SYLLABUS For PHYS 133 Section 51 and Section 52
COURSE INFORMATION:
Title: Physics 133 General Physics (PHYS- 0133 -51 and PHYS- 0133 -52)
Meeting Place: Room 46 (Section 51) Room 45 (Section 52), Building 52 (Science)
Meeting Times: 11am – 12pm (Section 51) 12pm – 1pm (Section 52)
-Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Course Prerequisites: PHYS- 0131 or x141
INSTRUCTOR:
Name: Dr Karl Saunders
Phone Number: 756-1696
E-mail Address: ksaunder@calpoly.edu
Website: http://www.calpoly.edu/~ksaunder/
Office: Room E-19, Building 52 (Science)
Office Hours: Tuesday 1pm – 2pm at The Math and Physics Learning Center
Tuesday 2pm – 3pm
Wednesday 1pm – 3pm
Friday 1pm - 2pm
Additional Office Hours: By appointment
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK
Title: Physics for Scientists and Engineers
Author: Knight R.D.
Publisher: Addison Wesley (2004)
Available at: El Corral Bookstore
Note: There is also a Student Workbook and Access Kit for the Mastering Physics
website (see below). We will use both of these so you need to get them too.
Price: $143 for a package containing Textbook, Workbook and Access Kit.
REQUIRED LAB MANUAL: Physics 133 Laboratory Experiments
RESOURCES
The Math and Physics Learning Center: If you are having trouble with the
homework or understanding the concepts, the physics learning center will be open 25
hours a week. It is located in Room A03 in Building 52 (Science). A math professor,
a math student, a physics professor, and a physics student staff the learning center.
The hours are Monday to Friday 9am - 2pm, starting the second week of each quarter.
Web Resources:

My website http://www.calpoly.edu/~ksaunder/
This website contains a link to my Phys 133 website that will include the
syllabus, homework solutions, review questions, and announcements

