View lectures on videotapes using VCR at home, at school, or in groups at a friend's home. I advise you to follow the course schedule and view three lectures per week ( Mon., Wed., and Fri.). Exams and homework delivered through WebAssign. This course is adapted from Professor Bloomfield's popular undergraduate course at http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/106/schedule.html and lectures can also be viewed online.
How Things Work: the Physics of Everyday Life by Louis A. Bloomfield, 2nd Edition, ISBN 0-471-38151-9. You may order it from the UVa. Bookstore 434-924-1073 or online from Amazon.com. Additional material present in the 1sst edition , but not in the 2nd edition can be found on the web at http://HowThingsWork.virginia.edu/instructors.html
This course focuses on concepts pertaining to electric charge and static cling, magnetism and levitating trains, generating electricity, electronics, audio amplifiers and computers. It also includes electromagnetic waves and television and microwave ovens, light and the color of the sky, optics and cameras, nuclear energy and weapons, x-rays and gamma rays in medical imaging, and more. This course begins with a review of Newton's laws of motion and applications
WebAssign is a web-based homework and exam delivery, collection, grading, and recording service available to teachers and students. You will be given a user number and ID for you to log on to the system. Once you are logged on you have access to your homework assignments and/ or exams, etc. You may also ask any questions using WebAssign. You will submit your answers to any homework or exam using WebAssign. As a demo you may visit the WebAssign site at http://www.webassign.net/ and type "demo" for username, institution, and password. We recommend that you use Internet Explorer or Netscape version 4.0 or later with a 28.8 Kbps modem or better. You will be given your own username and password after signing up for the course.
Help Sessions: You are welcome to email questions at any time via WebAssign. An electronic chat room will also be available to communicate with your classmates.
Several questions per problem set. Questions will require independent thought on your part in order to answer them correctly. You are encouraged to discuss problems with one another, but you must write up your answers separately and in your own words. Points will be deducted from your problem set if you use someone else's words or allow them to use your words. Most all homework problems and exam questions will be taken from your textbook or video tapes.
Problem set 1 is due Mon. Feb. 4, 2002You will take two 2-hour closed-book exams using WebAssign on the material on the video tapes including the demos; the material in the appropriate chapters that you have been asked to read; and particularly the exercises, problems, and cases in those chapters that you have been assigned. You are expected to make arrangements with your supervisor, principal, or superintendent, to proctor your exam. Ground rules and policy for proctoring the exam will be given to you and the proctor. You must email me your proctors name, professional relationship between you, title, email address, telephone, and snail mail address. All UVa. students are bound by the UVa. Honor code. Please familiarize yourself with it in the University of Virginia Graduate Record Catalog. At the end of the exam you type on the exam "I did not receive any help" or check the appropriate box. Submit the exam via the WebAssign system. The exam will emphasize understanding of concepts so that memorization will be far less valuable for answering the questions than basic insight into how things work.
Exam 3 is the exam that you create. You make up an exam consisting of 15 multiple choice questions with 3 wrong answers and 1 right answer. The exam is submitted through email as a word attachment. You are to follow these guidelines:
You will take a three-hour, closed-book at a time convenient for you and your proctor. You will be responsible for all material on the video tapes and in the appropriate chapters that you have been asked to read as well as exercises, problems, and cases in those chapters. The exam will emphasize understanding of concepts so that memorization will be far less valuable for answering the questions than basic insight into how things work.
You must contact me before homework or an exam is due if you can not make it on time. Excuses are permitted only for illness, family illness, or death, religious holidays. Work not turned in or tests not taken will receive a zero (0 pts), far worse than a failing grade.
Do not copy the video tapes under any circumstances even if you purchase them. You may purchase video tapes containing the lectures by sending a check for $70 to Physics Stores, Department of Physics Department of Physics, 382 McCormick Rd., PO Box 400714, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4714. If you don't purchase the tapes, you must return them rewound and in good working condition before you receive your final grade.
Your course numerical grade is determined by summing your scores on the problem sets and the exams (weighted by the factors mentioned previously). Of course, each of the three grades in parenthesis is normalized to a 100. Course Numerical Grade = (Sum of 4 Problem Sets Grade) x 0.25 + (Sum of Exam1 & 2 Grades) x 0.30 +(Exam 3 grade x .15 + (Final Exam Grade) x 0.30