Schedule -- Redish

You can find an overview of the readings for this class (plus readings I am not assigning) at: Working Content I

Notes: This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Reading Assignments are online; commentary in WebAssign is due 10 AM the morning of the lecture. Assignments are due Friday at 5PM.

The content column links to slides from the PowerPoint presentation used in class. They will be posted either just before or just after the class takes place. Note that these slides only represent a skeleton of the presentation and do not include solutions to problems and questions posed, derivations, or representations of class discussions. If you miss a class, these notes do not suffice to fill you in on what happened! Be sure to check with someone who actually attended. The files are Adobe PDF files.

 

Date Class Reading   Content Lab

Week 1

 Recitation: Survey Lab: Survey
9/3 1

1 Introduction to the class
1.1 The disciplines: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Math
1.1.1 Science as making models
1.1.4 What Physics can do for Biologists
1.2 Thinking about Thinking and Knowing
1.2.1 The nature of scientific knowledge

Why is this class different? Survey
9/5 2

2. Modeling with mathematics
2.1 Using math in science
2.1.1 How math in science is different from math in math
2.1.2 Measurement
2.1.3 Dimensions and units
2.1.3.1 Complex dimensions and dimensional analysis
2.1.3.2 Changing units
2.1.4 Estimation 
2.1.4.1 Useful numbers

Measurement and Math: Dimensions and Units

Week 2

 Recitation:
How big is a worm?		 Lab 0:
Survey and Intro
9/10 3 I-1 Interlude 1: The Main Question: How do things move?
3 Kinematics: Where and When?
3.1.1 Coordinates
3.1.2 Vectors
3.1.3 Time 
3.1.4 Kinematics Graphs

Coordinates, graphs, and vectors

 Quiz 1
9/12 4 2.2.5 Values, change, and rates of change
2.2.5.1 Derivatives
2.2.5.1.1 What is a derivative, anyway?
3.2 Kinematic Variables
3.2.1 Velocity
3.2.1.1 Average velocity
3.2.1.2 Instantaneous velocity
3.2.1.3 Calculating with average velocity

Rate of change and velocity -- instantaneous and average

Week 3

 Recitation:
The cat and the antelope		 Lab 1:
Quantifying motion from Images and Videos
9/17 5 3.2.2 Acceleration
3.2.2.1 Average acceleration
3.2.2.2 Instantaneous acceleration
3.2.2.3 Calculating with constant acceleration
4.1 Newton's Laws
4.1.1 Physical content of Newton's Laws

Graphs & consistency; acceleration

 Quiz 2
9/19 6 4.1.1.1 Object egotism:
4.1.1.2 Inertia
4.1.1.3 Interactions
4.1.1.4 Superposition:
4.1.1.5 Mass
4.1.1.6 Reciprocity

Physical content of Newton's laws

Week 4

 Recitation:
Forces for objects & systems
 Lab 1:
Quantifying motion from Images and Videos
9/24 7 4.1.2.2 Newton 0
4.1.2.2.1 Free-body diagrams
4.1.2.2.2 System Schema Introduction
4.1.2.4 Newton's 2nd law 
4.1.2.4.1 Reading the content in Newton's 2nd law 
4.1.2.4.2 Newton 2 as a stepping rule
4.1.2.4.2.1 Newton 2 on a spreadsheet

What's a force? Newton 0 & 1

 Quiz 3
9/26 8 4.1.2.5 Newton's 3rd law 
4.1.2.5.1 Using system schemas for Newton's 3rd law
4.1.2 Formulation of Newton's Laws as foothold principles
4.1.2.1 Quantifying impulse and force

Newton 2 and 3

Week 5

 Recitation:
The spring constant of DNA		 Lab 2:
Inferring force characteristics from motion analysis
10/1 9 4.2 Kinds of Forces
4.2.1 Springs 
4.2.1.1 Realistic springs
4.2.1.2 Normal forces
4.2.1.2.1 A simple model of solid matter
4.2.1.3 Tension forces 
4.2.2 Resistive forces
4.2.2.1 Friction

Forces: Springs, tension, normal, and friction forces

 Quiz 4
10/3 10  

MIDTERM 1

Week 6

 Recitation:
Motion of a paramecium		 Lab 2:
Inferring force characteristics from motion analysis
10/8 11 4.2.2.2 Viscosity
4.2.2.3 Drag

