Physics 152:  Introductory Physics II

Instructor, Spring 2007:      Michael Fowler, UVa e-mail mf1i,  Room 307, Physics.

                        Phone (434) 924-6579

                        Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30 – 4:00 and by appointment.

 

Problem Sessions:  Mon 1:00 – 1:50, Phys 218;  Tues 12:30 – 1:20, Phys 205.

TA:    Paul Fishbane             

 

Exams:  Midterms: February 21,  April 4.  Final Exam:  Monday, May 7, 2005   2:00-5:00 pm.

 

Homeworks: 

Homework #1: questions 1, 2, 3, 4,  due Jan 24.

Homework #2: questions  5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15,  due Jan 31.

Homework #3: questions 16, 19, 22, 23, 29, 30.   due Feb 7.

Homework #4: questions 2, 5, 6, 10, 13, 16 from Fluids file, due Feb 14.

Homework #5: questions 7, 11, 14, 17, 18 on Fluids, due Feb 21.

Midterm I Review Sheets!:  Gravity  (PDF);  Fluids  (PDF).

Previous Midterms for Practice:  2005  (PDF)  2006  (PDF)

Homework #6: Complex Exercises, due Wed Feb 28.  (PDF)

Homework #7: due Wed March 14: do the first 5 problems in the Oscillator Homework Problem Set.

Homework #8: due Wednesday March 21:  7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 from Oscillator Set (link above).

Homework #9 due Wednesday March 28: 16, 17 from Oscillator Homework,  PDF;  1 to 6 from Waves Homework,  PDF.

Homework #10: this will not be collected, but is essential practice for Midterm II: Fluids Problems 23, 24;  Waves Problem 7,

and work through:  Previous Midterms II:  2005 (PDF)  2006  (PDF)

Midterm II Review: read the Essentials sheets, note I’ve added to the Fluids one:  Fluids  PDF,  Oscillations  PDF,  Waves  PDF.

Homework #11: due Wednesday April 11   PDF

Homework #12: due Wednesday April 18:  3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 from Heat Homework Problems  (PDF).

Homework #13: due Wednesday April 25:   9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 from Heat Homework Problems (link above)

Final Review: Read all the Essentials sheets, including Heat Essentials  PDF.  Practice using last year’s Final  PDF.

(Homeworks are due at the beginning of class on Wednesdays. Late homework will be penalized 10% per day or part of day.)

 

Grading:  Homeworks total 25%,  two midterms each 15%,  final 35%,  inclass 10%.

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What is this course?

Physics 152 is the second semester of a long-established four-semester Introductory Physics course intended for prospective physics majors at Virginia. 

The first semester (Physics 151) covers Newtonian Mechanics, except that Gravity has been replaced by Special Relativity, so Gravity begins 152.

A unifying theme of the rest of the course is applying Newton’s Laws to a small segment of a large system to find laws governing the system as a whole.  Examples include analyzing the forces on a tiny cube of air to discover how the density of the atmosphere varies with height, or how pressure and velocity vary as a fluid in a pipe encounters a narrowing; similarly understanding the forces on a tiny segment of a vibrating string or of air in a pipe lead to the wave equation for sound. The Kinetic Theory of Gases combines Newton’s Laws for individual molecules with statistical arguments to build an understanding of pressure, temperature and entropy at a molecular level.

 I have covered some topics at a slightly higher mathematical level than that in the standard textbooks, since this is our most in-depth introductory sequence. This meant teaching the necessary mathematics to some extent: for example, using complex numbers in solving differential equations. I also use history to examine how concepts evolved – the hope being that this will lead to a better grasp of the concepts. 

Syllabus

Lectures on Gravity

Lectures on Fluids

Some Useful Math

Lectures on Oscillations and Waves

Lectures on Heat and Thermodynamics

 

My other courses on the Web:

Physics 109 Galileo and Einstein

Physics 252 Modern Physics

Physics 751 Graduate Quantum Mechanics I

Physics 752 Graduate Quantum Mechanics II