Final's Week Office Hours:
Mon. 8:30 - 11:20 AM
Tues. 2 - 4 PM
Thurs. 10 AM - Noon
Final Exam Review
Monday, May 2 8 PM
128 PSN
Final EXAM
Thursday, May 5th in 144 Benton
12:30 PM
Special Topics for the Semester:
Light, Lasers, &
Optical Communications
Electrical Circuits &
Nanotechnology
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Interesting Physics &
Physical Science Links
Answers: 1) a, 2) e, 3) c, 4) d, 5) c,
6) d, 7) a, 8) b, 9) b, 10) a, 11) e, 12) d, 13) a
SYLLABUS
PHYSICS 101: PHYSICS &
SOCIETY
Spring 2005
9:30 - 10:45
AM
Tues. & Thurs.
Room 46 Culler Hall
| Instructor: | Dr. Jan Yarrison-Rice |
| Office: | Room 15 Culler Hall |
| Email: | YARRISJM@MUOHIO.EDU |
| Phone: | 529-1862 or 529-5626 |
| Office Hours: | TR 11-noon |
| Other times by appointment | |
| Text: | Physics Matters by Trefil & Hazen |
| Web: | www.cas.muohio.edu/~yarrisjm/ |
The goals of this course are three-fold. First, I expect you to understand basic physical concepts and mathematical descriptions of topics like motion, forces, and energy. Then we will study societal issues that stem from this initial understanding such as the Greenhouse Effect, Superconductivity and its Applications, Lasers, Optical Communications, Nuclear Power and Waste Disposal, and the Implications of Nanotechnology. In order to understand these societal issues, more physics will be studied based upon the foundation of topics through energy. This includes topics like electromagnetism, modern atomic, quantum, and nuclear physics. Lastly, I want you to be able to read a technical article in a newspaper or magazine and know how to study it further, i.e. can you understand the basic science upon which the article is based? do you know how to find additional information on the physics or the societal aspects of the article? can you assimilate this information into a well-informed opinion on the topic?
Miami Plan Course:
Physics and Society, Phy 101, is a Miami Plan course and as such
fulfills the University requirements for physical sciences.
As you should be aware, Physics 101: Physics & Society is a Miami Plan Foundation Course. As stated in the Miami Bulletin, the Miami Plan for liberal education is encapsulated by four overarching principles.
1) Thinking critically
2) Understanding contexts
3) Engaging with other learners
4) Reflecting and acting
Below I give some of my interpretation of how these four principles are incorporated in the physics and society course.
1) Thinking critically: The goals of this course are three-fold. First, I expect you to understand basic physical concepts and mathematical descriptions of topics. Then we will study societal issues that stem from this initial understanding. Lastly, I want you to be able to read a technical article. In other words, can you understand the basic science upon which an article is based? do you know how to find additional information on the physics or the societal aspects of the article? can you assimilate this information into a well-informed opinion on the topic?
2) Understanding Context: An important quality of physics is that understanding of advanced topics comes from a strong foundation of topics ranging from mechanics through energy. This then allows us to study societal issues that stem from this initial understanding such as the Greenhouse Effect, Superconductivity and its Applications, Lasers and their Applications, Sound and Stereo Systems, and Nuclear Power and Waste Disposal. In order to understand these societal issues, the physics must be supplemented with historical, societal, and cultural contextual information.
3) Reflecting and Acting: Physics 101 does not intend to make professional physicists out of its students. However, a major goal of the course is for you to understand basic physical principles, to learn science by doing science when possible, and to be able to read an article on a technical topic. For example, as a result of taking this course are you more likely to read an article on a physical science or technical topic? Would you be able to search the web to learn about a topic and create an informed opinion on a particular issue that is being voted upon by local or national governmental representatives?
4) Engaging with Other Learners:
As seen in the class goals above and structure below, Physics 101
provides opportunities for students to interact with each other and
with the instructor on a one-on-one basis and within groups,
opportunities for hands-on experiences via mini-experiments (you learn
science by doing it), and opportunities to consider data collection,
experiments, and societal issues grounded in physics from a critical
point of view throughout the semester.
Class Structure:
To
achieve these
goals, the course will be arranged in the following manner. We will have lectures and demonstrations on a
number of topics. These will be
interspersed with films, small group experiments and problem-solving,
and
science-in-the-news articles. Even
though this is a class with a large population, I want you to be
involved in
your learning. Active participation and
good class attendance will serve you well.
In class work will be graded for ~10 percent of your total
semester
score.
Grades:
There will be four exams
including the
final exam. Each exam will have 30
multiple choice questions, each worth 5 points, for a total of 150
points per
exam. In addition, each student will
produce a notebook on a current physics news topic.
The notebook will be worth 100 points. Class
participation is worth 77 points. Thus,
your grade is based upon 777 total points
in the semester.
