Physics
Southwest College
PHYS 1401- College Physics I
CRN 91626 - Spring 2016
Southwest College Scarella Center - Room W 110,S103| 5:30- 8:30 pm | Fri/Sat
3 Hour Lecture and 3 Hour Labcourse / 96 hours per semester/ 16 Weeks
Instructor: Valentina Torskaya
Instructor Contact Information: valentina.torskaya@hccs.edu
Office location and hours
Office hours by appointment. Please feel free to contact me via email concerning any
problems that you are experiencing in this course. You do not need to wait until you
have received a poor grade before asking for my assistance.
Course Description
PHYS 1401Core Curriculum Course
Non-calculus based course for medical related majors, architecture majors,
technology majors, and other non-engineering and non-science majors. Topics
include motion and forces, work and energy, momentum and collision, and the
thermal properties of matter. Laboratory exercises include selected related
experiments on these topics.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites: MATH 1314, 1316; Must also be placed into GUST 0341 (or higher) in
reading.
Course Goal
The main goal is to provide the students with the a clear and logical presentation of the
basic concepts and principles of physics, and to strengthen an understanding of the
concepts and principles through a broad range of interesting applications to the real
world.
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Student Learning Outcomes
The student will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a comprehension of physical and enviromental reality by
understanding how fundamental physical principles underlie the huge variety of
natural phenomena.
2. Build critical thinking and quantitative skills by gaining insight into the thought
processes of physical approximation and physical modeling, by practicing the
appropriate application of mathematics to the description of physical reality, and by
searching for a physical interpretation of mathematical results.
3. Demonstrate basic experimental skills by the practice of setting up and conducting
an experiment with due regards to minimizing measurement error and by the
thoughtful discussion and interpretation of date.
4. Demonstrate basic communication skills by working in groups on a laboratory
experiment.
Learning objectives
Students will:
1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Newtonian mechanics, the physics of
fluids, heat and thermodynamics and apply the principles of physics in real-world
situations.
2. Demonstrate ability to interpret date and apply the knowledge of the fundamental
concepts of of Newtonian mechanics, the physics of fluids, heat and thermodynamics as
well as quantitative reasoning and mathematical analysis skills to effectively solve
problems. Students will be able to: 1) read a description of the problem and translate
nonscientific language into language of physics, identifying key physical variables that
point to a solution; 2) set up a figure or diagram to assist in analyzing the problem; 3)
determine a relationship between the given physical quantities and the ones to be
found; 4) carry out mathematical operation to arrive to a solution.
3. Demonstrate in the laboratory the ability to collect, evaluate and communicate
scientific information.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
.
SCANS or Core Curriculum Statement and Other Standards
Credit: 4 (3 lecture, 3 lab)
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16 WEEKS CALENDAR
Date.
Course material.
Tests and Quizzes.
Week 1. 1. 01/22 Ch. 1.
2. 01/23 Introduction. Lab.1. Measurement.
Week 2. 1. 01/29
2. 01/30
Ch. 2.
Lab. 2. Position.
Q (1)
HW 1
Week 3. 1. 02/05 Ch. 3.
2. 02/06 Lab.2. Addition of vectors.
Q (2)
HW 2
Week 4. 1. 02/12 Ch. 4.
2. 02/13 Lab. 4. Friction.
Q (3)
HW 3
Week 5. 1. 02/19
2. 02/20 Ch. 5.
T (1,2,3&4)
HW 4
Week 6. 1. 02/26 Ch. 6.
2. 02/27 Lab. 5. Uniform circular motion.
Q (5)
HW 5
Week 7. 1. 03/04 Ch. 7.
2. 03/05 Lab.6. The ballistic pendulum.
Projectile motion.
Q (6)
HW 6
Week 8. 1. 03/11 Ch. 8.
2. 03/12 Lab. 7. Work and Enargy
Q (7)
HW 7
Spring
Break
March
14-20
Week 9. 1. 03/25 Spring Holiday
2. 03/26 Spring Holiday
Week 10. 1. 04/01
2. 04/02 Ch. 9.
T (5,6,7&8) HW 8
Week 11. 1. 04/08 Ch. 10.
2. 04/09 Lab. 8. Equilibrium of a rigid body.
Q (9)
HW 9
Week 12. 1. 04/15 Ch. 11.
2. 04/16 Ch. 11.- finish
Q (10) HW10
Q (11)
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Week 13. 1. 04/22 Ch. 12.
2. 04/23 Lab. 10. Archimedes’ principle.
HW11
Week14. 1. 04/29 Ch. 13.
2. 04/30
Q (12) HW12
T (9,10,11&12)
Week 15. 1. 05/06 Ch. 14.
2. 05/07 Review.
HW 14
Week 16. 1. 05/13 Final (Comprehensive) Exam.
