Physics 123 — Engineering Physics

Important dates Fri, Apr 6 - Last day to drop w/ full refund Fri, Apr 13 - No class Fri, Apr 20 - Last day to drop w/ 50% refund Thu, May 17 - Financial Aid repayment cutoff Fri, May 25 - Last day to drop w/ 'W' Wed, Jun 13 - Final exam 8-9:50am (estimated)

Instructor Information

• Office: Whitehorse 216
• Office hours: TWF 10-10:50am, Th 10am-12pm, and by appointment
• Office phone: 425-388-9431
• Cell phone: 206-523-6254 (Call whenever. I reserve the right to not answer.)
• Email: kwashburn@everettcc.edu

Course Information

• Lecture: TWThF 9-9:50am, WHI 248
• Course website: http://faculty.everettcc.edu/home/kwashburn/phys123
• Course description: (NS-L) Continuation of PHYS 122. Electromagnetism.
• Prerequisites: Phys 122, Phys 132 and Math 252 (or concurrent enrollment)
• Co-requisites: Phys 133

Textbook

• Knight, Randall Physics for Scientists and Engineers (2004)
  
• Knight, Randall Student Workbook for Physics for Scientists and Engineers (2004)
  
• Mastering Physics online homework system

Course Objectives

The objectives of this course are

• to learn problem solving in science and engineering;
• to understand important concepts in physics and their applications; specifically electrostatics/Coulomb's law, electric fields, currents, electric potentials, simple circuits, magnetostatics, electromagnetic waves and possibly some modern physics&mdashlspecial relativity or quantum mechanics—if time permits;
• to learn to communicate these concepts clearly.

These objectives will be achieved through the homework, demos and in-class exercises. They will be assessed using homework, exams, and participation.

Grades

A	94%
A-	90%
B+	86%
B	82%
B-	78%
C+	74%
C	70%
C-	66%
D+	62%
D	58%
D-	54%
E	0-54%

Item	Number	% total grade
Homework	10	25%
In-class exercises	—	15%
Midterms	2	30% (15% each)
Final	—	30%

The numbers in the table of grades are all lower cutoffs for the corresponding letter grades. If you are taking this class on a S/NS basis, the cutoff for an 'S' is 70%.

Here are some of the things I look for when grading:

Does your answer make physical sense? This is one way I look to see if you've understood the concepts.

Do you have the right units?

Are your explanations communicated clearly? Though this is not a writing class, good communication skills are important no matter what you do in your life. Poor grammar and spelling and illegibility may also count against you.

I award partial credit when grading if your work is clear enough for me to interpret and your answers are consistent within a given problem.

Homework

Homework will come from two sources:

• The Mastering Physics online homework system that came with your textbook. If you bought your textbook used you can purchase online access during the Mastering Physics online registration process.
        Course ID: MPWASHBURN0003
        Student ID: last four numbers of your EVCC student number
  Once you have completed this step you should see a list of assignments. Online homework is due at 11:59pm on the assigned dates.
• The textbook. Odd numbered problems will be graded based on whether all parts of the problem are complete. Even numbered problems will be graded based on correctness with partial credit awarded for following the correct problem solving methods. Solutions to textbook homework will be posted online shortly after it is due.

I encourage you to work on homework as groups; however, you should know that the numerical values for any online problem are assigned randomly by the computer; so the answer to your problem will not be the same as other students.

In-class Assignments

To help your brain be engaged during class time we will often work on physics problems during lecture. Many of these problems will use worksheets from the Student Workbook that accompanied your text book. Bring your workbook to class. Typically you will work on these in pairs or groups. The workbook problems are meant to cement your understanding of the concepts covered, as opposed to the numerical problem solving. Workbook-like and other conceptual problems will be covered on exams.

Exams

There will be two midterms and one final exam. The midterms focus on more recent material. The final exam is cumulative. Bring your own calculator.

Policies

GROUP WORK

I encourage you to work in groups and discuss results. The ability to work well in a group is an important skill. In this class you are encouraged to work in small groups on all assignments both in class and outside of class. More specifically, you are encouraged to discuss methods, graphs, results, and hypotheses. But you must still do all your own work.

CHEATING

Cheating will not be tolerated. All work you turn in must be yours — all the words, all the calculations, all the thinking. If your work looks too similar to someone else's or too closely resembles something published on paper or online I will suspect cheating and investigate it fully in accordance with the college's policies on cheating.

PLAGIARISM

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is the practice of dishonestly claiming original authorship of material which one has not actually created, such as when a person incorporates material from someone else's work into his/her own work without attributing it. Your work must be entirely yours with no part borrowed from anyone else unless specifically attributed. Plagiarism is considered cheating and is treated as described above.

LATE WORK and MISSED EXAMS

There are no make-ups for in-class assignments. The total points the homework is worth (both online and paper) decreases to zero over the course of 48 hours after the due date. Scanned-and-emailed homework will not be accepted (it's never legible!). Missed exams can be taken 1-2 days in advance if a valid excuse is provided within the first week of class.

Caveat

All information in this syllabus is subject to change by the instructor.

EvCC Resources

• EvCC Tutoring center - free tutoring for physics!
• EvCC Writing center - free writing help with your lab reports!