PHY205 Syllabus Summer 2019 PDF

Preview

Summary

syllabus...

Description

Summer 2019 Course Syllabus for:

PHY205 Physics of Everyday Life Dr. Brian Wilson Office: MP129D [email protected] Course Description: An introduction to the physics of everyday life. This conceptual course looks at everyday objects to learn about the basis for our modern technological world. Topics may include anything from automobiles to weather. The purpose of this course, as I see it, is to give you an introduction to how scientists think, and how they approach problems. Physics is one of the oldest sciences, and in some ways it is the most simple. Physicists start with a big, messy problem and they first simplify it as much as they possibly can. Only then do they try to analyze the situation. They then gradually introduce more complications, one at a time, until they eventually end up with a very complicated model. While we will not be going into the deep end of the pool of mathematics for this course (the focus will be on the concepts which are embodied in the mathematics), we will see some of the more simple equations and we will discover how simple concepts can interact to describe complicated phenomena. You will want to have a calculator which you are comfortable using. By the end of this course you will be able to use basic concepts from physics to explain and predict simple situations. You will also be able to describe basic concepts from physics and explain how and when they are useful. Finally, you will be able to look at a complicated system (like a car) and be able to describe a couple of basic concepts which together form a simple model of the system. Lectures: Please respect others, including the professor, in the classroom. Turn your cell phones to silent mode. Do not play ‘Angry Birds’ or watch TV shows unless you’re in the back row where you will not distract others. Lectures will be structured assuming that you have read the textbook before coming to lecture. If you spend 15 minutes per week reading the textbook you will get a lot more out of the lectures. Course Material: Recommended textbook: Conceptual Physics (12th edition) by Paul Hewitt. Copies should be available at the bookstore. If you have a copy of a previous edition that will suffice. A calculator will be useful. You will not need an expensive one. If you are good at basic arithmetic, you might be able to do the exam without a calculator. If you wish to get credit for class participation, you will need a licence for the TopHat software, and a device such as a smart phone to use the software during class. Class participation is optional.

1

Course Pre-requisites and Exclusions There are no pre-requisites for this course. There are exclusions for this course. If you have taken PHY131, PHY132, PHY151, PHY152, or equivalent courses from other universities, or if you have a transfer credit for physics, then you will be removed from this course. This course is meant for non-science students who want to learn a little physics for fun. Course Website: The course website is on Canvas, which can be found from Quercus. Meeting Times: Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-4, in MP129D Lectures: 4 hours a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-3 in MP103) Tutorials: 2 hours a week (Tuesdays OR Thursdays 3-5 in MP126) E-mail: I try to answer e-mails within 48 hours (excluding weekends and holidays). If I do not, please send a follow up e-mail. Please note that it is not always easy to answer a physics question by e-mail. Assessment: Final Exam: Tutorial Quizzes: 5 Independent Papers: Class participation:

40% 20% in total 35% in total 5% (optional)

If your final exam grade is better than your class participation grade then your exam will be worth 45% of your grade and the class participation will be worth 0%. Exam: The final exam will draw from the lectures, tutorials and textbook. This could include material presented in the lectures or tutorial material that is not covered in the textbook. It could also include assigned reading material that was covered in the textbook but not explicitly discussed in lectures. You will be allowed to bring a single page (8.5 x 11), double sided, and hand-written (no photocopies) for the exam. This aid sheet must be your personal aid sheet. This aid sheet can have whatever you wish. You will also be permitted to bring a translation dictionary to the test and exam. You may bring a calculator.

2

Tutorial Quizzes: Attendance at tutorials is mandatory. At the end of the tutorial, if you have been present for the tutorial, you will write a short quiz based on the material that was covered in that tutorial. Details about the quiz will be presented in class. Independent Papers: There will be 5 independent papers you must submit. Each paper should be 200-300 words, possibly with a picture or two. You will submit the reports electronically through the course website on Canvas. You will also submit it using Turnitin.com. The late penalty for the projects is 10% per day. Your four (4) best papers are worth 8% each, and your worst paper is worth 3%, for a total of 35% of your final grade. More information about the papers will be made available on Canvas. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence! If your report includes pictures which you did not create yourself, you need to indicate where you got them (for example, what website you downloaded them from). If you copy sentences or paragraphs, you must put quotation marks around everything you copied, and then reference where you found it. The assumption is that everything which you do not explicitly reference as being the work of someone else is your own work. Failure to reference the work of others is the equivalent of theft or counterfeiting. It is a serious offence to copy the work of another student. It is an equally serious offence to allow someone else to copy your work. Please do not show another student your writing. If you wish to collaborate, that is acceptable, but you should do it verbally. Normally, students will be required to submit their course essays to Turnitin.com for a review of textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In doing so, students will allow their essays to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site. Class Participation We will be using the Top Hat (www.tophat.com) classroom response system in class. You will be able to submit answers to in-class questions using Apple or Android smartphones and tablets, laptops, or through text message. Note that class participation is entirely optional. An email invitation will be sent to you soon, but if don’t receive this email, you can register by simply visiting our course website below. The join code for your course is the last 6 digits in the URL. https://app.tophat.com/e/561574 Should you require assistance with Top Hat at any time, due to the fact that they require specific user information to troubleshoot these issues, please contact their Support Team directly by way of email ([email protected]), the in app support button, or by calling 1-888-663-5491. You get 3 points for answering a question. If a question has a correct answer you will get an additional point for answering it correctly. At the end of the course, your score will be calculated 3

