University of California, Berkeley, Department of Physics
Physics 7A Lecture 2 and 3 Course Information Sheet, Spring 2015
Instructor:
Lecture:
Head GSI:
Dr. Alex Zettl
Office: 341 Birge Hall
Email: azettl@physics.berkeley.edu
Office hours: TuTh 9:30AM-11:00AM
(or by appointment)
TuTh
8:00AM-9:30AM (Lecture 2)
11:00AM-12:30PM (Lecture 3)
1 LeConte
Melanie Veale
Email: melanie.veale@berkeley.edu
Office hours: TBA in Course Center
(or by appointment)
Prerequisites: MATH 1A is a prerequisite. MATH 1B should be taken concurrently
Texts:
• Required texts include a textbook, workbook, and online homework access, which are packaged together at
the student bookstore. The textbook is D. C. Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Volume 1 (custom
edition for the University of California, Berkeley), 4th edition. The workbook is by Birkett and Elby. The
online homework access is called Mastering Physics, and you will need the Course ID: SP15PHYSICS7A.
• Suggested texts include Elby, Portable TA: Problem Solving Guide, Volume 1.
• See the “Advice Sheet” on the course website for more information (and, naturally, advice).
Course website:
•
•
https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1302556 is the main course website for announcements and
resources. Please stay up to date on everything through this site!
https://piazza.com/berkeley/spring2015/physics7a is the link to sign up for the class forum, where students can
ask questions to be answered by other students and occasionally GSIs.
Course center and GSI office hours: 105 LeConte is reserved for 7A, and is available for students to use to study
together. GSI office hours will also be held here, beginning the second week of class. (A schedule will be posted to the
course website and on the door. You may attend any GSI's office hour.)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
First two weeks of class: You must attend ALL of your discussion and laboratory (DL) sections during the first two
weeks of class or you may be dropped from the course. This includes DL sections that meet
before the first lecture. You must attend the section you are enrolled in on Tele-BEARS, and we cannot help you
switch sections. (See the “Advice Sheet” on the course website for suggestions on what to do if you cannot get into a
section that works with your schedule.)
Drop deadline: This is an Early Drop Deadline course: the deadline to drop is Friday, January 30, at midnight. DO
NOT assume that we will automatically drop you from the course if you do not attend sections; it is your
responsibility to drop the course before the deadline. There are many people trying to enroll, so if you plan to drop the
course please do so as soon as possible.
Course policies: It is your responsibility to read, understand, and abide by all course policies listed in this document
AND on the course website, and to keep up with all announcements. Contact the Head GSI at the above email address
with any administrative issues or questions, and include your name and section number in the email. (Messages
without this information will be ignored!) Please read this entire document and consult the course webpages before
emailing with questions.
Semester grades will be determined by the following weighting:
Midterm 1 Midterm 2 Final Exam Homework Lab Section
20%
20%
35%
15%
10%
University guidelines specify that in lower division courses, the total percentage of students getting an A should be
roughly 25%, the percentage of students getting a B should be roughly 40%, and the percentage of students getting a C
should be roughly 35%. We will be following these approximate guidelines. The grade of D or F will also be given to a
small percentage of students displaying especially poor performance. A grade of "Incomplete" will only be given under
dire circumstances beyond a student’s control, and only when work already completed is of at least C quality.
Exams: There will be two midterm examinations and a final exam. Dates and times are listed below. Exams cannot be
rescheduled and must be taken at the scheduled time. Anyone with an unresolvable conflict with exam dates (like
another pre-scheduled exam in a different class) must contact the Head GSI immediately. Details about the exam
(location, what to bring, extra review sessions, etc) will be announced via the course website.
Midterm 1 (Lecture 2 & 3) Midterm 2 (Lecture 2 & 3) Final Exam (Lecture 2) Final Exam (Lecture 3)
Tuesday, 2/24, 7-9pm
Tuesday, 4/7, 7-9pm
Thursday, 5/14, 7-10pm Thursday, 5/14, 8-11am
Homework: Mastering Physics is the online homework system for the course, and all homework will be submitted
through that system. Homework is due at 11:59pm each Friday, and late homework will not be accepted. We will
drop your lowest homework score, but no other excuses or extensions will be allowed. (See the “Advice Sheet” on the
course website for detailed instructions for logging in to Mastering Physics and important advice for getting the most
out of the online homework.)
