Physics 053L

The titles in the lectures refer to the sections in the class notes (links above). Numbers in bold type refer to chapters in G. "Q" refers to questions at the end of the chapter, "P" to the problems. “Supp.” refers to the supplementary problems for that set of topics. Problems marked with * are to be written out and submitted at the beginning of the afternoon recitation session at which the chapter is discussed.

Week 1: 12 – 16 May

Morning Sessions	Monday (1:00 - 3:00)	Lecture on Kinematics 1 (2)
	Monday (1:00 - 3:00)	Recitation: Organization session
	Tuesday	Lecture on Kinematics 2 (3)
	Tuesday	Lecture on Kinematics 3 (3)
	Wednesday	Recitation: 3: Q 18; P 52, 77, 84, 93
	Wednesday	Lecture on Dynamics 1 (4)
	Thursday	Lecture on Dynamics 2 (4, 5).
	Thursday	Recitation: 4: Q 1, 2, 7, 12; P 13, 15, 32, 46
	Friday	Lecture on Energy 1 (7)
	Friday	Lecture on Energy 1, 2 (7, 8)
Afternoon Sessions	Tuesday	2: Q 5, 12, 14, 18; P 5, 12, 18, 24, 36, 44, 64, 73 3: Q 8, 12; P 9, 22*, 37, 51
Afternoon Sessions	Thursday	4: Q 13, 20, 22, 24; P 31, 48, 54, 57, 58, 70, 81, 87 5: Q 1, 2, 13, 14, 18, 19; P 16, 22, 30, 32, 37, 51*, 84, 93
Labs	Monday Wednesday	Organization; Kinematics Demonstration Forces.

Week 2: 19 – 23 May

Morning Sessions	Monday	Lecture on Energy 2 (8)
	Monday	Lecture on Energy 2 (8)
	Tuesday	Recitation 7: Q 9, 14; P 11, 28, 47
	Tuesday	Recitation 8: Q 5, 9, 13; P 15, 33, 36, 42
	Wednesday	Exam I (through Energy 2)
	Thursday	Lecture on Systems (9)
	Thursday	Lecture on Systems (9)
	Friday	Lecture on Rotations 1, 2 (10)
	Friday	Lecture on Rotations 2 (11)
Afternoon Sessions	Tuesday	7: P 57, 58, 63, 73, 82 8: Q 20, 25, 26; P 65, 77, 90*, 94, 104
Afternoon Sessions	Thursday	9: Q 2, 10, 11, 16, 33; P 10, 15, 37, 41, 49, 77, 92, 105, 107, Supp 1
Labs	Monday Wednesday	Work-energy None

Week 3: 26 – 30 May

Morning Sessions	Monday	Holiday
	Monday	Holiday
	Tuesday	Recitation 10: Q 8, 12; P 38, 51, 67, 93*, 97, 103
	Tuesday	Lecture on Rotations 3 (12)
	Wednesday	Recitation 12: Q 7, 8: P 16, 59, 72, 86, 91, Supp 3
	Wednesday	Lecture on Gravitation (6)
	Thursday	Lecture on Gravitation (6)
	Thursday	Lecture on Planetary Motion (not in G)
	Friday	Exam II (through Planetary Motion)
Afternoon Sessions	Tuesday	11: Q 4, 5, 10, 11; P 3, 11, 13, 35*, 48, 51, 52, 67, 78, Supp 2
Afternoon Sessions	Thursday	6: Q 2, 3, 5, 13, 21, 22; P 13, 20, 22, 34, 45*, 59, Supp 4, 5
Labs	Monday Wednesday	Holiday Torques

Week 4: 2 – 6 June

Morning Sessions	Monday	Lecture on Fluids (13)
	Monday	Lecture on Fluids (13)
	Tuesday	Recitation 13: Q3, 7, 18; P10, 17, 20, 37, 55*
	Tuesday	Lecture on Oscillations (14)
	Wednesday	Lecture on Waves 1, 2 (15, 16)
	Wednesday	Lecture on Waves 2, 3 (15, 16)
	Thursday	Recitation 15: Q 8, 11; P 17, 20, 38, 49*, 61, 63, Supp. 5
	Thursday	Lecture on Thermal Physics 1 (17)
	Friday	Exam III (through Waves 3)
Afternoon Sessions	Tuesday	13: Q 14, 22, 24; P 59, 79, 96, 99, Supp. 1, 2 14: Q 4, 8, 11; P 25, 61, 65, 89, 90, Supp. 3, 4
Afternoon Sessions	Thursday	15: Q 13; P 77, Supp. 6 16: Q 5, 6, 11, 15, 17, 18; P 18, 20, 28, 44, 55, 58, 63, 67, 79, 96, 103, Supp. 7, 8
Labs	Monday Wednesday	Archimedes’s Principle Oscillations

Week 5: 9 – 13 June

Morning Sessions	Monday	Lecture on Thermal Physics 1 (17, 19)
	Monday	Lecture on Thermal Physics 2 (19)
	Tuesday	Lecture on Thermal Physics 2, 3 (19, 20)
	Tuesday	Recitation 17: Q 13; P 12, 21, 35; 19: Q 7, 13, 15*, 20
	Wednesday	Lecture on Thermal Physics 3 (20)
	Wednesday	Recitation 20: Q 2, 5, 15; P 6, 7, 21, 24, 29, 38, 72, 77, 80
	Thursday	Review
	Friday	Final Exam (comprehensive) 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Afternoon Sessions	Tuesday	19: Q 25, 26, 30, 35; P 15, 31, 40, 46, 52, 55, 61, 86
Afternoon Sessions	Thursday	None
Labs	Monday Wednesday	Sound Waves Thermal Physics

General Information

Physics 53L is presented using lectures, recitation sessions, labs and the internet.

