PHY 184: Physics for Scientists and Engineers II, Spring 2016
Instructor Information
SECTION 001:
Prof. Kirsten Tollefson
Office: 3247 Biomedical and Physical Science Building (BPS)
Phone: (517) 884-5568
Email: tollefson@pa.msu.edu
Office hours: Thursdays 9:00 – 10:00am in BPS 3247
SECTIONS 002 & 003:
Prof. William Lynch (teaches Jan 11 – March 3)
Office: NSCL 1010
Phone: (517) 908-7319
Email: lynch@nscl.msu.edu
Office hours: Tuesdays 3:00 – 4:00pm in Rm 1010 of the Cyclotron Building
Prof. Alexandra Gade (teaches March 13 – April 28)
Office: NSCL 1014
Phone: (517) 908-7441
Email: gade@nscl.msu.edu
Office hours: Mondays 1:00 – 2:00pm in Rm 1014 of the Cyclotron Building
Course Description
This course is the second semester of a 2-semester sequence of introductory physics using
calculus. Armed with the foundations of the basic concepts of kinematics, momentum, force,
work, and energy, this semester investigates the topics of electricity and magnetism,
electromagnetic waves, geometric and wave optics of light, plus relativity.
Prerequisites
(PHY 183 or PHY 183B or PHY 193H or PHY233B or PHY183A) or (LBS 164 and
PHY233B) and (MTH 133 or MTH 153H or LBS 119).
Class Hours
Section 001: 8:00-8:50am MTuWTh BPS 1410
Section 002: 9:10-10:00am MTuWTh BPS 1410
Section 003: 10:20-11:10am MTuWTh BPS 1410
Office Hours: TBA
TA schedules for the Strosacker Helproom will be posted during the first week of class.
Professors will hold office hours at the times indicated above with additional times available
by appointment.
Helproom Hours
The Strosacker helproom is located in 1248 BPS and is open from 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Monday through Thursday and from 9:00AM to 6:00PM on Fridays. You are welcome to go
to the helproom during any of its open hours but there will be appointed times when TAs
specifically for PHY184 will be available. A TA schedule will be posted during the first
week of class.
Honors Option
There is no honors option offered for PHY184. If you would like honors credit please enroll
in PHY294H.
Exam Information
There will be thirteen 50-minute exams and a 2-hour final exam.
The exams will be given every Monday during class time starting on Jan. 25th. These exams
will cover the material presented the previous week. A one-sided 8.5x11 inch equation sheet
is allowed. There are NO make-ups given for the weekly exams, however at the end of
the semester your 2 lowest weekly exam scores will be dropped.
The Final Exam is on Wednesday, May 4 at 8:00 - 10:00 pm, location TBD
You are responsible for bringing the following items to the exams and final:
1) A calculator. All exams will require the use of a calculator. Make sure that your
calculator’s batteries are fresh, as sharing of calculators will not be allowed. All other
electronic devices (tablet, iWatch, Google glasses, etc.) are not allowed. Note that smart
phones are not allowed during any exam. If an instructor (or proctor) sees a student
with a cell phone out during an exam the student will receive a zero for that exam
and an Academic Dishonesty Report will be filed as required by the University (see
MSU's policy on Academic Integrity at https://www.msu.edu/~ombud/academicintegrity/index.html).
2) A No. 2 pencil for filling out the bubble sheets. Note a few pencils may be available at
the exams but not the final.
3) Your student ID.
Make-ups for the final will only be allowed for University approved reasons (such as overlap
with another exam or 3 finals on May 4th) and must be scheduled prior to April 15th. The
alternate final exam will be on May 5, location and time to be determined (TBD). If you
don’t take the final exam you will receive a 0.0 for the course.
Deadlines
Homework: There will be 15 homework sets. Each set covers one chapter and are due at
11:59 PM on Sundays using the online Connect system. Note that the homework deadline is
very strict. You are responsible for submitting the homework before the deadline,
regardless of circumstances. If you are not able to finish a homework set for legitimate
reasons, contact your instructor before the due date so that the deadline can be extended.
LearnSmart: There will be a LearnSmart module due before each lecture. The lectures
generally take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Grading Information
Percent weights for calculating grades:
LearnSmart: 10%
Homework: 25%
Weekly Exams: 40% (your lowest 2 exam scores will be dropped when calculating grade)
Final Exam: 25%
In-class Clicker Quizzes: 3%
Note the weights add up to 103%. This is equivalent to having 3% worth of extra credit.
Clicker questions: Correct answer: 2 points. Incorrect answer: 1 point. Not present: 0 points.
Absolutely no make-ups for missed clicker questions (i.e. absence, did not bring clicker
to class, dead batteries, lost clicker, etc.). You will receive full credit (3%) for the clicker
questions if you have at least 70% of the total clicker points at the end of the semester.
Therefore, it is possible to miss a few lectures and still get full credit for the clicker
questions. To receive credit for clicker questions, you must submit your responses in the
section in which you are enrolled.