Lab Section: Lab sections are required, in addition to being worth 10% of your semester grade. Each missing lab will
reduce your semester grade by 1/3 of a letter grade (e.g. B+ to B), and you will automatically fail the course if you
miss more than 3 labs. If you have advanced notice of needing to miss a lab section, or are ill/unable to attend, see the
“Advice Sheet” on the course website for a guide on rescheduling or making up labs. (Note that for the purposes of this
requirement, 3 “late” labs will count as 1 missed lab.)
Your lab handouts (in your 7A Workbook, which you should bring with you) must be completed and turned in before
you leave the lab, and will be graded according to the following rubric. Written quizzes will occur in lab section on
weeks when no lab is scheduled, and will be graded according to the same rubric. These are designed to prepare you
for exams, and will be included in the 10% of your semester grade for labs, but will not be subject to the 1/3 letter
grade penalty (or automatic failing grade) discussed above.
• 2 points: The lab/quiz is mostly or entirely correct.
• 1 point: The lab/quiz shows serious flaws in understanding the material.
• 0 points: The lab/quiz was not turned in.
Discussion Section: Although attendance and participation in discussion section is not factored explicitly into your
grade, we do expect students to attend and participate in discussions. Learning physics means doing physics, and
discussion sections are a chance for you to do physics – to practice solving problems, talk about concepts, and grapple
with the course material in as many ways as possible. (See the “Advice Sheet” on the course website for more advice
on getting the most out of your discussion sections.)
Accommodations: The Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) is committed to ensuring that all students with disabilities
have equal access to educational opportunities at UC Berkeley. If you need individualized services or accommodations
for exams or other aspects of this course; if you have emergency medical information you wish to share with the
instructor; or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform the professor or
the head GSI immediately. You may reach us by email to arrange a meeting, or you may speak to one of us in person
after class or during office hours. We may need several weeks before the scheduled exams to make appropriate
arrangements, so please contact us as soon as possible.
Intellectual honesty: The student body of UC Berkeley has adopted the following honor code. “As a member of the
UC Berkeley community, I act with honesty, integrity, and respect for others.” The hope and expectation is that you
will adhere to this code.
Collaboration and Independence: Reviewing lecture and reading materials, working practice problems, and studying
for exams can be enjoyable and enriching things to do with fellow students. This is recommended. However, when you
submit an answer to MasteringPhysics or a hard-copy assignment to your GSI, you are stating that the answer/solution
is your own work and not copied from a book, website, friend, or other animate or inanimate source.
Cheating: A good lifetime strategy is always to act in such a way that no one would ever imagine that you would even
consider cheating. Anyone caught cheating on an exam in this course will receive a failing grade on the relevant exam
problem(s) and will also be reported to the University Center for Student Conduct. In order to guarantee that you are
not suspected of cheating, please keep your eyes on your own materials and do not converse with others during the
exams. If you must look in a direction other than your exam paper, we recommend looking up at the ceiling.
Plagiarism: To copy text or ideas from another source without appropriate reference is plagiarism and will result in a
failing grade for your assignment and usually further disciplinary action. This includes copying homework solutions
from printed or online, published or unpublished sources.
Academic Integrity and Ethics: Cheating on exams and plagiarism are two common examples of dishonest, unethical
behavior. Honesty and integrity are of great importance in all facets of life. They help to build a sense of selfconfidence, and are key to building trust within relationships, whether personal or professional. There is no tolerance
for dishonesty in the academic world, for it undermines what we are dedicated to doing – furthering knowledge for the
benefit of humanity.
Your experience as a student at UC Berkeley is hopefully fueled by passion for learning and replete with fulfilling
activities. And we also appreciate that being a student may be stressful. There may be times when there is temptation to
engage in some kind of cheating in order to improve a grade or otherwise advance your career. This could be as blatant
as having someone else sit for you in an exam, or submitting a written assignment that has been copied from another
source. And it could be as subtle as glancing at a fellow student’s exam when you are unsure of an answer to a question
and are looking for some confirmation. One might do any of these things and potentially not get caught. However, if
you cheat, no matter how much you may have learned in this class, you have failed to learn perhaps the most important
lesson of all.
Some final words of advice: If you are in trouble (behind in homework, doing worse in the course than you would
like, etc.) for whatever reason, please let us know. We’ll try to help! Additional help is available through the Student
Learning Center (Golden Bear Center), the Honors Society, the Society of Physics Students, and the Physics Scholars
Program. Inquire in the Physics Department Undergraduate Student Services Office (368 LeConte Hall) for further
information. There is quite a lot of material in this course, and not a lot of time to learn it. There are many
resources available to help you. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of them.
