Physics For Engineers and
Scientists II
Principles of Electricity and Magnetism
Dr. Jeffrey B. Bindell
Fall 2006
General Information
Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Bindell
Schedule M,W,F 10:30 AM to 11:20 AM Room 359
Phone 407-823-4194
(I am almost never there … use email)
E-mail: bindell@physics.ucf.edu
Website: www.physics.ucf.edu/~physics
(All lectures and other documents including the syllabus)
OFFICE HOURS: M,W,F 7:30-9:00 AM
Usually: 11:30-12:30
MAP-417
Books and Stuff
Serway and Jewitt “Physics for Engineers
and Scientists”, Volume 2, 6th Edition
Thompson – Brooks/Cole
You need to get a WebAssign LogIn
You need to purchase a “clicker monster”
and register on-line. (See syllabus for
instructions)
Keep This in Mind
The Facts …
Recent Semesters Final Grades
Percent of Class
40
30
20
10
A
B
C
D
F
0
Grade
F includes people who forgot to withdraw and just stopped attending.
The Dirty Little 2049 Secret:
The percent of initial registrants who
receive a grade of D,F or W
Based upon interviews with some of the
47% of the 2049 initial population:
 Students waited too long to get down to serious
studying and by then it was too late.
 Students blew off lectures because they were
boring.
 Students stopped working on the course from
time to time because of the pressures of other
courses.
 All agree that this was their most difficult course
(when taken at the appropriate time)
 Many state that their calculus skills were not up
to the challenge of the course.
ratemyprofessors.com
Completely unforgiving. Unhelpful office hours from which
you leave more confused and with more questions than
you came with. Seems to have no time for students, will
not listen to any excuse, reasonable or not. Do not be 1
minute late on quiz day. Family emergency, car trouble=
unforgivable sin
Very difficult. Not in a tough way, but in an unhelpful
way. Does not go over problems and his office hours
are not helpful at all. You leave just as confused. Does
not go over tests.
ratemyprofessors.com
This class sucks, but Bindell makes it doable. He
answers ?'s, speaks clearly, and is pretty funny too.
Fair tests and decent curves for the final grade. Do
your webassign and make yourself known, you will
pass this class...
Very hard class. Tests consist of 1 homework
problem and 2 unseen problems, one easy, one
hard. If you go to office hours (if you can get him
on a day he's there )he will usually give you extra
points on tests that TA's graded unfairly. He also
curves the grades a lot. I was looking at a C and
made an A
And from last semester
 Terrible PowerPoint lectures, not very good at conveying
some of the more advanced concepts. You can still get
by if you do all the homework and go to the SARC tutors
-- the tests are reasonable (still HARD!). If you want to
actually follow in class, take Dr. Saha instead.
 GREAT! ONE OF THE SMARTEREST AND MOST
INTERESTING INDIVIDUALS IN THE EARTH! ASK HIM
QUESTIONS, LISTEN, TAKE HIS ADVICE AND
COURSE!
 Tough class. Bindell is a funny guy and does a pretty
good job teaching. Just make sure that you study and
don't fall behind.
Grades
Item
Weight
Mid Semester Examinations
3
Final Examination
2
Homework
2
In Class Quizzes
1.5
Class Participation (Clicks)
1.5
No Curve !
SCORE
85-100
75-84
60-74
50-59
Less than 50
GRADE
A
B
C
D
F
Approximate Exam Schedule
EXAM
NUMBER
1
2
4
FINAL EXAM
DATE
9-23 (Fri)
10-21 (Fri)
11-23 (Wed)
Check UCF Cal.
#(*&#@$ Clickers
 Will be used throughout the course.
 Will be used daily.
 For class questions: Correct Answer=3, Incorrect
answer=2, No answer=0.
 For clicker quiz (if there are any), only correct answers
will count.
 Because you get credit even for wrong answers,
clicker scores should be pretty reasonable.
Homework
It is important to notice that homework counts for a
significant % of your grade. Homeworks will be based on
WebAssign. Although “extensions” will be available, valid
reasons should be offered at the time or he request.
There will be multiple short WebAssigns instead of one long
assignment per week. They will be due prior to the next
class. This is intended to keep you up to date in your
work.
Clicker work will also require that you complete the reading
assignments on time and on schedule.
Reading assignments will be announced on WebAssign.
WebAssign Startup
Digits of your PID
ihatephysics
Be sure to change your
password as soon as
possible to avoid someone
else doing your homework!
My gripes ….
Students study at the last minute.
Students have big holes in their math
skills:
Interpreting Graphs.
Using Calculus.
Students come to my office expecting me
to solve their homework problems.
I will always help … I will not give you the
answers!
Work on the problems before you come for
help.
Feedback Based Approach
More demos when possible.
More problems in class
Minimize PowerPoint.
Last semesters PP notes are on my website.
Watch out for some errors that were not
corrected on the slides.
This approach requires that class does its
reading beforehand.
How to get an A.
 Weekend
Read next weeks material.
Complete assignment before class time.
 During Week
Work the long problems from WebAssign
Different problems will usually be worked in class.
Ask Questions
 Fridays will usually be Quiz day. Some will be
“strange”.
 All exams will be on Fridays (except for the
Wednesday before Thanksgiving)
Studying helps!!
An offer:
This room may be vacant from 7:30 – 8:30
AM.
If you want, I can use this hour (probably
on Fridays) to answer questions, work
problems, etc.
This is an extra “recitation” class.
Think about it … we will decide later in the
week.
What’s Up?????
Today
Introductory Comments
Electricity (Read First Chapter on Charge)
Wednesday
Electrical Forces and Problems
Friday
Probable Quiz
Complete the Chapter
Will try to start clicker use
Reminder
This is a hard class.
If you don’t get it, “it” will get
you!