Physics 225

Prof. Gregory J. MacDougall

News
& Info
Units
& Notes
Homework
& Exams
Gradebook

Announcements

Grades are now posted for the final exam and the course.    Thurs., May 22, 2014
The class average on the final was 70.3%. Well done, all! Enjoy your summer break.
Midterm grades are now posted!    Fri., Mar. 21, 2014
The class average was 73%, discounting no-shows, and the standard deviation is 16%. This is an historic high. Good work!
Midterm solutions are now posted on the Homework page.    Tues, Mar. 18, 2014
Exams will be graded this week. Results will be entered into Gradebook.
Discussions for Friday, March 14 have been moved.    Mon, Mar. 10, 2014
The Engineering Open House this Friday has resulted in several classes being moved (for that day only). Please consult the list below, and attend Discussion in the room listed beside your section number:

D5B, 8:00am, MSEB 4101

D5G, 11:00am, MSEB 4101

D5N, 1:00pm, Siebel 1131

D5S, 3:00pm, Siebel 1131

The room for Monday office hours has been changed!    Wed, Feb. 5, 2014
New room is Loomis 276, effective Feb. 10.
Corrected HW2 online as of yesterday afternoon. Due date for the assignment has been pushed to Feb. 7th.    Sun, Feb. 2, 2014
My thanks to the keen students who noted the errors in the original version.
Location of Sunday office hours has been changed!    Tues, Jan. 28, 2014
They will now be located in Loomis 276.
Notes from lecture 1 have been posted.    Wed, Jan. 22, 2014
Right here . Please take note of the class philioshopy and logistical matters addressed on the first two pages.
Website is up    Wed, Jan. 15, 2014
Please take two minutes to read through the general course information on this page (and take one more minute to click on the other links at the top so you know how the site is organized.)
Some specific points:
  • Please look at the office hours posted below. There are times on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. We are searching for available space, and rooms will be announced in the near future. Important: if you cannot make any of these times due to your class schedule, please send me an email right away and include all the times on Mondays through Wednesdays that you are free. We are attempting to accommodate everyone.  
  • In any case, I encourage everyone to make use of the office hours to work on homework before Tuesdays, if at all possible. This will enhance the value of the lectures, as you will already have wrestled with the material. (You may have encountered this concept when taking one of the the Phys 21X courses. The principle is the same. We're simply not as strict about enforcing it here.) Coming to an office hour early in the week will allow you to tackle the class material in a relaxed environment, get your homework finished early and have it checked by an instructor before you leave -- great way to start the week!


General Information

Office hours
Please do make use of office hours. Homework is not a quiz; it's training. We want and expect you to get every answer on the homework correct, and we'll be happy to check your homework at office hours to make sure you understand everything before you leave. Also bring any questions you have about the units, lectures, or anything else to office hours, and we'll make sure your questions are answered.
Sunday afternoon 3:00 - 5:00 pm Loomis 276   Carlos Salazar-Lazaro
Monday afternoon 12:00 - 2:00 pm Loomis 276   Gregory MacDougall
Tuesday after lecture    4:50 - 5:30 pm     Loomis 151       Gregory MacDougall
Wednesday evening   5:00 - 7:00 pm   Loomis 464   Vatsal Dwivedi

Class Times and Locations
Lectures Loomis 151,   Tuesdays from 4:00 - 4:50 pm
Discussion Sections    Engineering Hall 106B3, Thursdays and Fridays

Instructors
  • Prof. Gregory MacDougall, MRL 216  → gmacdoug @ illinois.edu with "225" in the subject line
         or call me at 300-0147
Graders  
  • Atma Chan, Xilu Wang and Ye Zhuang  → Email with grading questions

Recommended Text Books (all on reserve at Grainger)
There is no required book for this course, but a textbook is often very helpful to provide a different point of view and additional detail. Here are some recommendations:
  • "Spacetime Physics" by Taylor and Wheeler.
    Good first book on Special Relativity. Lots of physical insight, extended discussions of the consequences of relativity and apparent paradoxes, and many worked examples.
  • "Special Relativity" by A. P. French
    More of a classical text on Special Relativity, notable for its excellent historical presentation. We won't talk about history in 225, so do pick up this book if you are interested. Note that the Copyright is 1968, so there will be used copies available, possibly at considerably lower prices than new books.
  • "Basic Training in Mathematics: A Fitness Program for Science Students", (Paperback) by R. Shankar.
    It's not for everybody, but definitely has some great content. It's also one of the only texts on mathematical physics which meets these two criteria: it's at a freshman / sophomore level, and it's recent enough that it uses modern notation.

 

Policies

Course Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on successful completion of the weekly homework assignments (35%), participation in the discussion sessions (10%), performance on a mid-term exam (15%), and performance on the final exam (40%).
Homework due dates and time
Homework is due at 11 am on Thursdays, before the beginning of the first discussion session for the week. Your solutions are to be deposited in the course homework box that is located on the second floor of Loomis Lab, at the entrance to the overpass to the Materials Research Lab (MRL) on the north side. The homework boxes are painted bright yellow; you can't miss them. The box for Phys 225 is on the bottom row.
Late Policy for Homework
If you don't make the deadline, you lose 15% of your grade for each weekday that your homework is late. The graders check the homework box each day at 11 am; anything turned in after that time will belong to the following day's submissions. No homework will be accepted after 11am of the following Tuesday.
Late Policy for Attendance at Discussion Sessions
If you're 8 minutes or more late, you will receive only half credit for that week; if you are 15 minutes or more late you get zero credit. (You will still, however, receive intellectual benefit from your participation. )
Conflict Exam Rules
Physics 225 does not schedule conflict exam sittings. For final exams, the rules concerning conflicts are outlined in points (5) and (6) of the Student Code - Final Exam section. Point (5) describes the important max-2-in-a-row rule: no student can be required to take three consecutive exams in one day. Please read this important rule so you know your rights! There is a strict order of precedence that determines which courses have to offer you a conflict exam if you have a scheduling collision (including the 2-in-a-row rule). As Phys 225 runs a "non-combined" final and has a relatively small number of students compared with many other 1st or 2nd year classes, it is first in this order, i.e. you will take the conflict exam for your larger classes. If you have a final exam scheduling collision which is not resolved by these rules (e.g. two smaller / "non-combined" courses that collide), email the instructors from all of the courses involved at the same time so that they can work out among themselves who will give you a conflict sitting. This will not be an issue until the end of the semester.