Physics 104, General Physics

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Welcome to Physics 104, General Physics for science and engineering students! I will be teaching the precepts meeting in McDonnell 104 at 9 and 10 AM, which are classes 1 and 6, respectively. The purpose of the course is to continue your study of basic physics needed for further study in science and engineering, and to develop a logical, quantitative approach to problem solving. This semester will concentrate on electricity and magnetism. You will need to use all of the concepts learned in the previous semester, and will be expected to have a built some facility with calculus and vectors, which will be used extensively.

Course Structure

All students in Physics 104 will meet in a big lecture by the course director, Prof. Meyers, every Tuesday. You may consider Tuesday as the beginning of the "course week". On Wednesday, Friday, and Monday, you will separate into groups of approximately 20 students for precepts. Each student should also be registered for a laboratory section. You should expect to put a lot of time into this course. The structure of the course will encourage you to read and work problems actively throughout the week, which is the key to success.

In the precepts, you will have a chance to discuss the course material and problems in a more interactive setting. You will benefit most if you come prepared with questions and participate actively in in-class problem solving. Although we do not plan to set aside one day per week working problems in groups, you can expect that we may do this occasionally. This semester, most of the topics will span more than one week, so lectures are not necessarily the beginning of a new subject, and the scheduling of the precepts will be correspondingly more flexible.

Exams

There will be four in-class exams throughout the semester, and a final exam.

To do well on the exam, you must understand the material at a conceptual level, and know how to set up and work problems based on these concepts. The homework will prepare you for this if you work it thoughtfully. The goal is to be able to generalize what you have learned so that you can apply it in new situations.

Working the homework problems builds your analytical strength so that you should be able to do this successfully when exam time comes. Just being able to reproduce solutions to problems you have already worked, or seen someone else work, is not a meaningful understanding of physics, and not enough to do well on the exams. The exams are not just about repeating what you have learned in the past. If you think you have understood everything and have done well on the homework, but find the exams very difficult, you may need to put more effort into the set-up stages of the problems, and perhaps work more problems without assistance, so that you will be able to generalize what you learned to new situations.

Partial credit is normally given on the exams if you show you know the concepts and make a good attempt at applying them to the situation given. Keep in mind that you must show clearly what you are doing to get credit. You may lose points for a correct answer if it is not adequately justified. Be sure to show the equations you are using, and draw clear and relevant diagrams when applicable. Some words may help if you want to be sure your intention is understood. Remember, exams are all about communicating what you know.

Reading

Each week, you will be given a reading assignment which is correlated with the week's lecture. You should try to do the reading before the lecture, since this will make the lecture much more meaningful. You should consider reading to be a primary means of learning the material (together with working the problems), and an essential part of preparing for meaningful class participation. You simply cannot learn most of what you need to succeed in this course inside the classroom. You will probably find that this is true of every course you are likely to take at Princeton. The goal of reading is deep understanding, not just to extract a list of new vocabulary and equations. Think actively about the examples. Your understanding is enhanced if you reread the material after trying some of the problems, since it will be more meaningful after you have had first-hand experience in applying the concepts. You may find the material in the textbook's online supplement helpful.

Homework

Every week, there will be two homework sets due. These are done using WebAssign. Since the topics in 104 typically span more than one week, there is not a simple division between easy and hard sets, as there was last semester. You should not expect to gain much understanding if you just sit at the computer and type in answers from your calculator. Every problem should be worked on paper, including plenty of drawings. You should save your work to review as you prepare for exams.

Some people will find that they need assistance in solving the problem, or find it useful to work in groups. You are encouraged to take advantage of office hours if you would like personal assistance outside of class. Keep in mind that if you come to office hours, I will not work the problems for you, but will try to help you build a more effective strategy. If you work in a group, remember that your group can't help you on an exam. You must know how to solve every problem from the beginning, so that you will develop the skills needed to apply the concepts to new situations. Simply reading another person's solution will not get you to this level. Using someone else's equations without understanding them is a road to failure. The more work you can do on your own, the better. No one can learn to solve problems for you. It requires a certain amount of false starts and frustration to develop these skills, so do not give up too easily.

Laboratory

All students must be in a laboratory section and attend every week. If you will miss a lab, you must make arrangements to attend a different session the same week, or present an acceptable excuse. Otherwise you will get a zero that week, because laboratories cannot be made up in a different week.