Course Description:
The course description, credit hours, and enrollment restrictions can be found at this link.

Purpose and Learning Goals:
This is the 2nd of a 3-quarter sequence in Contemporary Physics, which is the backbone of the physics undergraduate program. Students will learn the basic principles of mechanics, thermodynamics, and electricity and magnitism and will be assessed on this knowledge using standard concept inventories. There is a strong practical component to the course using VPython as a tool for exploring solutions to problems that do not have a simple analytic form.

Text:
The text for this class is Matter and Interaction (4th Ed.) by Chabay & Sherwood. Students should complete the readings for each lecture before class (see schedule below) in addition to reviewing the material after the lecture. Note that while we are very supportive of the non-traditional approaches taken by this text, some students may benefit from having one of the more standard texts as an additional resource. For example: Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, & Walker; or Principles of Physics by Serway & Jewett.

Lecture:
We will meet in person three times a week for 1 hour. As the Contemporary series is the core of the Physics program you are required to attend the lectures and are expected to have completed the reading before class (see below for reading assignments). Pop quizzes will be given in class if needed to encourage reading. There will be an explicit class participation component to your final mark; in other words, ask questions and be prepared to participate in discussion. To facilitate class discussion we will be using Socrative. Please download the Socrative app to your phone or laptop before the first lecture.

Two "make-up" lectures are built in due to lost class time that may result from weather/pandemic events or instructor schedule conflicts.

Recitation:
Recitation sections will meet in person for 2 hours each week. The recitations will consist of two parts. One component of recitation will involve discussion of homework problems, review of exams, and discussion of material that may have confused you in class. Since the material in the homeworks is challenging, I strongly encourage you to try working on your homework well ahead of time, and bring your questions to recitation. For the second part, in order to understand physical concepts, and get a grounding in numerical coding, you will write 5 programs over the course of this term. These will employ the Visual Python programming language and will allow you to create moving realizations of physical concepts.

Homework:
Homework problems will be assigned at the end of each lecture, so that you may attempt them at the time that the relevant concepts have been taught. The collective problems from each MWF lecture will be due at the start of class on the next Friday. The problems will primarily be taken from your book, though there will be some which are not.

Discussion is strongly encouraged when working through problem sets, but the work you turn in is expected to be your own. Generally speaking, verbal collaboration is OK, but visual collaboration is not. Here's a guideline: if a friend verbally describes how to go about solving a problem to you without specifically writing equations, then you are fine. If, however, you directly transcribe the work of another, you are plagiarizing their work.

Prior to starting the first homework assignment, please review the homework guidelines that the TA/grader will be using when marking your homework.

Grading:

The grading scale will be a standard 10-point scale (e.g., 90 is the lowest A-). The breakdown is as follows:

• 10% Class Participation: You are expected to attend the lectures and recitations, to participate in discussions, and to ask questions. We may have random reading quizzes from time to time to encouarge attendance. If you miss lecture, please e-mail me with an explanation ("I was sick" is acceptable, no need for a doctor's note).
• 25% Homework Assignments: There will be 9 homeworks during the quarter, due each Friday (to your TA by 11:59pm). Late assignments will earn 80% credit after the first late day, 60% after the 2nd, and so on; however students are expected to turn in all homeworks (even if late). The lowest (non-zero) homework will be dropped from your final average. The problems will primarily be taken from your book, though there will be some which are not. You are encouraged, and expected to discuss your homework with others, but the work you submit must be your own. Copied homeworks (and you'd be surprised how easy this is to detect) will earn a zero for all parties involved.
• 20% Recitation Assignments: There will be 5 recitation assignments during the quarter. They will be assigned at the beginning of one week and will be due in recitation the next week (i.e., you'll have two full recitation periods to work on them). Late assignments are better than none, but will receive the same late credit as for homeworks. Also, as with the homeworks, you are encouraged and expected to discuss your programs with others, but the work you submit must be your own. Copied work will earn a zero for all parties involved.
• 20% Midterm: During the 2nd week in February, we will have a 1 hour midterm during one of the lecture periods. The questions will be mostly similar in structure to homework problems, so you'd be well-advised to review your homework. I will pass out a review sheet a week before.
• 25% Final Exam: During the final exam period, we will have a 2 hour final. It will be similar in structure to the midterm. It will only include topics covered since the midterm (Chaptes 13-16).