syllabus251

Physics 251 is part the second half of a two semester, algebra based physics sequence; it is intended primarily for students in life sciences and agricultural sciences. If you are interested in majoring in a physical science, engineering discipline or pre-med, you need to be in the Physics 211 sequence; if you are not in a science major and your major does not specifically require Physics 251, you might wish to consider Physics 001 - Conceptual Physics. If you are not certain in which course you belong, talk to me right away!

Physics 250 covered topics in classical mechanics, wave motion and oscillation and some thermodynamics; Physics 251 will cover electricity and magnetism, optics and some modern physics.

Your grade in this course will be based on the sum of the grades of the two in-class exams (100 points each), the final exam (100 points), recitation (quizzes and homework for a total of 100 points) and laboratory (100 points) -- see table below. I reserve the right to announce additional sources of points at any time during the semester (in the form of special out of class assignments) and to revise the grading table as necessary. I will always announce such changes in lecture and post them on my webpage. You are responsible for keeping up with any special assignments or changes to the grading scale if you should miss lecture.

You are expected to take the exams at the scheduled time. ``Make-up'' exams are rarely given, and only in the most extreme and well-documented case. An announcement will be made, in class, a few days before each scheduled exam concerning the exam. Note: you are allowed to bring one $8 \frac{1}{2} \times 11$ note card to each exam. You may write anything on one side only of the note card, but the note card must be hand written.

Details of the laboratory grading will be provided by the laboratory instructor at the first laboratory meeting, however, you are required to perform all laboratories! Furthermore, you need to pass both the laboratory and the lecture + recitation parts (in the same semester: it is now department policy that the laboratory and lecture parts of the course must be taken in the same semester) in order to pass the course. The laboratory activities are designed to take little out of class time. Some of the labs will, however, have a Post-Lab, intended to be completed outside of the normal laboratory period; they are not particularly difficult or time comsuming, and they are required for full credit on the associated lab.

Due to past abuses of a liberal lab make-up policy, the lab make-up policy is now stricter. If you are going to miss a lab, contact (email or phone is acceptable) your lab instructor in advance. If you have missed a lab, you are responsible for scheduling a make-up, and you will not be permitted to perform the next lab until you make up the missed lab. If you miss several consecutive labs due to an extended illness, you will not be permitted to perform the next lab until you have made a good faith effort to make-up the missed labs (i.e., arrange a reasonable schedule to make up those missed). Finally, no late labs will be accepted for grading after Wednesday of the final week of classes (8 Dec.); labs turned in later than that date will be accepted as evidence that you have performed the lab, but no grade will be assigned.

I assign Problems not Conceptual Questions; the answers to the odd-numbered problems are available in the back of the book, so I will generally assign odd-numbered problems. On occasion, though, an even-numbered problem will be interesting enough that I will assign it. Typically, I'll collect a small number (announced in class) of the assigned problems after we complete each chapter; please come prepared to turn in those problems. Quizzes will be taken directly from the assignment previously covered, and they will be open book. Note that, although I will not collect and grade all problems assignment, it is absolutely essential that you do the problem assignments! The exams will be made up of problems similar to those in the assignments, so if you haven't done the assignments, you will not do well on the exams.

I encourage you to ask questions in class, after class, or to visit me in my office. My office hours will be Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00-2:00 and Friday 10:00-11:00. During these times I will be in my office and happy to help you with any question or problems. You may also make an appointment for a different time if these times do not suit you.

Academic Integrity: All students are expected to act with civility, personal integrity; respect other students' dignity, rights and property; and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their own efforts. An environment of academic integrity is requisite to respect for self and others and a civil community.

Academic integrity includes a commitment to not engage in or tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty include cheating or copying, plagiarizing, submitting another persons' work as one's own, using Internet sources without citation, fabricating field data or citations, "ghosting" (taking or having another student take an exam), stealing examinations, tampering with the academic work of another student, facilitating other students' acts of academic dishonesty, etc.

Students charged with a breach of academic integrity will receive due process and, if the charge is found valid, academic sanctions may range, depending on the severity of the offense, from F for the assignment to F for the course.

The University's statement on academic integrity, from which the above statement is drawn, is available at http://www.psu.edu/dept/oue/aappm/G-9.html .

