The Lecture:

If you have a question about the lecture during the lecture and you do not feel that it will be beneficial to the class you can ask your classmate sitting next to you. However, I will expect that you will ask your classmate the question at a volume level that does not interrupt the class. In general I will follow the outline that I have provided. During the lecture we may deviate from the outline in order to make a point or to make a physical principle clear. In general my lectures will not follow the book. My lectures are designed to give you another angle from which to approach the interpretation of physical principles that are in the text. I recommend that you read the appropriate chapter in the text before coming to class. And after the lecture read the chapter a second time. This technique will help solidify the import physical principles which will by tied together by reason in physics problem solving. I will make use of the university's stockpile of demonstrations whenever I feel that such a visual aid will enhance the lecture. If you have a question during the lecture you are permitted to interrupt me politely. Since there is a large group of students please limit your questions to those that are about the material at hand. If everybody were to ask a question the rate at which we cover material will be retarded. It is in your best interest to keep questions to a minimum during the lecture because the exam will come when it is scheduled. For questions that do not pertain to the subject of the lecture please see me during office hours or send me an email. I will reply as soon as I can.

Class meeting Time:

Lecture schedule and exam schedule

Lecture Attendance:

I will expect everybody to be here each day. I am aware that life gets in the way of coming to class sometimes and when it does know that you are responsible for getting the notes from the lecture that you missed. It is extremely important for you to attend the lectures because I do not follow the text book's outline verbatim. I will often do problems that are similar or not found in your book as examples in class. You will also find that the exams that I write are based on the lectures. If you come to class and take good, clear notes. You should have no problem doing very well on the exams. Often, I will announce important problems to study and important dates of up coming events such as quizzes and exams.

Homework:

The assigned homework problems will be due in most cases well after we have covered the material in class. It is possible that we may slow down and speed up during the course of the semester. However, the dues dates will still stand. There have been instances where I will extend homework due dates and things of this nature. I will not make homework due date extensions for you in WA unless extraordinary circumstances are documented and presented to me in writing. In other words I will not accept homework after the due date. No exceptions . In order to maintain a level of fairness with respect to homework grading procedures, we will use Webassign (WA). This program will allow us to make sure that every problem in each set of homework that you do will be graded. Homework submission will take place online at www.webassign.net . The alternative to using WA is to have the T.A.'s grade every fith problem which opens up a whole can of worms with respect to grades best reflecting your hard work . Important: If you are taking a class already that uses Webassign then I will need to have your user name and password for that class so that I can make this class accessible to you through Webassign.

You are required to write out the homework problems assigned by me in Webassign and turn them into your T.A. for review the week directly before the exam for each exam including the final. This effort on your part will contribute to 10% of your grade.

Quizzes:

In general there will be quizzes assigned by myself and or the T.A. Your finished quizzes are to be turned in to the T.A. only. I will not accept them. Because Murphy's Law is in full swing, for your benefit, you are required to make a copy of each quiz. It is possible that your quizzes may be lost by your T.A. If this happens it is your responsibility to provide another copy of the quiz in order to receive a grade for that missing quiz. In the event that an exam should come up and you're T.A. has not graded your quiz the copy you made will be available to you to study.

Quiz schedule

Exams:

In general I do not curve individual exams. However, I may curve the final grades only after all the exams have been taken. There will be two in class exams and a final exam that will be cumulative. Please rearrange your schedule so that you can take the exams on the dates given in the course schedule. There will be no make-up exams unless absences are caused by illness, death, religious observances or participation in University activities at the request of University authorities. Any excuses must be formally documented. If a valid excuse for missing an exam is presented to me, a make-up exam will be scheduled that is completely different from the exam given in class that you missed in most cases slightly more difficult. If class is canceled because of snow or any other reason, the exam will be given the next day of class. The spirit of the exam will reflect the physical principles that we discuss. The exams will not be cookie cutter, homework problems. So, do not expect to see homework problems on the exams. It is possible that a homework problem may appear but in general this will not be the case. Quizzes and problems that are covered in lecture are more likely to become exam problems. I will do my absolute best to make sure that there are no ambiguous problems on the exam. During the exam I will not answer any questions that have anything to do with the calculation of the problem. We will follow the seating chart provided by the physics lecture demonstration department. At the bottom of the first page of your exam you will see the declaration of honor. It reads as follows: “I pledge to my honor that I have not given nor received any unauthorized assistance on this examination.” I expect you to write this out and sign your name under it in the box provided. All exams will be copied by the physics department for your convenience in the event that an exam is lost. I will keep the original and the copy will be returned to you. All instances of suspected or direct cheating will be reported to the honor council. Cheating is an extremely serious matter and will not be taken lightly. Make up exams will be given one week before the final exam. And the makeup exam will be more challenging than the normal scheduled exam. I will discuss exam grade exactly one week, from the scheduled exam, on that day only.

Exam Schedule

How to study for exams:

Study the problems that I use as examples in class. When you study the problems that I do in class I suggest that you redo the problem and then redo the problem two more times substituting different constant values into the equations. And more importantly reason through your result. For instance: Newtonian mechanics will allow for infinite energies and velocities. Einstein was able to bound velocities by the speed of light. If you were to obtain a velocity for an object that was greater than the speed of light using Newtonian mechanics. Immediately you should stop and check your calculation. This is an example of reasoning through your result. You may also extend your solutions criticism by asking the questions: Is the answer in the correct units? Does this make sense physically? Is the answer a vector or a scalar quantity? The chapter examples in the book are good for practice and grasping the mechanics of solving problems. Same goes for homework problems. However, they are not the driving force or particularly inspiring to me when I write exams. I will write exams that attempt to tie the physical concepts together. Sample exams can be found here. I will sometimes say “this is a good problem to study”. Listen to me in class I will give you all kinds of hints as to what I am considering to put on the exam. Reference other physics text books and look up specific subjects online. It is not only a good idea to make a copy of your quizzes it is required. This ensures that you will always have a copy handy when you begin to study for exams.

Grading: Quizzes=15%, Webassign HW=15%, Written HW=10%%, 2-Regular Exams=20% each, final exam=20%.

A message from the Honor council:

The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students.  As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course.  It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism.  For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.studenthonorcouncil.umd.edu/whatis.html .

Useful Links:

 http://www.physics.umd.edu/ (Physics home)

http://www.testudo.umd.edu/ScheduleOfClasses.html (Schedule of classes)

http://www.testudo.umd.edu/soc/examspring.html (Final exam Schedule)

http://www.testudo.umd.edu/acad_cal/spring_2006.html (Academic Schedule)