXAM: Fri., Dec. 11, 4:30-7pm. Location: Chemistry Room 49! Scheduled by TTU!! COMPREHENSIVE!!; 5. Supplemental Instruction (SI):Our SI Instructor for this class is Ms. Eileen Dee (Eileen.Dee@ttu.edu). The SI Session Schedule (Holden Hall Room 106) is:; Each Monday, 4:00pm-5:30pm AND each Wednesday, 5:00pm-6:30pm.; You don't have to come at the beginning & stay to the end. You can come late & leave early. I urge you to take advantage of this FREE; service offered by the Programs for Academic Support Services office (the PASS Center). Data over many semesters & thousands of; students shows that people who have come to SI sessions, on the average, end up with a much higher final percentage for their grade in the; ourse, compared to those who haven't taken advantage of it.; 6. Pending Homework is on Mastering Physics: 12 Assignments have been posted.; 7. Graded Exams: Exam I was returned, Fri., Oct. 9. Unclaimed exams are in a box outstide my office. PLEASE THOROUGHLY CHECK MY ARTIHMETIC! Let me know of errors ASAP!! Thank you! Grade distribution: 140 took it. High = 110 (bonus points), 6 above 100! Low = 27. Average = (about) 71.5. Breaking grades down into letter grades by the approximate scale in the Syllabus, here is their distribution:; 100+ > A > 90 (20 people). 89 > B > 78 (41 people). 77 > C > 66 (42 people). 65 > D > 54 (19 people). 53 > F > 0 (18 people).; Exam II was returned Fri., Nov. 13. Unclaimed exams are in a box outstide my office. PLEASE THOROUGHLY CHECK MY ARTIHMETIC! Let me know of errors ASAP!! Thank you! Grade distribution: 128 took it. High = 110 (due to bonus points), 4 at 100 or above! Low = 21. Average = (about) 62.4. Breaking grades down into letter grades by the approximate scale in the Syllabus, here is their distribution:; 100+ > A > 90 (11 people). 89 > B > 78 (36 people). 77 > C > 66 (55 people). 65 > D > 54 (16 people). 53 > F > 0 (10 people).; This is one exam & there is one more plus the final exam & the lowest exam grade is dropped. Homework, quizzes, & lab also count in the final course grade.; If you did well, very good! If you did poorly, thats bad, especially, if you also did poorly on Exam I! The lowest exam grade is dropped. If you did poorly on Exam II, but not on Exam I, hopefully this is a "wake-up" call that you need to work harder than you have been recently if you want to make a good grade!!! If you are in this category, you need to buckle down & start working harder! If you did poorly on Exams I & II, there isn't much advice I can give you now that will help you.; Brief summary of common errors: A minority STILL doesn't understand N's Laws of Motion with forces, Some don't understand N's Laws of Motion with centripetal forces. C. Some don't understand Gravitation. D. Some don't understand Work & Energy. I speculate that the people who messed up many of the problems haven't been attending class very much and/or haven't worked many problems and/or didn't study this material. I also suspect that most people with poor grades probably haven't followed (or not believed) my advice that the ONLY way to learn physics is to DO PHYSICS YOURSELF (or with friends) by WORKING MANY, MANY, MANY PROBLEMS!!; 8. We've finished Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7!! Lectures. Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Problems are on Mastering Physics.; 9. Homework on Mastering Physics is mostly end of chapter problems. Solving problems is the best means of learning phyiscs, which is; impossible otherwise! Accessing instructions are Here or Here. They are also in the Student Access kit. Homework is 20% of the course grade!; If you didn’t get an Access Kit with your book, ASAP please: A. Buy one at Mastering Physics & B. Register in my course there so you can work on the homework! I ATTEMPT to post assignments shortly after we start a chapter. They're usually due at 11:30pm about a week later. Scoring is discussed on the "Grading Policy" link at the top of an assignment. I've used it for a while, but I'm NOT an expert. Thanks for understanding!!! You may be able to find solutions on the web or elsewhere. If so, try to solve the problems first, WITHOUT looking at solutions. Copying solutions will NOT teach you Physics. Also, presenting others' work as your own is PLAGARISM!! This is contrary to TTU policy, & is unethical & immoral! For copyrighted material, it's also against Federal Law!! I strongly encourage you to work on the problems with friends in the class. Forming study groups is a more efficient means of learning than doing it by yourself. Forming collaborative groups is the way that most Professionals work in real life.; 10. Exams: ATTENTION! Syllabus Change! In the Syllabus, this semester, we attempted to schedule exams in advance. We'd; scheduled them about every 4 weeks. They were to be Wed. nights from 7-9 pm. Unfortunately, somehow this didn't get into the TTU system; in time, so this wasn't done. So, this semester's exams will be similar to those of previous semesters (see Exams Page Here) Exams will; be during a regular class meeting time. Also, they will NOT necessarily be on the same days as announced in the syllabus. The dates; will be announced well in advance. They'll be when we've covered an appropriate amount of material.; 11. Email List150 people in this class have sent me an email & are on the distribution list. It's past time for 15 Points, but I can still; add you to the list if you send an email toCharley.Myles@ttu.edu.I send announcement emails to the list. If you know you're on my list &; don't receive my messages, something is wrong! Possibilities are that it went to your junk (spam) box or that your mailbox is full. An; announcement Here gives further discussion. I make announcements by email!! It's important that I have your correct email address, that; you tell me if it changes, & that you check your email DAILY! Thank you!!; 12. Attendance: I don't take roll & I have no attendance policy. But, isn't it obvious that (unless you're a genius!) attendance is REQUIRED; to get a good grade (or to LEARN SOMETHING!)? Class attendance & grades are correlated! Skipping WASTES the tuition/fees that you (or; someone) paid! With tuition & fees for a full-time (Texas) student, each meeting costs about $26.12. So, each time you skip, you're throwing; away $26.12. After a while this adds up! My lectures may not be entertaining or brilliant, but I do expose you to the material.; 13. Course Co-Requisites: a. Laboratory: You MUST be enrolled concurrently in in Physics 1403 Laboratory. Exceptions?; Ask the Department of Physics office (Sience Room 101, 742-3767)! Lab Syllabus. b. Mathematics: A thorough knowledge of Algebra & Trig. (or; Pre- Calculus) is assumed! This ISN'T a math course! It's is not my job to teach you math & there simply is no time to do so!! I must; assume that you know it! Major problems students have with this course are the fast pace & the math.; 14. How do you learn physics? Coming to class, listening to lectures, & reading the book are all very important & necessary.; But, these things alone are usually not sufficient! Unless you are a genius, the ONLY way to learn physics is to DO PHYSICS YOURSELF; (or with friends) by WORKING MANY, MANY, MANY PROBLEMS.

MISCELLANEOUS COURSE INFORMATION is Here.

Items covered are: Attendance, Study Groups, Labs, Email List, My Teaching Philosophy, Tips on Downloading & Printing Course Related Files, Fonts in Course Related Files and Textbook.