PHYS 4101/6101 (Mechanics I)
Syllabus
University of Georgia, Fall 2005
MWF Period 3 (10:10–11:00 am), Room 302
Basic Information
Instructor:
Dr. Craig Wiegert
228-D Physics Building
Phone: 542-4023
Email: wiegert@physast.uga.edu
Office hours:
Thu 1:30-2:30, Fri 2:00-3:00, or by appointment
Clinic:
Optional problem-solving clinic Wed 5-6 pm, Room 221
Required textbook: Classical Mechanics, by John R. Taylor (University Science Books,
Sausalito, 2005).
Optional texts:
Analytical Mechanics, by Grant R. Fowles and George L. Cassiday.
Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, by Stephen T.
Thornton and Jerry B. Marion.
Web site:
http://www.physast.uga.edu/classes/phys4101/wiegert/
Prerequisites:
PHYS 3700 (Modern Physics)
MATH 2700 (Differential Equations)
Grading Policy
At the end of the semester, I will compute an overall grade from your performance on exams
and homework, weighted as follows:
35% Cumulative final exam
45% Three midterm exams:
20% Best
15% Middle
10% Worst
20% Homework
Letter grade cutoffs will be no higher than 85% for A, 75% for B, 65% for C, and 55% for
D, and they may be lower.
The final exam is your opportunity to demonstrate that you have broadly and coherently
mastered the course material. Therefore, if
• you have not missed any midterm exams
• your total midterm exam grade is at the passing level
• your homework grade is also at the passing level
• your final exam grade exceeds your overall grade
then your final exam grade will replace your overall grade.
Any requests for a regrade of an assignment or an exam must be made no later than one
week after the item is returned. Keep in mind that for a regrade I will look at the entire
assignment/exam, not just one problem, and may raise or lower your score.
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Like any other measurement, grades possess a degree of uncertainty. Therefore, factors such
as improvement, effort, and participation may help borderline grades. (Lobbying, however,
will not.) There is no extra credit in this course.
Exams
There will be three midterm exams and a cumulative final exam. They will all be closedbook and closed-notes. However, I may provide you with a sheet containing useful or difficult
formulas. You may use a scientific calculator for arithmetic only, not for algebra, calculus,
or graphing; all memory registers and programs must be cleared. Unless told otherwise, you
must show your work on each exam problem in order to receive full credit.
Midterm exams will be two hours long and will be held in the evening in order to give
you extra time to complete them. The dates and times of the exams have not yet been
determined. I will give further information on each exam before the exam date. Exam
solutions will be posted to the course Web site after each midterm exam has been graded.
If you need to miss an exam for a legitimate and documentable reason, you must contact me
before the exam if at all possible, or else as soon as possible after the exam. Make-up exams
will be given only for legitimate, documentable reasons and only if you notify me in a timely
fashion.
Homework
In general, weekly homework assignments will be due at 4:00 pm every Friday. The pace
of the class and changes to the schedule may necessitate different due dates, which will be
announced in class. Assignments should be either handed in to me, or placed in my mailbox
in the departmental main office (Room 201). Do not slide assignments under my office door.
Detailed homework solutions will be posted to the Web site after the homework is due.
Homework assignments will be weighted equally; however, your lowest two assignment scores
will be dropped when calculating your final grade. This policy compensates for the unavoidable circumstances that may prevent you from submitting homework on time (e.g., illness,
scheduled event, computer failure, etc.). Late homework will not be accepted or excused.
Homework problems will be graded not only for correctness of the end result, but also on
process. Be sure to express, clearly and legibly, the reasoning for your solutions. Working
physics problems is by far the best way to learn physics, so it is important that you make
every effort to do a thorough job.
Teamwork can be a very effective way of learning, so I encourage you to interact with your
classmates on homework problems. That is in fact one of the purposes of the optional weekly
clinics. However, do not mistake teamwork for plagiarism; the work you hand in must be
your own, not copied, reworded, or paraphrased from someone else’s work.
Graduate Credit Policy
Students taking the course at the 6000-level will occasionally be given “graduate problems”
and/or “graduate projects”. Graduate problems will appear with the weekly homework
assignment, and will be due at the same time as the normal assignments unless otherwise
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specified. Graduate projects will be assigned separately and will be of longer duration.
Grades for graduate problems and projects will be recorded separately, and will be used to
adjust your overall semester grade. If your work on the graduate tasks is excellent (> 90%),
then your overall grade will be increased by up to one-half letter grade. If your work is
satisfactory (70–90%), your semester grade will be unchanged. If you do unsatisfactory
work, but at least attempt all the tasks, your semester grade will be reduced by up to onehalf letter grade. Failure to attempt the graduate tasks will result in a full letter grade
reduction.
Academic Honesty
The University of Georgia has a comprehensive policy on academic honesty, described in
a document entitled A Culture of Honesty. This document is available through the Office
of the Vice President for Instruction or online at http://www.uga.edu/ovpi/. You are
responsible for knowing and understanding this policy. If you have any question about the
appropriateness of your work in this course, you are obligated to ask me for clarification.
I take issues of academic honesty very seriously, and it is my responsibility to uphold the
University’s policy. This means, among other things, that I will not hesitate to report my
suspicions of dishonesty to the Office of the Vice President for Instruction.
Other Policies
• Above all, you have the right to expect courtesy from your fellow students, and the
same will be asked of you. Courtesy includes the expectation that everyone will come
to class ready to learn, willing to interact, and able to ask or to answer questions
freely. Courtesy also implies that you arrive on time and stay until the end of class.
Disruptions or distracting behavior will not be tolerated.
• Although attendance is not mandatory, it is in your best interest to attend. I will
present material in class that may not be covered in the textbook, or may be covered
out of order.
• Know the rules concerning withdrawals and incompletes, published in the UGA Undergraduate Bulletin. Of particular importance is the following passage:
Students who fail to drop a course or wish to withdraw from a course after
the designated drop/add period for a term must withdraw through OASIS
(Online Access to the Student Information System). An instructor also may
withdraw a student from a course due to excessive absenses as defined in
the course syllabus. Withdrawals after the drop/add period will result in
course entries on the academic record with grades of W or WF as assigned
by the instructor(s). A student who withdraws or is withdrawn for excessive
absences after the midpoint withdrawal deadline of the semester (date to be
specified in the Schedule of Classes) is assigned a grade of WF, except in those
cases in which the student is doing satisfactory work and the withdrawal is
recommended by the Office of Student Affairs because of emergency or health
reasons.
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For withdrawals before the midpoint, I will generally enter a grade of W even for
technically failing grades, if I judge that you have made a sincere effort in the class.
It is possible to earn a grade of WF before the midpoint; don’t assume otherwise.
Course Schedule
The following schedule of topics is tentative and subject to change.
Fundamental Concepts: Vectors, Coordinates
Newtonian Mechanics: Laws of Motion (Chapter 1)
Motion of a Particle: Projectiles, Charges (Chapter 2)
Momentum, Angular Momentum, Systems of Particles (Chapter 3)
Energy (Chapter 4)
Oscillations (Chapter 5)
Variational Principle and Lagrangian Mechanics (Chapters 6, 7)
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1
2
2
2
3
3
weeks
week
weeks
weeks
weeks
weeks
weeks
I anticipate that the first midterm exam will cover Chapters 1 and 2, the second exam will
cover Chapters 3 and 4, and the third exam will cover Chapters 5–7.
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