The lectures and recitations are conducted by Dr. Evans, in the large lecture room. There is a morning session Monday through Friday, from 10:00 until 12:00, with a 20 minute break at roughly 10:50. There are afternoon recitation sessions on Tuesday and Thursday from 1:30 to 4:00, with a 15 minute break at roughly 2:30. The time in the morning sessions will be divided between lectures and recitations as seems appropriate. The plan — as shown in the weekly schedule above — is to have in each week about five lectures of 50 minutes each, devoting the remaining class time to recitations and the three in-class exams.

There are three lab sections of roughly 10 students each. The lab sessions are on Mondays and Wednesdays, one session from 1:00-3:00, another from 3:30-5:30, and the third from 6:00-8:00. The three sections will rotate the times of their meetings. The labs are conducted by Mr. Ladenburger. Specific information about the labs can be found here.

Students are required to have a copy of Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Vol.1), by Giancoli, 4th ed., Prentice Hall, 2007. This book is referred to as G.

Students are also required to have a PRS responder device of their own.

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Course Structure

At the top of this page are links to sections of a complete set of notes in pdf format on the material covered in the course. These notes are the primary guide to the material in the course. The book (G) provides alternate or supplementary presentations, along with applications, worked examples, graphics, and sets of questions and problems. Topics covered in the notes but not covered (or not adequately) in G are part of the course. Topics (mostly special applications) covered in G but not mentioned either in the notes or the lectures are not part of the course.

Lectures summarize the main topics, but they are not conventional expository accounts in detail of all the material of the course. Indeed, there is not enough time in the scheduled lectures to do that. They are organized on the assumption that the students have already studied the material in the notes and G, so the lectures are devoted largely to outlining the material, to illustration and reinforcement, and to demonstrations, sample problems, and questions posed interactively to the class through the PRS system.

Recitation sessions are devoted mainly to discussion of assigned problems and questions listed in the weekly schedules at the top of this page. It is assumed that the student has attempted to answer the questions and solve the problems before the recitation session in which they will be addressed.

In these sessions the class is divided into small working groups of three or four students who collaborate in arriving at solutions. At the beginning of the recitation session members of each group discuss the questions and problems among themselves. After a short time the instructor assigns each group a particular question or problem from the list. There follows a further working time, during which the instructor is available for coaching and suggestions, and when a member of each group writes (on the board or on small display panels) the necessary equations and diagrams to explain the answers. Then the instructor calls on the groups in sequence to present to the rest of the class answers to their specific problems and questions. A student from each group makes the presentation for that group. The instructor provides prompting, correction or amplification during the student's presentation as appropriate. No grade is recorded for the presentations.

At the end of each afternoon recitation session there is a brief (about 20 minutes) graded quiz.

Lab exercises are carried out once or twice per week. A total of six labs will be done.

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Exams and Grades

There are three 90 minute in-class exams, given during the morning period, with a maximum of 100 points each. The three-hour comprehensive final exam has a maximum of 200 points. This 500 points constitutes the total exam score for the course.

For a student whose final exam percent score is higher than the average score on his in-class exams, the final exam is given extra weight so that the total exam score is calculated as 50% in-class exams and 50% final exam.

Calculators are not to be used for in-class exams or the final exam, but may be used for recitation quizzes. Formula sheets (given in the links at the top of this page) can be used for exams and quizzes.

If a student misses an in-class exam for an excused reason, the score on that exam is replaced by the percentage score on the final exam.

The handed-in homework problems (denoted in the weekly schedules by *) are to be written out and submitted at the beginning of the corresponding recitation session. These will be checked for completeness, but not graded. A score from 0 to 5 will be assigned, based on the number turned in. Problems not turned in will count against this score, one point per missing problem. Discussion among students in preparing the homework assignments is encouraged, but direct copying is a violation of the Honor Code.

The recitation quizzes will cover the material discussed since the last quiz. They are intended to reinforce what was recently learned and to give practice in the kinds of questions that might be on the exams. Absences from quizzes are recorded as zeroes.

At the end of the course, the lowest two quiz grades will be dropped for each student.

The various graded material contributes to the final score as follows:

Exams: 75%
Quizzes: 10%
Labs: 10%
Homework: 5%

Exam and quiz keys, sample exams from previous versions of this course, and answers to even-numbered assigned problems from G are posted on the course web site. A link to the relevant page is at the top of this page.

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