out of 3 times the number of questions asked. You get full credit if you answer every question, even if you are never correct. Every three questions you correctly answer lets you miss one question without penalty. You cannot get more than 100% credit for the class participation. Acknowledgement of Traditional Lands We wish to acknowledge this land on which the University of Toronto operates. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land. Mental Health and Wellness As a university student, you may experience a range of health and/or mental health issues that may result in significant barriers to achieving your personal and academic goals. The University of Toronto offers a wide range of free and confidential services and programs that may be able to assist you. We encourage you to seek out these resources early and often. Student Life Website: http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca Health and Wellness Website: http://studentlife.utoronto.ca/hwc If, at some point during the year, you find yourself feeling distressed and in need of more immediate support, visit the Feeling Distressed Webpage: http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/feeling-distressed for more campus resources. Off campus, immediate help is available 24/7 through Good2Talk, a post-secondary student helpline at 1-866-925-5454. Finally, almost every student experiences stress and/or anxiety at some point, commonly before tests and exams. Unfortunately, being stressed and/or anxious can make it more difficult to perform well on a test. Fortunately, your brain is part of your body, so doing something which relaxes your body will also help relax your brain, improving test performance. Again, the student life website can be helpful. One resource can be found at: https://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/mf/yoga Accommodations If you have a learning need requiring an accommodation the University of Toronto recommends that students immediately register at Accessibility Services at http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/as. Location: 4th floor of 455 Spadina Avenue, Suite 400 Voice: 416-978-8060 Fax: 416-978-5729 Email: [email protected] The University of Toronto supports accommodations of students with special learning needs, which may be associated with learning disabilities, mobility impairments, functional/fine motor disabilities, acquired brain injuries, blindness and low vision, chronic health conditions, addictions, deafness and hearing loss, psychiatric disabilities, communication disorders and/or temporary disabilities,

4

such as fractures and severe sprains, recovery from an operation, serious infections or pregnancy complications. As the instructor of this course, you are also invited to communicate with me at any time about your learning needs. Confidentiality of learning needs is respectfully and strictly maintained. Equity, Diversity and Inclusion At the University of Toronto, we strive to be an equitable and inclusive community, rich with diversity, protecting the human rights of all persons, and based upon understanding and mutual respect for the dignity and worth of every person. We seek to ensure to the greatest extent possible that all students enjoy the opportunity to participate as they see fit in the full range of activities that the University offers, and to achieve their full potential as members of the University community. Our support for equity is grounded in an institution-wide commitment to achieving a working, teaching, and learning environment that is free of discrimination and harassment as defined in the Ontario Human Rights Code. In striving to become an equitable community, we will also work to eliminate, reduce or mitigate the adverse effects of any barriers to full participation in University life that we find, including physical, environmental, attitudinal, communication or technological. Our teaching, scholarship and other activities take place in the context of a highly diverse society. Reflecting this diversity in our own community is uniquely valuable to the University as it contributes to the diversification of ideas and perspectives and thereby enriches our scholarship, teaching and other activities. We will proactively seek to increase diversity among our community members, and it is our aim to have a student body and teaching and administrative staffs that mirror the diversity of the pool of potential qualified applicants for those positions. We believe that excellence flourishes in an environment that embraces the broadest range of people, that helps them to achieve their full potential, that facilitates the free expression of their diverse perspectives through respectful discourse, and in which high standards are maintained for students and staff alike. An equitable and inclusive learning environment creates the conditions for our student body to maximize their creativity and their contributions, thereby supporting excellence in all dimensions of the institution.

5...