Professor Cain                    Email: lacain@davidson.edu            Office: Dana 142

Lecture: 8:30 - 9:20 am, MWF, Dana 146
Lab Sections with Dr. Christian: 1:00 – 4:00 TTh, Dana 127

Texts: PHYSICS, 6th Edition, Douglas Giancoli, and Physlet Physics, Christian and Belloni

Course Objectives: This course is the second half of a two-semester introduction to physics. We will cover much of chapters 16 through 31 this semester and some of chapters 32 or 33 if there is time. Topics will include electricity and magnetism, electromagnetic waves, optics, relativity, and atomic and nuclear physics. The text is encyclopedic in coverage, so we will choose to omit a number of sections. We will also not cover every assigned section in class. Many sections will be left to your own reading or will be touched on in lab, while class time will be used to discuss concepts, develop understanding, do demonstrations, look at computer simulations, and work problems. Class will meet as scheduled below. The chapter assignment for each day indicates where we will probably be at that time. Reading of the text material before the lecture is a necessary part of your being able to understand the lectures. There will be brief quizzes, unannounced, at the beginning of many classes to focus you on this task. This class requires your active participation and reading the text material a number of times is part of that participation.

Course Requirements:

Attendance: Attendance in class follows the College's 25% rule. Attendance is required at reviews and all lab sessions. Each student is responsible for the material presented in class and any announcements made in class. Please mark the roll yourself each day you are present. The Honor Code governs this activity.

Homework: Questions and problems for each chapter are shown below in a suggested work schedule. These are subject to change, so the website is the authoritative site for the homework assignments. The homework is to be worked and handed in at the beginning of the period on the due date that will be assigned in class and placed on the website. Other problems may be assigned from time to time; these extra problems will be announced in class. You should expect to have homework due or to have a quiz almost every day. Problems are denoted below without an asterisk if they are to be done only by you, with any help that I can offer during office hours. Problems with an asterisk can be done with discussion among class members (including me). This discussion can be about homework strategies and solutions and is strongly encouraged; however, copying another student’s work from this class or previous classes or using published or on-line solutions to problems is an honor code violation. The work that you write down on your paper must ultimately be your own. Problems are to be pledged as having been done according to the above requirements. The word PLEDGED with your name, the date, your signature and the names of any collaborators on the outside of your folded homework paper signifies your compliance with these requirements. Homework will not be accepted late or unpledged. Unsupported answers (particularly yes or no alone) will not receive full credit. There are other questions and problems in the chapters and on the text web site that I recommend to you as being helpful to your understanding of the material.

Reviews: Reviews are closed book and will be comprised of questions and problems similar to the homework and those from class, as well as definitions, explanations of concepts and phenomena, and interpretations of physical principles. Reviews will be given in class during the regularly scheduled class time.

Laboratory: Laboratory sessions will meet on Tuesday and Thursday with Professor Christian. The lab schedule is attached as the last page of this syllabus. Specifics concerning lab will be given in the first several class periods and in the individual lab meetings.

Final Exam: The exam will be a closed-book, self-scheduled one and will be held during the regular exam period. The exam is comprehensive and will also include material from the chapters done after the last review.

Office hours: Office hours will be established during the first few class periods to benefit everyone in my two large classes as much as possible.

GRADING: Homework/Quizzes - 24%
                     Lab - 15%
                     Reviews - 36%
                     Exam - 25%