General Information for PHYSICS 212

Instructors: 
David McIntyre, Weniger 463, tel. 737-1696, mcintyre@ucs.orst.edu 

Prerequisites: PH 212 requires completion of PH211, MTH 252 and concurrent enrollment in MTH 254.

Texts:
Serway & Beichner, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 5^th Edition (Saunders 2000): Required

Gordon, McGrew, & Serway, Student Solutions Manual and Study Guide, Vols. 1 & 2: Optional

Core Concepts in Physics CD-ROM & Workbook (Archipelago Productions, 1998): Optional

Physics 212 Lab Manual: Required

Physics 211/212/213/314 Lab Guide: Required

Office Hours:
D. McIntyre, M 10-11, W 9-10, F 10-11

The office hours for the teaching assistants are held in Weniger 145. A schedule will be posted on the bulletin board outside that office. Please make good use of this resource, and note that any of the TA's in that room should be capable of assisting you with any questions you might have.

Web Site:
This course makes extensive use of the World Wide Web. The homepage for the course is located at http://www.physics.orst.edu/ph212. On the web site you will find this general information, the course outline, links to the online homework site, and other information. Access to the web is available from any of the student computing facilities on campus. If you need assistance, contact the computer consulting desk in the Valley Library.

Lectures:
Lecture attendance is important for successful completion of the course. Though attendance is not required, you will be responsible for all material covered as well as any announcements made during the lectures. Asking questions in class is encouraged. The 7:30pm Wednesday time slot will only be used twice for midterm exams.

Homework:
It is important to solve many problems. Physics is as much about learning to solve problems as it is about learning physical concepts. You can find many problems at the end of each chapter in Serway. We recommend that you solve as many of these as you can. The course web site has a selection of practice problems chosen from Serway. In addition, you are required to submit weekly homework that will be part of your course grade. These homework problems are available at a remote web site accessible through the course site. To access the homework, you must first register with the homework server. Clicking on the REGISTER button on the local web site will take you to the registration page. Follow the directions. You will be asked for a unique number for this course (five digits) and the access password. Both of these will be provided in class. Please enter your student ID correctly (with no dashes), so that the homework scores can be recorded properly. Please do not forget your LOGIN NAME and PERSONAL PASSWORD, since you will need these to access your homework. If you do forget them, do not reregister -- see the instructor. There will be one homework set due each week of the term. You may download and print out the homework as soon as it is available and work on it offline at your convenience. Once you have completed the homework, log back on to submit the answers. Each answer is submitted independently by pressing the OK button next to your answer choice. You can access the submit page as often as you like before the deadline, submitting as many or as few of the answers as you wish. You can resubmit answers that were incorrect; your score is decreased accordingly (be careful, it is possible to get a negative score). The deadlines for submitting the homework are listed on the site and at the top of each homework set. The site is in Texas and therefore the listed deadline time is in the Central Time Zone, not the Pacific Time Zone. Each student will receive the same problems, but will have different numbers. You may discuss the homework with your peers, but you are expected to solve and submit your particular problem on your own. Solutions to each homework set are available on the remote site as well as the course site after the deadline for that set. Point values are listed for each problem.

Laboratory:
The lab is intended to assist you with learning physics concepts by involving you in hands-on observations and measurements. The schedule of experiments is on the course outline. Please study the lab manual in advance of the laboratory. Laboratory reports following a format to be explained by your lab instructor are due at the end of the lab period. Lab attendance and satisfactory performance are mandatory. You must attend all labs, and satisfactory work must be submitted on all lab reports to get full credit for the course. If you know in advance that you will miss a lab section, please arrange to attend another section during that week. Otherwise, make-up labs may be completed during the week listed in the course outline.

Grading:
In principle, students who have the prerequisites should be able to master the material in the course and therefore earn an A. We believe that a student who scores 80% or higher in the course has essentially mastered the material and will earn an A. Lower grades are assigned as follows: 65-79% is a B, 50-64% is a C, 35-49% is a D and 0-34% is an F. We reserve the right to move the boundaries down; however, they will not be moved up.

Grading will be based on a 500 point scale. The point values for coursework are as follows: MT1: 100, MT2: 100, Homework: 100, Final: 200. If you do not satisfactorily complete all the labs, your total course score will be multiplied by the fraction of the labs that you do complete (e.g. 6/7). No +/- grades will be assigned.

Examinations:

• All exams are closed book and comprehensive, including all material from readings, labs, lecture and homework.
• The exams will consist of conceptual and problem-solving questions.
• A Formula sheet will be provided. Do not bring your own copies, they will be handed out with the exam.
• Be sure to bring your own pocket calculator. Devices with significant memory capability such as laptops, palm computers, etc. will NOT be allowed. Dictionaries will be allowed provided they are cleared with us before the exam.
• The Physics Department requires that your student ID be checked against signed exams. BRING YOUR ID TO THE EXAM.
• There are no make-up exams. If you have a problem, see the instructor before the exam. Unexcused absence will result in a zero for the exam. This includes the final.
• If you believe that an error was made in the grading of an exam question, attach a separate written explanation (with signature and ID #) and bring your complete exam to the lecture instructor within one week after the exams have been returned. Do not make any alterations or additions to the exam paper itself.
• Students occasionally cheat by bringing extra written material, copying from a friend, or changing a graded exam and then submitting it for regrading. It may be possible to get a few extra points this way, but the consequences of getting caught are very serious. We assure you that those few extra points will not have a significant effect on the rest of your life. Getting expelled from the university will.

Recitations:
You are encouraged to enroll in the recitation section PH222. This course carries one credit and consists of weekly group problem solving sessions. They are taught by experienced TA's. Grading is P/N with grades determined by the TA. An honors section is also available.

Students with Disabilities:
Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, who have any emergency medical information the instructor should know about, or who need special arrangements in the event of an evacuation, should see the instructor as soon as possible.

Academic Integrity:
All students are expected to uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity in their academic work. Section 1 of OAR 576-015-0020 in the Student Conduct Regulations lists some examples of violations of standards of academic honesty, and Section 15 of the Academic Regulations specifies the consequences.