Tunxis Community College
271 Scott Swamp Road
Farmington, CT 06032
Student Course Outline
Course Title: General Physics I and Lab
Course No: PHY *1201
CRN: 13850
Semester: Fall 2025
Semester Hours/Contact Hours: 4
Time/Day: Lecture: TR 5:30 – 6:45 PM in room 6-277
Lab
: T 7:00 – 9:45 PM in room 3-307
Professor for Lecture: Dr. Robert Hadley
Professor for Lab: Professor Lukaszek
Phone: 860-773-1618 (I prefer email)
Office Hours: MWR 4:30 – 5:30PM in room F-37
Tunxis E-mail: robert.hadley@ctstate.edu
Course Description: This is an introductory physics course covering
principles of mechanics, i.e., statics and dynamics; work and energy,
conservation laws, waves, sound, temperature, heat transfer and
thermodynamics. This course is the first of a two-semester sequence:
College Physics II, PHY* 1202, is the concluding course.
Prerequisite: Intermediate Algebra (May be taken concurrently), or
permission of Instructor.
Course Objective: Upon course completion, the student will be able to:
1.
Resolve a system of forces as they relate to the dynamics of motion.
2.
Given a system of forces applied to an object, solve problems
pertaining to the displacement, velocity, and acceleration of the motion
of the object.
3.
Explain Newton's Laws of Motion and apply them in the analyses of
problems involving uniformly accelerated motion
4.
Apply the principles of motion and conduct controlled experiments
involving motion along a straight line, motion in a plane, circular motion,
and simple harmonic motion.
5.
Given the system of forces applied to an object, calculate the work
performed and relate this to the energy of the system.
6.
Distinguish between the major types of energy, i.e., potential and
kinetic, and relate to the various forms in which energy may manifest
itself.
7.
Solve problems and controlled experiments involving conservation of
energy, work, and momentum
8.
Apply Pascal's Law and Archimedes' Principle to the solution of
problems involving pressure and density of fluids at rest.
9.
Apply Bernoulli's Law to the solution of problems involving fluid flow.
10. Explain the concepts of temperature and heat as they relate to the
mean-molecular kinetic energy and the total-molecular kinetic energy of a
substance.
11. Solve problems dealing with phase changes, heat transfer and expansion
properties of common substances.
12. Explain the conservation of energy in terms of the First Law of
Thermodynamics, and conditions and restrictions imposed by the Second
Law of Thermodynamics.
13. Calculate the efficiency of thermodynamic heat engines in terms of heat
input and work output, and to determine the thermodynamic properties of
thermodynamic cycles.
Textbook: Douglas Giancoli, Physics, Principles with Applications, 7th ed.,
Prentice Hall.
(ISBN-10: 0-321-62592-7) or
(ISBN-13: 978-0-321-62592-2)
The laboratory manual is Wilson, Physics Laboratory Experiments, 8th ed..
Try to get the lab manual as cheaply as possible. Professor Lukaszek will let
you know on the first day of lab how he wants to conduct the lab in terms of
breaking into groups, etc. A calculator with functions for scientific
(exponential) notation, trigonometric functions and logarithms is mandatory
and should be brought to each lecture and laboratory session. A bound,
composition book will be useful for written exercises and should be brought
to lecture and laboratory.
Academic Expectations:
1. Assignments: Unless otherwise specified, assignments are intended to be
concurrent with lecture topics as given in the outline
2. Attendance:
LECTURE: Expected. I hope that most of you will attend the lectures,
even though no points are taken away for not attending. I think it is
important to be there to ask any questions as they arise in class rather
than by email later. Attendance will be taken in lecture for the first few
weeks of class so I will know who is showing up to report to the
administration.
LABORATORY: Required. Physics is an experimental science and
experiences in the laboratory are an essential component of this course.
It would be most helpful if students prepared for laboratory sessions by
reviewing the Lab Assignment well before sessions. You must be present in
lab to get credit for that lab report. No make-up labs will be given, but I
will drop the lowest one. I request that you get the labs in to me within
two weeks of doing the lab to allow me time to grade them and get them
back to you in a timely manner. You can submit your lab report to me in
the lab, one per group, I will go over this the first day of lab. Reports not
submitted by the day of the final exam will not be considered. Ten
satisfactory Lab Reports are required; the lowest will be dropped to
determine the final laboratory grade. Any missing lab report will be
counted as a zero.
3. Tutorial. Each student is encouraged to attend my office hours at the
days and times shown above if you are encountering any problems. Try to
seek help as early as possible to give yourself the time to get on top of it
before it gets on top of you.
4.
Evaluation and Grading: All of the homework and quiz assignments are
graded automatically on Blackboard and put into the Gradebook. I will
grade the lab reports by hand and put them into the Gradebook manually
as I get them done. You will need to take pictures of your work using your
iPhone or Android for the homework and quiz assignments and send them
to my Tunxis email above with “Physics 1201 Homework #1” in the
Subject line for Homework #1, “Physics 1201 Quiz #1” in the Subject line
for Quiz #1, etc., to get credit. It is important that you write it exactly
as it is written inside the quotes so your email will get filtered into the
proper folder for grading. Otherwise, it will take me awhile to track down
your email amongst the mountains of email I get every day. I will NOT
accept any assignments handed in on paper. I will explain more in class. All
of the homework assignments open on the first day of class and the quiz
assignments open one week before they are due. These assignments have
due dates on Blackboard and there are NO late assignments accepted.
The homework assignments may be done over and over, but the quizzes
only once. I am hoping that the quiz assignments will be done by you alone,
but the homework assignments may be done in groups. The weighting for
your grade is given below:
Lecture: 75%, comprising 7 quizzes at 30% with one dropped, 7
homeworks at 15% with one dropped and a final exam at 30%.
Laboratory: 25% with lowest lab dropped.
Physics 1201 Course Schedule
Week
Dates
Chapters Covered
1
Ch. 1 - 2
2
Ch. 3
3
Ch. 4
4
Ch. 5
5
Ch. 5 – 6.3
6
Ch. 6.4 – Ch. 6.10
7
Ch. 7
8
Ch. 8.1 – Ch. 8.5
9
Ch. 8.6 – Ch. 8.9
10
Ch. 9.1 – Ch. 9.4
11
Ch. 10.1 – Ch. 10.7
12
Ch. 10.8 – Ch. 10.10
13
Ch. 11.1 – Ch. 11.4
14
Ch. 11.7 – Ch. 11.13
15
Dec 9th
500-730PM
Hadley
Quiz/Homework Due
Q1, H1 on 9/8
Q2, H2 on 9/22
Q3, H3 on 10/6
Q4, H4 on 10/20
Q5, H5 on 11/3
Q6, H6 on 11/24
Q7, H7 on 12/9
Final Exam
Physics 1201 Lab Schedule
Lukaszek
Week
Date
Lab
1
9/2
Experimental Uncertainty
1
2
9/9
Measurements Uncertainty
21
3
9/16
Ballistic Pendulum
127
4
9/23
No Lab (Homework Review)
5
9/30
The Force Table
73
6
10/7
The Atwood Machine
83
7
10/14
Friction
155
8
10/21
No Lab (Quiz Review)
9
10/28
Centripetal Force
141
10
11/4
Work and Energy
175
11
11/11
No Lab (Reading Day)
12
11/18
Moment of Inertia
13
11/25
Simple Harmonic Motion
14
12/2
No Lab (Review for the final exam)
15
Page in Manual
(handout)
219