Day	Assignment
Jan 09	Ch 19 - Electric Charges, Forces, and Fields
	Ch 19: 3, 13, 17, 25, 33, 37, 49, 55
Jan 10	Ch 19 - Electric Charges, Forces, and Fields (continued)
Jan 11	Lab - no meeting this week
Jan 12	Ch 19 - Electric Charges, Forces, and Fields (continued)
Jan 16	Ch 20 - Electric Potential and Electric Potential Energy
	Ch 20: 7, 11, 17, 23, 27, 37, 41, 47, 53, 57
Jan 17	Ch 20 - Electric Potential and Electric Potential Energy (continued)
Jan 18	Lab - Electrostatic Field Mapping
	Drop/Add Deadline
Jan 19	Ch 20 - Electric Potential and Electric Potential Energy (continued)
Jan 23	Ch 21 - Electric Current and DC Circuits
	Ch 21: 5, 11, 13, 21, 23, 27, 29, 33, 37, 49, 51, 57, 63
Jan 24	Ch 21 - Electric Current and DC Circuits (continued)
Jan 25	Lab - Current-Voltage Characteristics of Resistive Devices
Jan 26	Ch 21 - Electric Current and DC Circuits (continued)
Jan 30	Ch 22 - Magnetism
	Ch 22: 3, 7, 13, 17, 27, 33, 39, 45, 49
Jan 30	Ch 22 - Magnetism (continued)
Feb 01	Lab - Kirchoff's Circuit Laws
Feb 02	Ch 22 - Magnetism (continued)
Feb 06	Ch 23 - Magnetic Flux and Faraday's Law of Induction
	Ch 23: 3, 7, 11, 19, 23, 29, 31, 41, 45, 51, 59
Feb 07	Ch 23 - Magnetic Flux and Faraday's Law of Induction (continued)
Feb 08	Lab - Faraday's Law and Lenz's Law
Feb 09	Ch 23 - Magnetic Flux and Faraday's Law of Induction (continued)
Feb 13	Ch 24 - AC Circuits
	Ch 24: 3, 9, 17, 21, 23, 29, 33, 43, 45 55
Feb 14	Ch 24 - AC Circuits (continued)
Feb 15	Lab - Exam 1 (Chapters 19-23)
Feb 16	Ch 24 - AC Circuits (continued)
Feb 20	Ch 25 - Electromagnetic Waves
	Ch 25: 7, 9, 15, 19, 25, 29, 41, 47, 57, 65, 67
Feb 21	Ch 25 - Electromagnetic Waves (continued)
Feb 22	Lab - AC Series Circuits
Feb 23	Ch 25 - Electromagnetic Waves (continued)
Feb 27	Ch 26 - Geometric Optics
	Ch 26: 1, 5, 7, 17, 21, 29, 37, 43, 57, 61, 65, 71
Feb 28	Ch 26 - Geometric Optics (continued)
Mar 01	Lab - Electromagnetic Waves
Mar 02	Ch 26 - Geometric Optics (continued)
Mar 06	Spring Break!
Mar 07	Spring Break!
Mar 08	Spring Break!
Mar 09	Spring Break!
Mar 13	Ch 27 - Optical Instruments
	Ch 27: 3, 9, 17, 25, 33, 45, 49, 55, 63
Mar 14	Ch 27 - Optical Instruments (continued)
Mar 15	Lab - The Optics of the Eye
Mar 16	Ch 27 - Optical Instruments (continued)
Mar 20	Ch 28 - Physical Optics: Interference and Diffraction
	Ch 28: 1, 5, 13, 19, 25, 35, 39, 43, 47, 51, 55, 61
Mar 21	Ch 28 - Physical Optics: Interference and Diffraction (continued)
Mar 22	Lab - Exam 2 (Chapters 24-27)
Mar 23	Ch 28 - Physical Optics: Interference and Diffraction (continued)
Mar 27	Ch 29 - Relativity
	Ch 29: 3, 9, 15, 23, 31, 35, 41, 45, 53, 57, 65
Mar 28	Ch 29 - Relativity (continued)
Mar 29	Lab - Reflection and Refraction
Mar 30	Ch 29 - Relativity (continued)
Apr 03	Ch 30 - Quantum Physics
	Ch 30: 3, 9, 11, 19, 27, 31, 35, 41, 47, 51, 59, 61, 67
Apr 04	Ch 30 - Quantum Physics (continued)
Apr 05	Lab - Electron Charge to Mass Ratio
Apr 06	Ch 30 - Quantum Physics (continued)
Apr 07	Late Drop Deadline
Apr 10	Ch 31 - Atomic Physics
	Ch 31: 3, 7, 11, 17, 23, 29, 33, 35, 41, 51, 53
Apr 11	Ch 31 - Atomic Physics (continued)
Apr 12	Lab - Emission Spectra and the Grating Spectrometer
Apr 13	Ch 31 - Atomic Physics (continued)
Apr 17	Ch 32 - Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Radiation
	Ch 32: 1, 5, 13, 17, 23, 27, 31, 35, 39, 41, 45, 47, 51, 53
Apr 18	Ch 32 - Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Radiation (continued)
Apr 19	Lab - no meeting this week
Apr 20	Ch 32 - Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Radiation (continued)
Apr 24	T.B.A.
Apr 25	T.B.A.
Apr 26	Lab - Planck's Constant
Apr 27	T.B.A.
May 01	FINAL EXAM Chapters 28-32; 1:00-2:50

Grade	Points
A	465-500
A	450-464
B+	435-449
B	415-434
B	400-414
C+	385-399
C	350-384
D	300-349
F	000-299