Syllabus

Personnel

Course Coordinator:	Martin M Berz, Reinhard H Schwienhorst
Instructor:	James Laverty
Instructor (Section 001):	Bernard G Pope
Instructor (Section 002):	Bernard G Pope
Teaching Assistant (Section 001):	Ian Howard Warn, Hilary Egan, Mengze Zhu
Teaching Assistant (Section 002):	Ian Howard Warn, Mengze Zhu, Hilary Egan

Instructor Information

Reinhard Schwienhorst
Office: BPS 3241, Phone: (517) 884-5566
Email: schwier@msu.edu, Web: http://www.pa.msu.edu/~schwier/
Office hours: Before/after class and by appointment.

Martin Berz
Office: BPS 3253, Phone: (517) 884-5583
Email: berz@msu.edu, Web: http://www.pa.msu.edu/~berz/
Office hours: Before/after class and by appointment.

Course Description

PHY 184: calculus-based physics course, for students majoring in engineering or physical sciences. Topics include: electrostatics, direct circuits, magnetostatics, induction, alternating circuits, electromagnetic waves, optics, special relativity.

Prerequisites

(PHY 183 or PHY 193A or PHY 183B or PHY 193H or LBS 164) and MTH 133.

Class Hours

Section 001: Mo, Tu, We, Th from 8:00 to 8:50 AM in room BPS 1410.
Section 002: Mo, Tu, We, Th from 9:10 to 10:00 AM in room BPS 1410.

Helproom Hours

Physics Learning Center, room BPS 1248.

Teaching Assistants and helproom schedule:
A TA for this course will be in the helproom on Tuesdays between 10am and noon as well as between 2pm and 9pm.
A TA for this course will also be in the helproom on Wednesdays between 10am and 4pm.
A TA for this course will also be in the helproom on Thursdays between noon and 2pm.

Detailed schedule:
Tuesday 9am to noon: Mengze Zhu
Tuesday 2pm to 4pm: Hilary Egan
Tuesday 4pm to 6pm: Ian Warn
Tuesday 6pm to 9pm: Mengze Zhu

Wednesday 10am to 2pm: Ian Warn
Wednesday 2pm to 4pm: Hilary Egan

Thursday noon to 2pm: Hilary Egan

A list of tutors suitable for this course is available from the undergraduate secretary in 1312BPS.

Exam Information

There will be twelve 45-minute exams every week and one 2-hour final exam. The weekly exams will be given in class every Thursday and will cover the material presented that week. There will be no make-ups for missing a weekly exam. We realize sometimes stuff happens that is beyond your control, with this in mind we will drop your lowest TWO exam scores when calculating your final grade.

All the exams are closed book exams. However, you are permitted to use a single 8-inch by 5-inch card (or smaller) of handwritten notes and equations. You may use both sides of the note card.

Each weekly exam will have a correction exam assigned as a homework assignment in LON-CAPA. 30% of the positive difference between the correction exam and the in-class exam will be added to your in-class exam score as a bonus. You must answer all of the correction set questions correctly to receive the bonus. As such, the correction exam homework assignment can only add points to your midterm exam score.

Final Exam: Monday, April 29, 8pm to 10pm, joint final for both sections.
Room: 1281 ANH (Anthony Hall).
The final exam is closed book. However, you are permitted to use TWO 8.5-inch by 11-inch sheets of paper (or smaller) of handwritten notes and equations. You may use both sides of these sheets. The final exam cannot be dropped.

Bring a calculator with fresh batteries, two sharp #2 (HB) pencils, an eraser and your picture ID to each exam.

Deadlines

There are thirteen homework sets. The homework sets are always due on Wednesday afternoon at 9:59 PM.

There will be twelve 40-minute exams on Thursdays in the lecture hours. Each of the associated correction exams will be due on Sunday evenings at 11:59 PM. You must complete the entire correction set in order to receive credit for it.

Students with Disabilities: MSU is committed to providing equal opportunity for participation in all programs, services and activities. Requests for accommodations by persons with disabilities may be made by contacting the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at 517-884-RCPD or on the web at rcpd.msu.edu. Once your eligibility for an accommodation has been determined, you will be issued a verified individual services accommodation (VISA) form. Please present this form to your instructor at the start of the term or no later than the end of the second week of class. Requests received after this date may not be honored.

Grading Information

Percent weights:
Homework: 25%,
Weekly Exams: 50%,
Final Exam: 25%,
Clicker Questions: 5%.

Clicker questions: clicker questions will be given in class. These questions will count as 5% extra credit. No make-ups are available for clicker questions.

The guaranteed scale below is based on the total percentage of points.

Grading scale:
4.0 >= 94%
3.5 >= 86%
3.0 >= 78%
2.5 >= 70%
2.0 >= 62%
1.5 >= 54%
1.0 >= 46%
0.0 < 46%.

This grading scale might be lowered, but it will not be raised.

Textbook

Wolfgang Bauer, Gary D. Westfall: University Physics with Modern Physics, Volume 2, McGraw-Hill, 1st edition. (1st edition: ISBN 978-0-07-336796-5)

We will use LON-CAPA, MSU's own free and flexible web-based course management system.

We will use iClicker in this class.