Grading scale:
This course is graded on a fixed scale. There will be no curve. Your grade is based on the
total percentage of points using the weights listed above.
Grade Percentage
4.0 >= 92%
3.5 >= 84%
3.0 >= 76%
2.5 >= 68%
2.0 >= 60%
1.5 >= 52%
1.0 >= 44%
0.0 < 44%
Textbook
The textbook for this course is the electronic edition of “University Physics with Modern
Physics” by Wolfgang Bauer and Gary D. Westfall. PHY 184 will cover Chapters 21 – 35.
The electronic edition of the textbook can be purchased through the Spartan Bookstore for
$130 or directly from McGraw-Hill for $100. The electronic edition will remain valid for 2
years. (If you purchased the electronic edition for PHY 183 last semester you do NOT need
to purchase it again.) If you would like a printed version of the textbook, you can purchase a
loose-leaf binder version in full color for $40 from McGraw-Hill.
The electronic edition of the textbook includes LearnSmart, the SmartBook, Connect, and the
eBook for the course. You will need the electronic edition of the textbook to carry out the
assigned LearnSmart modules and do the course homework sets using Connect.
Your instructor will email you an URL link to join the appropriate PHY 184 section. To
ensure your LearnSmart and homework points are accounted for correctly you must
use the link provided for the section that you are registered for.
You will also need an i-Clicker for class participation/quizzes during lectures.
Schedule
A course schedule is included at the end of this syllabus.
Students with Disabilities
Michigan State University is committed to providing equal opportunity for participation in all
programs, services and activities. Requests for accommodations by persons with disabilities
may be made by contacting the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at 517-884RCPD or on the web at https://www.rcpd.msu.edu/. Once your eligibility for an
accommodation has been determined, you will be issued a Verified Individual Services
Accommodation (VISA) form. Only MSU VISA forms will be honored. Please present this
form to the instructor at the start of the term and no later than the end of the second week of
class (January 21). Requests received after this date may not be honored.
Instructor Evaluations
Michigan State University takes seriously the opinion of students in the evaluation of the
effectiveness of instruction, and has implemented the SIRS (Student Instructional Rating
System) process to gather student feedback. This course utilizes the “online SIRS” system.
You will receive an e-mail sometime during the last two weeks of class asking you to fill out
the SIRS online form at your convenience. Please note the final grade for this course will not
be accessible on STUINFO for seven days following the University grade submission
deadline published by the Office of the Registrar unless the SIRS online form has been filled
out. You will have the option in the online SIRS form to decline to participate in the
evaluation of the course – we hope, however, that you will be willing to give us your frank
and constructive feedback so that we may instruct students even better in the future.
Please read and abide by the MSU Academic Integrity Policy:
https://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/academic-integrity/index.html.
The FAQ under the Ombudsperson page is also helpful:
https://www.msu.edu/~ombud/full-faq/index.html
Physics for Scientists and Engineers 2, Course Schedule, PHY184, Spring 2016 Week Dates Wed Thu 1 1/11-­‐1/14 L1 L2 L3 L4 2 1/18-­‐1/21 X L5 L6 L7 3 1/25-­‐1/28 Q1 L8 L9 L10 4 2/1-­‐2/4 Q2 L11 L12 L13 5 2/8-­‐2/11 Q3 L14 L15 L16 6 2/15-­‐2/18 Q4 L17 L18 L19 7 2/22-­‐2/25 Q5 L20 L21 L22 8 Spring Break 2/29-­‐3/3 9 3/14-­‐3/17 3/7-­‐3/10 Mon Tue Q6 L23 Q7 L26 L24 L25 L27 L28 10 3/21-­‐3/24 Q8 L29 L30 L31 11 3/28-­‐3/31 Q9 L32 L33 L34 12 4/4-­‐4/7 Q10 L35 L36 L37 13 4/11-­‐4/14 Q11 L38 L39 L40 14 4/18-­‐421 Q12 L41 L42 L43 15 Final Exam 4/25-­‐4/28 Q13 L44 L45 L46 5/4 at 8pm 8-­‐10pm Homework Due Topic Chapter HW 1, Sun 1/17 Electrostatics 21 HW 2, Sun 1/24 Electric Fields 22 HW 3, Sun 1/31 Electric Potential 23 HW 4, Sun 2/7 Capacitors 24 HW 5, Currents and Sun 2/14 Resistance 25 HW 6, Direct Current Sun 2/21 Circuits 26 HW 7, Sun 2/28 Magnetism 27 HW 8, Magnetic Fields of Sun 3/6 Moving Charges HW 9, Sun 3/20 EM Induction 29 HW 10, Alternating Current Sun 3/27 Circuits HW 11, Sun 4/3 EM Waves HW 12, Sun 4/10 Geometric Optics HW 13, Sun 4/17 Optical Instruments HW 14, Sun 4/24 Wave Optics HW 15, Sun 5/1 Relativity 28 30 31 32 33 34 35