Physics 054L

The titles in the lectures refer to the sections in the class notes (at links above). Assignments for recitations, in pdf form, are found at the link given. Answers to items in the assignments marked with * are to be written out and submitted at the beginning of the afternoon recitation session at which the topic is discussed.

Class	Day	2-6 July	9-13 July	16-20 July	23-27 July	30 July - 3 August	6-11 August
Morning Sessions	Mon	Lecture: Electrostatics 1	Lecture: Electrostatics 3	Lecture: Electrodynamics	Lecture: AC Circuits	Lecture: Applications	Lecture: Modern Physics 1
	Mon	Lecture: Electrostatics 1	Recitation: Assignment 3	Lecture: Electrodynamics	Lecture: AC Circuits	Lecture: Applications	Lecture: Modern Physics 2
	Tue	Lecture: Electrostatics 2	Lecture: DC Circuits	Lecture: Electrodynamics	Lecture: Field Energy	Lecture: Wave Optics 1	Lecture: Modern Physics 2
	Tue	Recitation: Assignment 1	Lecture: DC Circuits	Recitation: Assignment 5	Recitation: Assignment 7	Recitation: Assignment 9	Recitation: Assignment 11
	Wed	Holiday, no class	Exam I (through Electrostatics 3)	Lecture: Inductance	Lecture: Light	Exam III (through Applications)	Review, Part 1

	Thu	Lecture: Electrostatics 2	Lecture: Magnetostatics 1	Lecture: AC Circuits	Lecture: Lenses & Mirrors	Lecture: Wave Optics 2	Review, Part 2
	Thu	Recitation: Assignment 2	Recitation: Assignment 4	Recitation: Assignment 6	Recitation: Assignment 8	Recitation: Assignment 10	Review, Part 2
	Fri	Lecture: Electrostatics 3	Lecture: Magnetostatics 2	Exam II (through Inductance)	Lecture: Lenses & Mirrors	Lecture: Wave Optics 2	Saturday 11 August Final Exam 9:00-12:00 a.m.
	Fri	Lecture: Electrostatics 3	Lecture: Magnetostatics 2	Exam II (through Inductance)	Lecture: Lenses & Mirrors	Lecture: Modern Physics 1	Saturday 11 August Final Exam 9:00-12:00 a.m.
Recitations	Tue	Assignment 1	Assignment 3	Assignment 5	Assignment 7	Assignment 9	Assignment 11
Recitations	Thu	Assignment 2	Assignment 4	Assignment 6	Assignment 8	Assignment 10	None
Labs	M, Tu	Electrostatics	Capacitors	Magnetic forces	None	Geometric optics	None
Labs	W, Th	None	DC circuits	Faraday's law	AC circuits	Wave optics	None

General Information

Physics 54L is taught using lectures, recitation sessions, labs and the internet.

The lectures and recitations are conducted by Dr. Evans. There is a morning session for the whole class in Rm. 130, Monday through Friday, from 11:00 until 12:15. These sessions include lectures and some recitations.

The whole class has a regular two hour afternoon recitation twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:15 to 3:15, in Rm. 154.

There are labs once or twice a week in Rm. 141, in the afternoons. These are conducted by the assistants. The lab section schedule is as shown below

1	Monday 1:15-3:15 Wednesday 3:30-5:30
2	Monday 3:30-5:30 Wednesday 1:15-3:15
3	Tuesday 3:30-5:30 Thursday 3:30-5:30

Online versions of the lab instructions are here.

There is no specific text for the course, but it is strongly recommended that students have a copy of one of the standard books at this level. Such a book is useful for alternative discussions of the material, useful graphics and worked out examples. Editions do not matter. Some of the books that have been used for this course at Duke are by these authors:

Halliday, Resnick and Walker

Giancoli

Tipler and Mosca

Serway

(Be sure the book is intended for a calculus based course; typically the title says the book is for scientists and engineers.)

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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 recommended books are supplements.

Lectures summarize the main topics, but 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 read the corresponding discussion in one of the books, so the lectures are devoted largely to outlining the material, to illustration and reinforcement, and to demonstrations, sample problems, and questions.

Recitation sessions are devoted mainly to discussion of assignments 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 four students who collaborate in arriving at solutions. The instructor assigns each group one or two of the questions or problems. After a working time, during which the instructor and one of the assistants are available for coaching and suggestions, a member is chosen by the group to explain the answer to the whole class; this member writes (on the board or on small display panels) the equations and diagrams necessary for the explanation. The instructor calls on the groups, in the order of the items in the assignment, to present their explanations. 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 (roughly 20 minutes) graded quiz on the material just discussed. There are no quizzes in the recitations that occur in the morning sessions.

Lab exercises are carried out once or twice per week, as shown in the schedule. A total of eight 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 the 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 (or needed) for in-class exams or the final exam, but may be used for recitation quizzes. The formula sheet (link 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 assignments by *) are to be written out and submitted at the beginning of the recitation session covering that material. 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 lowest grade on one lab will also be dropped at the end of the course.

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

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

Exam and quiz keys, and sample exams from previous versions of this course, are posted here.

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Office Hours

Dr. Evans holds office hours on Monday and Wednesday, 2:15 to 4:30 p.m., in Rm 154. Students are well advised to take advantage of these hours. His Duke office is 043 Physics.

The assistants will staff a help room in Rm 150, Monday and Tuesday, 9:30-11:00 a.m., and Thursday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.