University of California, Berkeley, Department of Physics
Physics 7A Course Advice Sheet, Spring 2015
Learning physics means doing physics, and the best way to learn is to approach the material from as many different
angles as possible. There is a lot of material in the course, and not a lot of time to learn it in, so we recommend that
you read through this advice, spend a lot of time working with and talking to other students, and take advantage of the
many resources available to you both within the course and outside of it. (For resources outside the course, inquire at
Physics Student Services at 368 LeConte.)
In addition to advice on learning the material, we've given some detailed suggestions for procedural questions like
enrollment problems and making up missed labs. If you have any administrative questions, please read this document
(and the Course Information Sheet) thoroughly first, and then contact the Head GSI if you still have questions or
issues.
Enrollment problems: Because of the limited space in sections, some students enroll in sections that do not work with
their schedule. If you cannot attend the section you are enrolled in, you WILL be dropped from the course. However,
there are some steps you can take to find a section that does work for you. These are steps that you must take; we do
not maintain any wait-lists for the course, and cannot assist students with switching sections.
• If you find another student who is willing to switch sections with you, it is possible to make the switch on
Tele-BEARS yourself. We recommend choosing an unpopular time of day (when other students are unlikely to
be using Tele-BEARS), and arranging for each of you to drop the course at the same time, so that you can then
add the course again in the other section. Note that this maneuver is done at your own risk – it is technically
possible for another student to grab the empty space before you can complete your re-enrollment.
• Note that the online schedule is not necessarily accurate in real time, so there may be openings in sections that
list as full on the schedule.
• To find other students willing to switch sections with you, try posting on the Piazza forums. You can also
attend the section you are attempting to get into, and (with the GSI's permission, at a time convenient for them)
ask whether anyone might be willing to switch.
• You should not mix and match section and lecture; for example, do not enroll in a D/L section attached to
Lecture 2, but plan to attend Lecture 1 instead. While the material will be largely the same, there may be
occasional differences in emphasis and pacing between different professors, which could become a problem
for you at exam time.
• While you are working out your schedule, you must attend section in the first two weeks! The most important
thing is not to miss a lab section. For example, if you attend discussion section on Tuesday, then on Wednesday
switch into a section that has discussions on Thursday (and lab on Tuesday), you would miss the first lab if you
immediately started going to your new section. When in doubt, attend both sections and talk to the GSIs.
• Any questions or concerns about enrollment should be addressed to the Head GSI.
Texts:
• The required textbook (Giancoli) provides a good base of knowledge, and we will be covering most material
(including sections marked “Optional”) from chapters 1 thru 16. The problems in Mastering Physics are taken
from the textbook, so you can use other textbook problems as additional practice that will be similar to the
homework.
• The suggested text (Elby, Portable TA) is an extremely popular resource containing practice problems about
classical mechanics with completely worked out solutions. It is meant to be worked, not read. These practice
problems are for your own benefit; we will not collect your work on them. We suggest working through at
least some of the problems in Elby before attempting each week’s homework assignment.
• When preparing for exams, it can be helpful to choose a few problems (from the required textbook or
suggested text) and work through them in “exam-like” conditions. However, it is important to remember that
the real exam questions may somewhat different in style from the questions from the text.
• The student bookstore will be selling the course package (required textbook, workbook, and Mastering
Physics) as a discounted bundle, and will have an additional 10% discount on 1/20 and 1/21 only. The
student store also offers price matching, and if you find a lower price elsewhere for the same item, they will
give you a gift card for the difference within 7 days of your purchase.
Homework: Mastering Physics purports to be an online physics homework system, and thus by extension it would
seem that students should do their homework online, in front of the computer. You are discouraged from doing so.
Rather, we strongly recommend the following strategy:
• Every week, after the homework is posted, print out the homework from the computer, and then go away from
the computer and complete your homework assignment on white paper. Avoid plugging in numbers until the
very end, to make it easier to catch algebra errors, and be sure to write a coherent argument.
• After you have completed the assignment, go back to the computer, and input your answers. Then, for those
problems that you got wrong, go back to your written work and look to see where a mistake was made.
• After you have submitted a homework assignment, save your written solutions. This way you will have a
written record of how you did the homework problems that you can refer to later when studying for exams.