There will be opportunity for gaining up to 25
extra credit points as detailed below.
THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS FOR THIS COURSE.
If you are going to miss an exam, you must contact me
BEFORE the exam starts and your excuse must be one I consider
valid. If you have missed an exam for a valid reason, you may
submit to me in writing a request for a calculated score for the missed
exam. This score will be calculated by comparing your performance
on the other three exams to the class average on those three exams, and
then applying that ratio to the class average of the missed exam.
If you miss a second exam, you will be given an INCOMPLETE for
the course.
Letter grades are determined by an absolute, fixed scale that measures your performance as a percentage of total possible points. In the fixed scale, a 90% performance is an A, 80% a B, 70% a C, and 60% a D. These scaled grades are adjusted at the end of the term, using your extra credit points to give you the largest advantage.
EXAM DATES:
Review Session
#1: Tues. Feb.
Exam #1:
Thurs. Feb. 3
In Class
Review Session
#2: Tues. Mar. 1
Exam #2:
Thurs. Mar. 3
Review Session
#3: Tues. Ap. 5
Exam #3:
Thurs. Ap. 7
Final Exam
Review: Tues. May
Notebooks: worth at total
of 100 points
Topic Selection & 3
articles:
You will collect 3 physics-in-the-news articles throughout
the semester
from newspapers and magazines. They should
all relate to a particular, single approved topic.
The articles should have been written in the
last 18 months or so i.e. be current events. There should be no more
than 1
from the same source (same magazine same issue). Articles
you chose to write about should be
long enough to provide the information you need to answer the above
questions;
they should not just be partial columns from a newspaper.
Look at popular science journals like Omni,
Scientific American, and similar sources for the more in-depth
articles.
Article Synopsis:
(45 points)
The first part of the notebook should contain a synopsis of the
articles you
chose. Copies of the articles themselves
must be in the back of the notebook.
Each written section on the individual articles should be
organized as
follows:
Each
article
synopsis should be approximately 1.5 pages in length for a total of
~4.5 pages
Top of Paper: Article
title and full citation
Paragraph
#1: Titled: Article
Synopsis
– this should be a brief paragraph
describing the contents of the article.
Identifying the main points and ideas which are found in it.
Paragraph
#2: Titled: New
Physics
– this should describe the physics
required to understand the article and any new physics which the
article
introduces should be briefly explained.
Paragraph
#3: Titled: New
ideas or Viewpoints – this paragraph should
describe the new
ideas or viewpoints the article teaches you (or the reader)
Articles’
Synthesis – should be 3-4 pages (55 points)
Use
the 3 articles as references in the paper.
Other references are allowed.
Cite each within the body of text.
You may choose which style of citation you prefer to use, with
the
caveat that the title of the article and other information necessary to
find it
must be within the citation. If you use
a website, make sure the title and author (if it is known) is added to
the URL,
as well as the place from which the website hales (for instance,
“Nanorobots,”
by Arthur Little, Science, URL:www.science.org).
This
paper should follow the normal formal
format of a written paper, as described next.
Introduction (5 pts)
What are the facts/issues/new
science brought
out in these articles? (5pts)
Who is effected by what is
presented? (5 pts)
How could this
physical science be utilized by today’s society? Or How
could this affect society? (20 pts)
What might the future hold as
a result of this
news? (10 pts)
Conclusion (5 pts)
How
well it is written/proof read (5 pts)
Your notebook grade will be based
primarily
on content (how well you defend your positions, is your paper
understandable,
are you doing an in-depth analysis or simply stating facts, are your
statements
concise and to the point or rambling and difficult to follow, do you
answer the
questions and follow the required format)
Realize that the grammar and prose of your writing (is your
project
grammatically correct and well-written) are going to affect the overall
impression that the reader has of your assignment and will indeed
affect the
grade you receive.
Notebook Due Dates:
Since the class is so large, I am
offering extra credit for handing in your notebook early.
Three different due dates are listed
below. The first two offer decreasing
number of extra credit points. Notebooks
are due IN CLASS of the dates listed.
10
pts Extra Credit –
5
pts Extra Credit –
Absolute
Deadline: No
Ex. Cr. Pts --
Additional
Extra Credit
Up to 15 points of extra credit may be gained by making a poster (11’ x 17” or greater) of a physics news topic. This must be based on a different article than your notebook. It should contain a copy of the article, some commentary on the article (following ideas above – new physics, effect on society), and art/design work to show off the topic.
Posters
may be turned in between February 10th
and April 12th ONLY.
TOPICS OF STUDY
Daily
Plans and
Homework Assignments will be posted on the WEB.
Parts of:
Special Topics:
·
Light,
Lasers, & Optical Communications:
Ch. 19-21 & Web-based reading assignments
·
Semiconductors
& Nanotechnology: Ch. 24-25,
Web-based reading assignments