MasteringPhysics Website: http://www.masteringphysics.com
Course ID: MPSAUNDERS133S05
This is an online tutorial and homework and system run by the publisher of
our textbook. You can access it using the Access Kit that came with your
book- there is an Access Code on the inside cover of the kit- and the course ID
(see above). The kit also contains a Getting Started booklet that you should
read. At my website there is a document called “Using Mastering Physics”
that contains useful information, including how to register the first time. We
will be using this website for doing homework so please get comfortable with
it as soon as possible.
COURSE FORMAT:
CLASS MEETINGS:
I will lecture using the blackboard. As often as possible we will work together on
problems and exercises from the student workbook so bring paper, pen/pencil,
calculator and the student workbook. I will assign reading from the textbook This is
important because I will not always cover everything in class. You are responsible for
covering the material by reading.
Classroom behavior: We should all expect behavior in the classroom that is
considerate of everyone else in the classroom. This covers a lot of different things but
includes not eating/drinking or reading the newspaper. It also means we should turn
our cell phones off. If you need to take a call then leave the classroom and don’t come
back until the next time we meet. If people are getting up and coming back in it is
distracting for us all.
LABORATORY:
The laboratory is an integral part of this course and will support the material covered
in lecture. You must be concurrently enrolled in the laboratory. The lab itself will be
worth 5% of your grade. You must pass the lab to pass the course.
HOMEWORK
Working on homework is a crucial aspect of this course. It will test to see if you
understand the material presented and, equally importantly, it will help you to develop
the skills of model building, critical thinking and problem solving. The exams I give
will contain questions similar to those you receive for homework so it is also in your
interest to work hard on the homework if you want to do well on the exams. Links to
the solutions will be posted online on my website (see above).
You are to do the homework carefully and clearly on paper. You are also to submit it
to Mastering Physics. 75% the points for each problem will be awarded for the
answer you submit to Mastering Physics (WAY 1). The other 25% will be
awarded for how you presented the solution on paper (WAY 2).
WAY 1: Using the Mastering Physics Website (see above): You’ll log on to the
website using your login and password. Here you’ll see a list of the problems I want
you to do. The deadline will appear at the top of the screen.
WAY 2: Handwritten and turned in to me.
 Clearly label the problem number, date and your collaborators (see below) at
the beginning of each problem.
 Keep all of your homework together and organized - use a ring binder. This
will help you when you are studying for exams. If you come to my office with
a question on a homework problem bring the binder with you so I can see your
approach to the problem. I will only answer your question if you have your
ring binder and attempted solution.
Collaboration: You can work on problems/study individually or in groups.
Collaboration is an important aspect of everyday life and develops teamwork and
communication skills. You are to name your collaborators at the start of each
homework problem.
A few words of advice:
 It is a good idea to think about the problem by yourself first. You may find
that for a particular problem collaboration isn’t necessary. If collaboration is
necessary then you will make it more productive by knowing what you do and
don’t understand about the problem before collaborating.
 If you collaborate on and solve a problem you must make sure that you,
individually, understand how the solution is reached. A good way to check this
is to try the problem again by yourself and without looking at the solution. The
exams will consist of problems similar to those from homework. It is better to
make sure you understood the solution while doing homework than to realize
you didn’t during the exam!
If you are having difficulty with the homework or other problems you can bring your
question to:
 Class
 My office
 The Physics Learning Center (see above)
 A classmate
Student Workbook: There is a Student Workbook in addition to the textbook. It
consists of short exercises that are nearly all qualitative rather than quantitative. They
don’t involve significant calculation and are basically there to give you a chance to
practice the ideas and techniques that you’ll learn from the textbook and class. As
often as possible we’ll work on exercises during class and I recommend that you use
Student Workbook as a study aid too.
“Study 25-35 Hours/Week”: You have all seen the “Study 25-35 Hours/Week – 2
hours /unit/week” signs around campus. This class is four units so you should be
studying at least 8 hours/week for it. “Studying” includes (but is not limited to):
 Reading
 Doing exercises from the workbook
 Doing the homework problems
 Preparing for exams
 THINKING about the concepts
QUIZZES
There will be a quiz most weeks in the recitation period of lab. Each quiz will test
your conceptual understanding, and will require an answer and an explanation to a
question. Most of the points will be awarded for the explanation you give. The main
way to prepare for these quizzes is to think about the material you are being presented
with in class and covering with your reading. Another good way to prepare for these
quizzes is to practice answering and explaining the Stop to Think questions as well as
the conceptual type workbook questions. I would be happy to discuss any of your
practice explanations with you.
EXAMS
There will be two midterm exams and a final exam. The tentative dates are:
 Midterm 1: In lab April 18/19 (Week 4)
 Midterm 2: In lab May 10/11 (Week 7)
 Final Exams (Section 51) Tuesday June 7th 10:10am to 1pm
 Final Exams (Section 52) Thursday June 9th 10:10am to 1pm
For Section 52: if you want to take the final on the Tuesday let me know and I’ll try to
accommodate you.
If you have to miss an exam, then arrangements must be made before the exam is
given. If there is a test day emergency or illness, then leave me a message at my office
(756-1696) BEFORE THE TEST. Then make arrangements with me as soon as
possible.
GRADING
Lab: 5%
Homework: 20% (Mastering Physics 15% & Paper 5%)
Quizzes: 15%
Midterm 1: 20%
Midterm 2: 20%
Final: 20%
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM
This is an introductory course on electricity and magnetism. This is a very rich field
both in terms of breadth and depth. The material will be new to many of you and,
unlike Physics 131/141, will not immediately lend itself to everyday intuition. Much
of your effort in this course will be spent on understanding and getting comfortable
with new concepts- particularly fields and potential. While challenging, the topics we
will cover are also fascinating and extremely relevant to today’s high tech society.
Most, if not all, of the world’s technology, from computers and cell phones to
levitating trains and NMR is based on electricity and/or magnetism.
One of the great scientific achievements of our history, and a culmination of the
advances in electricity and magnetism was Maxwell’s theory and description of light
as an electromagnetic wave, at the end of the nineteenth century. It was a young Swiss
patent clerk’s musings on the nature of this electromagnetic wave that gave birth to
the Theory of Relativity and a profound advance in our understanding space, time and
the nature of the universe. This year is the centenary of Einstein’s publication of his
theory of Special Relativity and the reason we celebrate 2005 as the World Year of
Physics.
PART 1: ELECTRIC CHARGES, FORCES AND FIELD
Goal: To understand electric phenomena in terms of charges, forces and fields.
You will:
 Use a charge model for electric interaction
 Calculate electric forces using Coulomb’s Law
 Use electric fields to model long-range interactions between charges.
 Calculate motion of charges in electric fields
PART 2: ELECTRIC POTENTIAL, CURRENT AND CIRCUITS
Goal: To understand electrical energy, current and their application to circuits.
You will:
 Analyze the motion of charged particles using electrical potential energy
 Relate electric potential and electrical potential energy
 Connect electric field and electric potential
 Use sources of electric potential
 Acquire the basic tools for designing electric circuits
PART 3: ELECTROMAGENTISM
Goal: To understand magnetism and to relate magnetism and electricity.
You will:
 Learn about magnetic phenomena and magnetic properties of materials
 Calculate the magnetic field due to the motion of charges and also the effect
on the motion of charges due to magnetic fields



Calculate the magnetic forces on current carrying wires
Calculate current induced by a changing field
Analyze circuits with inductors
APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE:
ELECTRIC CHARGES, FORCES, FIELD (About 3 weeks)
 Electric Charges and Forces – Ch 25.
 Electric Field – Ch 26.
 Gauss’s Law – Ch 27.
Midterm 1 will cover this material
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL, CURRENT AND CIRCUITS (About 3 weeks)
 The Electric Potential – Ch 29
 Potential and Field - Ch 30
 Current and Conductivity – Ch 28
 Fundamentals of Circuits Ch 31
Midterm 2 will cover this material
ELECTROMAGENTISM (About 4 weeks)
 The Magnetic Field – Ch 32.
 Electromagnetic Induction – Ch 33.
 Electromagnetic Fields and Waves – Ch 34.
 Time permitting: AC Circuits – Ch.35.
The Final will cover this material