• Technical questions about Mastering Physics should generally be directed towards their technical support. We
encourage you to work out all technical difficulties well before the first “real” homework assignment. When
you first log in to http://www.masteringphysics.com, you'll need your access code (purchased from the
bookstore) and the Course ID: SP15PHYSICS7A. When the website asks for your student ID, it must match
your real student ID (i.e. the one used in bCourses) for you to receive homework credit.
Making up Labs: Be sure to understand and abide by the policies for lab section attendance in the Course Information
Sheet. If you do miss a lab, you must make it up within a week, since no makeup labs will be offered at the end of the
semester.
• If you have advanced notice of needing to miss a lab, you can arrange to do the lab in a different section IF
you get permission from both your GSI and the other section GSI ahead of time. You will complete the lab and
turn it in to the other GSI, who will get it back to your GSI later. Do not hang on to your lab to give to your
GSI yourself!
• If you miss a lab without making the above arrangements ahead of time, your lab will be counted late. You
may still make up the lab in a different section, with the permission of that section's GSI. Note that while you
can ask permission at the last minute (e.g. by showing up to the section and asking), you may be turned away
if the section is too full.
• If you miss a lab and cannot make it up the same week, it will be counted late, and you can make up the lab by
yourself the following week in another section. Each lab room will have one setup in the corner of the previous
week's lab. Again, you must ask the section's GSI permission to do the lab (unobtrusively!) during their
section, and should turn in the lab to that GSI immediately after finishing. Note that you will be doing the lab
by yourself, which is not an ideal situation, so making up the lab in the same week is much preferred.
• Late labs will still be given full credit according to the usual grading rubric. However, you should remember
that 3 late labs count as one missed lab, and will thus lower your semester grade by 1/3 of a letter grade. We
allow you to make up 2 labs “late” without penalty in order to allow for common problems like unforeseen
minor illnesses, and so we will not grant excuses or extensions on labs for such reasons.
• To facilitate this process, will will post section schedules on the bCourses website, which show a calendar for
each of the four classrooms used for section. LeConte 215 and 224 are the lab rooms, while LeConte 225 and
Evans 458 are the discussion rooms. We will also post a contact list containing email addresses for all the
GSIs, to enable you to get in touch with them for scheduling purposes.
• If necessary, you can attend a section belonging to a different lecture, because the labs are the same for the
entire course. (For example, if you are in lab section 102, it is okay to make up a lab in section 209.)
Discussion section: Your Discussion/Laboratory Sections ("DLs") are designed to help you learn the course material
by working with it in as many ways as possible. You should bring your 7A Workbook to discussion, not just to lab. In
most of your discussion sessions you will be working in groups, with help from your GSI, on materials that we have
developed to help (1) improve your conceptual understanding of the course material and (2) build strong problem
solving skills for each topic covered in the course. The goal is for you to learn how to do physics. The sections will
thus not be based on your GSI lecturing or solving sample problems on the board while you just watch. We expect all
students to attend and participate in sections – you will not get much out of section if you just watch your classmates
work out problems either. You will not be graded on your performance in solving worksheet problems; they are, rather,
for your practice, and to assist and guide you in learning the material.
Office Hours and Other Studying: We encourage you to work and study in groups often. Remember that LeConte
105 is available for you to use even when GSI office hours are not in session. Working in groups is a great way to get
“unstuck” on a problem by getting help from your peers or a GSI, but we want to emphasize that at the end of the day,
you should be learning how to understand the material and solve physics problems on your own, not simply following
what your GSI or classmates are doing. Sometimes the biggest benefit to working in a group is the opportunity to help
others understand the material or work through a hard problem. It is often said that “you don't truly understand a
concept until you can explain it to someone else,” and your GSIs and instructors can attest that this is very true in
physics. Even if you are getting the correct answers on homework or other problems, you may find when you try to
explain the process to others that you are not sure of the reasoning behind your answer.
Exams: There are two midterms and a final exam for the course, which make up a combined 75% of your semester
grade. We will provide plenty of resources to help you study for the exams and encourage you to take advantage of
them. Do not let yourself be taken by surprise at the exam format or style of questions (which will be different from the
homework and labs) – familiarize yourself with what to expect ahead of time, as much as possible, so that you are in a
better position to demonstrate your understanding of the material.
• Each midterm will be two hours long, and the final exam will be three hours long. See the Course Information
Sheet for dates and times. (Locations will be announced via bCourses prior to the exam.)