FINAL EXAM
05/13
Instructional Methods
As an instructor, I want my students to be successful. I feel that it is my responsibility to
provide you with knowledge concerning the field of physics, modeling good teaching
strategies, and organizing and monitoring the lab experiments.
As a student wanting to learn physics, it is your responsibility to read the textbook,
submit assignments on the due dates, study for the exams, participate in classroom
activities, attend class.
Student Assignments
Practice problems are assigned from the text after every chapter is covered. Students
are strongly advised to attempt all these selected problems and other problems from the
text. In general, student who fail to do these assigned problems do not do well in the
course
Midterm Exam
Three midterm tests will be given during the semester. Test usually consists of fifteen
(15) questions covering spesific chapters. Ten questions from fifteen are conceptual
multiple choice questions and others are usually analyzing multiple-concept problems.
Final Exam
There are usually 20 or 30 multiple choice questions in the final exam which will include
all chapters of the text. Some of them conceptual questions some of them problems.
Assessments
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Two out of three tests:
System Final:
Lab:
Homework assignments
and class quizzes:
40%
20%
25%
15%
Instructional Materials
Textbook: Physics by Cutnell & Johnson, the eight or ninth edition, volume one.
Lab-book: Students will be issued the procedures for each lab.
HCC Policy Statement - ADA
Any student with a documented disability (e.g. physical, learning, psychiatric,
developmental, vision, hearing, etc) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations
must contact the Disability Support Services (DSS) Counselor at the beginning of each
semester. Faculty members are authorized to provide only the accommodations
requested by the DSS office. 713-718-7218.
HCC Policy Statement: Academic Honesty
A student who is academically dishonest is, by definition, not showing that the
coursework has been learned, and that student is claiming an advantage not available
to other students. The instructor is responsible for measuring each student's individual
achievements and also for ensuring that all students compete on a level playing field.
Thus, in our system, the instructor has teaching, grading, and enforcement roles. You
are expected to be familiar with the University's Policy on Academic Honesty, found in
the catalog. What that means is: If you are charged with an offense, pleading ignorance
of the rules will not help you. Students are responsible for conducting themselves with
honor and integrity in fulfilling course requirements. Penalties and/or disciplinary
proceedings may be initiated by College System officials against a student accused of
scholastic dishonesty. “Scholastic dishonesty”: includes, but is not limited to, cheating
on a test, plagiarism, and collusion.
Cheating on a test includes:
test without authorization;
whole or part the contents of a test that has not been administered;
Plagiarism means the appropriation of another’s work and the unacknowledged
incorporation of that work in one’s own written work offered for credit. .
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Collusion means the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing
written work offered for credit. Possible punishments for academic dishonesty may
include a
grade of 0 or F in the particular assignment, failure in the course, and/or
recommendation for probation or dismissal from the College System. (See the Student
Handbook)
HCC Policy Statements
Class Attendance - It is important that you come to class! Attending class
regularly is the best way to succeed in this class. Research has shown that the single
most important factor in student success is attendance. Simply put, going to class
greatly increases your ability to succeed.
HCCS Attendance Policy is stated in the Student Handbook as follows: “You are
expected to attend all lecture classes and labs regularly. You are also responsible for
materials covered during your absences. Instructors may be willing to consult with you
for make-up assignments, but it is your responsibility to contact the instructor. Class
attendance is checked daily. Although it is your responsibility to drop a course for
nonattendance, the instructor has the authority to drop you for excessive absences. You
may be dropped from a course after accumulating absences in excess of 12.5 percent
of the total hours of instruction (lecture and lab). For example:
• For a four credit-hour lecture/lab course meeting six hours per week (96 hours
of instruction), you can be dropped after 12 hours of absence. The 12 hours of class
time would include any total classes missed or for excessive tardiness or leaving class
early.”
If circumstances significantly prevent you from attending classes, please inform
the instructor.
HCC Course Withdrawal Policy
It is the responsibility of the student to officially drop or withdraw from the course for
non-attendance by the date listed in the schedule (April 5). Failure to do that may result
in the student receiving a grade of “F”..
Repeat Course Fee
The State of Texas encourages students to complete college without having to repeat
failed classes. To increase student success, students who repeat the same course
more than twice, are required to pay extra tuition. The purpose of this extra tuition fee is
to encourage students to pass their courses and to graduate. Effective fall 2006, HCC
will charge a higher tuition rate to students registering the third or subsequent time for a
course. If you are considering course withdrawal because you are not earning passing
grades, confer with your instructor/counselor as early as possible about your study
habits, reading and writing homework, test taking skills, attendance, course
participation, and opportunities for tutoring or other assistance that might be available.