Go over midterm,
Springs
10/10 12

4.2.3 Gravitational forces
4.2.3.1 Flat-earth gravity
4.2.3.1.1 Free-fall in flat-earth gravity
4.2.3.3 The gravitational field

Viscosity and drag,
Gravity

Week 7

 Recitation:
Electrostatic force and Hydrogen bonds
 Lab 3:
Observing Brownian motion
10/15 13 4.2.4 Electric forces
4.2.4.1 Charge and the structure of matter
4.2.4.2 Polarization
4.2.4.3 Coulomb's law 

Electric force and polarization

 Quiz 5
10/17 14 4.2.4.3.1 Coulomb's law -- vector character
4.2.4.3.2 Reading the content in Coulomb's law
4.2.4.4 The Electric field 

Coulomb's law

 

Week 8

 Recitation:
Electrophoresis		 Lab 3:
Observing Brownian motion
10/22 15 4.3 Coherent vs. random motion
4.3.1 Linear momentum
4.3.1.1 Restating Newton's 2nd law: momentum
4.3.1.2 Momentum conservation

Coherent motion: Momentum and Momentum conservation

 Quiz 6
10/24 16 4.3.2 The role of randomness: Biological implications
4.3.2.1 Diffusion and random walks
4.3.2.2 Fick's law

Random motion and emergence

Week 9

 Recitation:
Gas properties and pressure		 Lab 3:
Observing Brownian motion
10/29 17

5. Macro models of matter
5.1.1 Density-solids
5.1.2 Young's modulus
5.1.6 Soft matter
5.1.6.1 Mechanical properties of cells

Diffusion -- Fick's law

 Quiz 7
10/31 18 5.2 Fluids
5.2.1 Pressure
7.1 Kinetic theory: the ideal gas law

Basics of fluids:
kinetic theory

Week 10

 Recitation:
Diffusion in cells		 Lab 4:
The competition between Brownian motion and directed forces
11/5 19

3.1.2.3 The gradient: a vector derivative
5.2.2 Archimedes' Principle
5.2.3 Buoyancy
5.2.5.2.1 Surface tension

Pressure

 Quiz 8
11/7 20   MIDTERM 2

Week 11

 Recitation:
Fluid flow 		Lab 4:
The competition between Brownian motion and directed forces
11/12 21

Go over midterm
Intro to fluids, Buoyancy
11/14 22

5.2.6 Fluid flow
5.2.6.1 Quantifying fluid flow
5.2.6.2 The continuity equation
5.2.6.3 Internal flow -- the HP equation

Fluids: Statics and flow

Week 12

 Recitation: Lab 5:
Motion and Work in living systems
11/19 23 6. Energy: The Quantity of Motion
6.1 Kinetic energy and the work-energy theorem
6.1.1 Reading the content in the Work-Energy theorem
6.2 Energy of place -- potential energy

Work and kinetic energy

 Quiz 9
11/21 24
6.2.1 Gravitational potential energy
6.2.2 Spring potential energy
6.2.3 Electric potential energy

Potential energy

Week 13

 Recitation: No labs
11/26 25 6.3 The conservation of mechanical energy
6.3.1 Interpreting mechanical energy graphs
6.3.2 Mechanical energy loss -- thermal energy
6.3.3 Forces from potential energy		  

Energy conservation

 Quiz 10

Week 14

 Recitation: Lab 5:
Motion and Work in living systems
12/3 26 6.4.1 Energy at the sub-molecular level
6.4.2 Atomic and Molecular forces
6.4.2.1 Interatomic forces
6.4.2.2 Chemical bonding

Energy examples

 Quiz 11
12/5 27 5.3 Heat and temperature
5.3.2 Thermal properties of matter
5.3.2.1 Thermal energy and specific heat
5.3.2.2 Heat capacity
5.3.2.3 Heat transfer

Electric PE and molecular forces

Week 15

 Recitation: Makeup labs
12/10 28 I-2: Interlude 2: The Micro to Macro Connection
7. Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics
7.3 The 1st law of thermodynamics
7.4.1 Why we need a 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
Snow day  
12/12 29 No reading for the last day

Heat and temperature

Exam Week
12/18 Time: 6:30-8:30 PM FINAL EXAM Location:
Chemistry 1407
University of Maryland

Contact

Edited by E.F. Redish and W. Losert August 2013