• You will need to provide you own blue book, and will be allowed to bring some form of note card with you to
the exam. That note card (or sheet) will be the only notes allowed in the exam. (A more detailed explanation
and checklist on exactly what to bring will also be announced via bCourses prior to the exam.)
• Before each midterm, there will be a weekend GSI review session. These will be added to the calendar on
bCourses, and announced again as a reminder a few days before they happen. Typically these review sessions
will consist of a GSI working through a selection of relevant problems, and will be held in a large lecture hall
to accommodate as many students as possible.
• We will also post some form of practice problems, practice exam, or past semester exam, so that you get an
idea of what to expect. Do NOT take these materials as a comprehensive guide to what topics will be tested;
rather, they are intended as a guide to the format of the exam and the type of problem you should expect.
• Remember that you will be on your own during the exam. It can be very helpful to sit down and work out
practice problems in “exam-like” conditions, where you use only your note card and blank paper to work out
the problems. This can help you identify missing or extraneous information in your note card before the exam,
and may help you be less nervous during real exam conditions.
• There will be no make-up exams given under any circumstances. If you have a possible conflict with any of
the exam times, contact the Head GSI immediately.
7A Spring 2015 Course Schedule
Week
Dates
Lecture Topics
Giancoli
Discussion
Lab
Homework
1
Jan 19-23**
Introduction, Vectors, 1D Kinematics
1,2
Math Review, WS 1
Kinematics 1
Intro to MP
2
Jan 26-30
2D and 3D Motion, Force
3,4
WS 2, 3
Kinematics 2
Ch 1,2
3
Feb 2-6
Newton's Laws
4
WS 4, 5
Quiz
Ch 3,4
4
Feb 9-13
Newton's Laws, Friction
5
WS 6
Dynamics
Ch 4,5
5
Feb 16-20**
Gravitation
6
WS 7, 18
Quiz
Ch 5,6
6
Feb 23-27 (M)
Work and Energy
7
WS 8
(discussion twice)
Ch 6,7
7
Mar 2-6
Conservation of Energy
8
WS 9
Quiz
Ch 7,8
8
Mar 9-13
Linear Momentum
9
WS 10a, 10b
Collisions
Ch 8,9
9
Mar 16-20
Rotational Kinematics and Dynamics
10
WS 11, 14
Quiz
Ch 9,10
Mar 23-27
Spring Break!
10
Mar 30-Apr 3
Angular Momentum
11
WS 15, 16
Rotation
Ch 10,11
11
Apr 6-10 (M)
Statics, Fluids
12,13
WS 13, 20
(discussion twice)
Ch 11,12
12
Apr 13-17
Fluids, Oscillations
13,14
WS 21
Quiz
Ch 12,13
13
Apr 20-24
Oscillations
14
WS 17
Oscillations
Ch 13,14
14
Apr 27-May 1
Waves and Sound
15,16
WS 19
Waves
Ch 14,15
May 4-8
RRR week
May 11-15
Finals
**Jan 19 and Feb 16 (both Mondays) are university holidays
(M) stands for Midterm Exam. Lecture 1 midterms are 2/23 and 4/6; Lecture 2 and 3 midterms are 2/24 and 4/7. Midterms are held 7-9pm.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a tentative schedule, and may be changed as the semester goes on. Expect lecture, discussion, and homework to be
up to a week ahead or behind this schedule. Lab dates will not change (except those affected by Monday holidays; see your GSI). GSIs may
reschedule quizzes at their discretion, and will give you advanced notice if they do.
Giancoli Chapters
1 Intro, Measurement, Estimation
2 1D Kinematics
3 2D and 3D Kinematics
4 Newton's Laws
5 Friction, Circular Motion
6 Gravitation
7 Work and Energy
8 Conservation of Energy
9 Linar Momentum
10 Rotational Motion
11 Angular Momentum
12 Statics
13 Fluids
14 Oscillations
15 Waves
16 Sound
List of worksheets and topics
1
Position, Velocity, Acceleration
2
One-dimensional Kinematics
3
Two-dimensional Motion I
4
Two-dimensional Motion II
5
Force and Newton's Laws
6
Friction
7
Centripetal Motion
8
Work and Kinetic Energy
9
Conservation of Energy
10a
Center of Mass and Collisions I
10b
Impulse, Momentum, and Collisions II
11
Introduction to Rotation
13
Statics
14
Rotational Energy
15
Rotational Dynamics
16
Angular Momentum
17
Oscillations
18
Gravitation
19
Waves
20
Fluid Statics
21
Fluid Dynamics