Classroom Behavior
As your instructor and as a student in this class, it is our shared responsibility to develop
and maintain a positive learning environment for everyone. I take this responsibility very
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seriously and will inform members of the class if their behavior makes it difficult for me
to carry out this task. As a fellow learner, you are asked to respect the learning needs of
your classmates and assist me achieve this critical goal.
Use of Camera and/or Recording Devices
As a student active in the learning community of this course, it is your responsibility to
be respectful of the learning atmosphere in your classroom. To show respect of your
fellow students and instructor, you will set on"silent" or "vibrate" your cell phone and
pager and turn off your other electronic devices, and will not use these devices in the
classroom.
Use of recording devices, including camera phones and tape recorders, is prohibited in
classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and other locations where instruction, tutoring,
or testing occurs. Students with disabilities who need to use a recording device as a
reasonable accommodation should contact the Office for Students with Disabilities for
information regarding reasonable accommodations
Instructor Requirements
As your Instructor, it is my responsibility to:
ing scale and detailed grading formula explaining how student
grades are to be derived
discussions, and lectures
udents of policies such as attendance, withdrawal, tardiness and
make up
of any special projects or assignments
class as required
To be successful in this class, it is the student’s responsibility to:
ams:
assignments
re
Program/Discipline Requirements
The Field Study is a discipline requirement of PHUS 1401. The field study is essential in
your deciding if physics is the right career path for you. The field study also reinforces
what you are learning in class by connecting theory to the real world situations. This
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assignment is very important and as such, it must be completed with 70% of possible
points or you will not receive a passing grade in this class. .
Grading
Your instructor will conduct quizzes, exams, and assessments that you can use to
determine how successful you are at achieving the course learning outcomes (mastery
of course content and skills) outlined in the syllabus. If you find you are not mastering
the material and skills, you are encouraged to reflect on how you study and prepare for
each class. Your instructor welcomes a dialogue on what you discover and may be able
to assist you in finding resources on campus that will improve your performance.
Testing: Three tests will be given during the semester (not including the final test). The
worst score will be dropped. Each test will be concentrated with specific chapters. The
test date and the exact content will be pre-announced.
Lab: The lab takes 1/4 of the total grade. Each lab grade is based on your attendance,
participation and performance. Safety is the most important issue in the lab. You must
follow the safety procedure all the time.
Final: A system wide final exam will be given. It is comprehensive. The final exam will
take 1/5 of the total grade.
Homework: It is very important to do the homework assignments. You are encouraged
to do as many problems as possible. The homework assignments combined with the
class quizzes will be 15% to the total grade.
Make-up Policy: No make up allowed for any test, any lab and the final.
Grading Scale
Grading Scale:
90—100
A
80—89
B
70—79
C
60—69
D
Below 60
F
Grading Percentages
Two out of three tests:
System Final:
Lab:
Homework assignments
and class quizzes:
40%
20%
25%
15%
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General Suggestions.
Laboratory Experiments and the Lab Report:
General Procedures:
Please return every laboratory equipment, used during the lab, to its original location
after you are done, unless otherwise instructed. Leave your area clean and organized.
Take all necessary safety precautions and don’t hesitate to ask for advice from the
instructor if you are unsure how to safely operate a piece of equipment. Inform the
instructor of any damaged, worn, unusable, or possibly dangerous equipment.
Lab Grading:
Your total laboratory average will count as 25 % of your physics grade.
The lab grade will be determined by the points you accumulate on each report.
The report should include
1. A title page
On this page print your name, title and number and date of the experiment.
2. The instruction pages
These are the pages describing
1) the purpose / or objectives of the experiment
2) the apparatus /or equipments used in the experiment
3) the theory
4) procedures followed
3. Data and observations
Record all your measurements carefully in a tabular form.
4. Data Analysis / Calculations.
Carry out all the calculations using your data showing your steps clearly. Draw
graphs and diagrams whenever they are required and explain what your graph
means. For instance if you have got a straight line graph, determine its slope and
relate the slope to the physical problem at hand.
5. Summary and discussion of the results
This usually requires you to state how good your results are in comparison with
the objectives you stated at the beginning of your report. Compare your results
with accepted values and calculate the percentage error. Finally, discuss the
sources of these errors and give other comments you would like to make about
the working of the experiment.
6. Answers to the questions at the end of the experiment
Here use complete sentences and make the answers as clear and readable as
possible.
EGLS3 -- Evaluation for Greater Learning Student Survey System
At Houston Community College, professors believe that thoughtful student feedback is
necessary to improve teaching and learning. During a designated time, you will be
asked to answer a short online survey of research-based questions related to
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instruction. The anonymous results of the survey will be made available to your
professors and division chairs for continual improvement of instruction. Look for the
survey as part of the Houston Community College Student System online near the end
of the term.