Syllabus
PHY2053 - Physics I Spring 2010
Instructors
Prof. Ho-Bun Chan – Ph. 392-6691
Office: NPB 2360, Office hours T5,R4 & by appointment.
Prof. Peter Hirschfeld – Ph. 392-8749
Office: NPB 2156, Office hours T4,R5 & by appointment.
Coordinator
Prof. Darin Acosta, Ph. 392-3144
Office: NPB 2035, Office hours TBD & by appointment, email:
ilovephysics@phys.ufl.edu
Only e-mails to ilovephysics@phys.ufl.edu concerning the course will receive a response.
E-mail to the instructor’s direct accounts will be ignored. Emails must originate from
students’ ufl.edu accounts, or they will be ignored.
Textbook: The required text is Serway and Vuille, COLLEGE PHYSICS WITH
WEBASSIGN, Publisher: CENGAGE Edition: 8TH VOL1, ISBN: 0495760897 (Note
that this ISBN number is unique to the University of Florida and is sold only at local
bookstores. The text includes a code used for the required on-line homework.) There
will also be an optional course packet, sold by the Society of Physics Students. This
course packet contains photocopies of old Phy2053 exams. Many students find it to be a
useful study guide. A student solution manual to accompany Serway and Vuille is also
available.
Lectures and Discussion sections: By enrolling in PHY 2053, you have been scheduled
to attend four class meetings each week. Two meetings (Tuesday and Thursday, 2nd or
3rd period) will be in NPB 1001 -- this is the lecture portion of the course. The other two
meetings are in your discussion section, a small gathering of 20 - 30 of your fellow
students with a TA as discussion leader. Your discussion leader will tell you his/her
policies for the operation of his/her section. Roughly once/week a closed-book & note
quiz will be administered, of which the two lowest grades will be dropped.
Homework: Homework will be assigned, collected, and graded entirely online on the
Webassign site. No paper homework will be accepted or graded. There will be
homework due each week on Wednesday 2am (i.e. “late Tuesday night”!). “15% drop
policy”: 85% correct homework will be sufficient to obtain a full score for the homework
component of the course.
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Exams: There will be two midterm exams with 20 problems each. The final exam will
be comprehensive and compulsory. It will have 20 problems. A formula sheet and a
calculator will be allowed for each exam subject to the following conditions:
Formula sheet: Both sides of a single, letter sized (8.5”x11”) paper in your own
handwriting, no copies, no printed material.
Calculator: All calculators allowed provided they are NOT communication devices.
Clicker quizzes: One clicker question per lecture will be graded, 2 points for correct, 1
for incorrect, 0 for no answer. You will receive an email with your clicker quiz grades
approximately once/week. As with homework, 85% clicker score will count as full score
for this component of the course.
Grading policy:
The grade for this class will be calculated as follows:
Homework
15%
Discussion section
20%
2 midterm exams 20% each
40%
Clicker quizzes, (We will use H-ITT
clickers/remotes to gather student response to
in-class quizzes. For details and clicker
registration, click here.)
5%
Final exam
20%
The letter grade scale is:
A
85% and above
A-
81% to 84.99%
B+
77% to 80.99%
B
70% to 76.99%
B-
67% to 69.99%
C+
64% to 66.99%
C
60% to 64.99%
C-
58% to 59.99%
D+
55% to 57.99%
D
52% to 54.99%
D-
50% to 51.99%
E
Below 50%
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Grading formula. Details of the calculation of your grade can be found here.
E-learning. Exam grades will be posted on E-learning.
Send email only from your gatorlink accounts to ilovephysics@phys.ufl.edu. We
cannot respond to other email addresses because we cannot be sure about the identity of
the sender. E-learning will be used to display exam and quiz grades.
Make-up policy
In general, make-ups will not be allowed, subject to all University regulations currently
in force. If you feel there is a legitimate reason for varying this policy, you should bring
it, and any supporting documentation, to our attention (via an email to
ilovephysics@phys.ufl.edu) well prior to the event to be missed. Students missing one of
the in-term examinations for an approved reason will be allowed to take a cumulative
makeup exam to be administered during the last week of term.
Students with disabilities
Students who require accommodation for disabilities must first contact the Dean of
Students Office. That office will provide documentation, which the student must bring to
his/her instructors during the first week of the semester.
Academic honesty:
Each student is expected to hold himself/herself to a high standard of academic honesty.
Under the UF academic honesty policy, unauthorized assistance or the use of
unauthorized resources is strictly forbidden on work-for-credit. You are to work alone on
all graded assignments. This includes exams and online homework. Fabrication or
falsification of excuses or related documentation is also a violation of the UF academic
honesty policy. See http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/students.html.
Violations of this policy will be dealt with severely. There will be no warnings or
exceptions.
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