Physics 140: How Things Work.
Lectures
Monday and Wednesday from 1:30 - 3:00 PM, 141 Loomis Laboratory of Physics (LLP)
2. Course Web Site:
http://courses.physics.illinois.edu/phys140
The Student Gradebook is found on the Course Web Site: Click on Gradebook , then Student Gradebook and log on with your NetID and NetID password. This is where you check your grades and sign up for conflict exams. Please check the Student Gradebook regularly throughout the semester. If it is not up to date (allow 2 weeks for corrections), please notify Prof. Willenbrock. The Student Gradebook closes on TBA.
3. Instructors
| Lecturers | Offices* | Office Hours | E-mail Address |
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| Prof. Brad Halfpap (Course Director) | 333 Loomis | TF 1:30 - 4:00 | bhalfpap@illinois.edu |
| TAs | |||
| TA Commons | |||
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*TA Commons is on the second floor (279 Loomis). You are welcome to attend any office hour listed, and to make appointments with any of the TAs or Course Director. |
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4. Assigned textbook
How Things Work 4th edition by Louis A. Bloomfield
You may choose to purchase an e-book instead of a hard copy of the textbook. Information about the variety of electronic textbook options may be found here.
Two fun websites are http://www.physicscentral.com/ and http://www.howstuffworks.com/
5. Homework (HW)
The homework can be found on the course web site, or directly at: https://smart2.physics.illinois.edu. The homework is done online. It is due on Tuesdays at 8:00a.m., at which time the answers are posted. Each 10-question homework set is of equal value. You may work your homework sets multiple times, and the computer scoring system will keep only your last saved answers.
You must remember to save your answers! Discussion is encouraged. There is no credit for late homework.
Your lowest homework grade is dropped at the end of the semester
6. Discovery Room (DR), 31 LLP
The discussion/laboratory sections are called Discovery Room, or DR, in Physics 140. The DRs begin on Thursday, January 17.
7. i>Clickers
i>clickers are available at all three university bookstores. You may use the old, original i>clicker or the new i>clicker 2. You should register your i>clicker to your NetID by noon on Wednesday, January 16. You must register your i>clicker gradebook page. Your Remote ID is on the back of your i>clicker. If you cannot read the Remote ID on the back of your i>clicker, please go to the Customer Service Counter at the Illini Union Bookstore. A station has been set up there so that you can retrieve the Remote ID.) The lecturer will ask multiple choice questions during class and you are invited to respond using your i>clicker. Credit is given for responses (right or wrong), with two points given per lecture. 25 Lectures will be counted.
You are responsible for changing the batteries in your i>clicker. You are also responsible for replacements if you damage or lose your i>clicker. iClicker Rules:
- Read the instructions on the back of your i>clicker carefully.
- i>clicker Student Gradebook updates require at least one week.
- Please note the i>clicker registration deadline.
- A blank i>clicker grade in the Student Gradebook indicates that the Student Gradebook has not yet been updated for that lecture. An AB grade means absent (and that the Student Gradebook has been updated).
- If you replace your i>clicker, you must re-register your new iclicker AND e-mail Course Director to receive i>clicker credit for the rest of the semester.
8. E-mail
Any concerns, questions, or comments about the administration of the course you wish to submit by e-mail must be sent to the Course Director. Please bring physics questions to any TA or Course Director's office hours.
You must use your UIUC express e-mail account.
Your full name must appear in the e-mail message.
Please put Physics 140 in the subject line
Your email messages may be detected as spam and deleted if you do not follow these rules.
9. Exams on Wednesdays at 7:00pm
There are three multiple-choice Exams of 90 minutes in length:
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Wednesday,March 13, 2013
Wednesday,April 17, 2013
Exam locations will be announced on the course webpage and by e-mail.
CONFLICT EXAM: If you have a conflict with the exam time, you may sign up for the conflict exam, which is given at 5:45 p.m. on that same day. This sign-up option will appear in the Student Gradebook by the end of the second week of classes. To take the conflict exam you must sign up in the Student Gradebook by 10:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding the exam.
DOUBLE CONFLICT EXAM: There is a double conflict exam given at 4:00 p.m. that same day. Only conflicts with other UIUC classes make one eligible for the double conflict. You must e-mail the Course Director detailed information of your UIUC conflicts at least one week before the exam, so it can be cleared by the Emergency Dean (see below).
You can view the Answer(s) You Marked in the Exam Results by Question options listed under Gradebook on the Course Web Site. If you think the displays do not accurately reflect what you bubbled in on your answer sheet, send an e-mail message to shunk@illinois.edu.
10. Final Exam
The Final Exam will be on Thursday, May 9, 1:30PM, in 141 Loomis Hall.
The Final Exam has about 90 multiple-choice questions and covers material from the entire semester.
11. Grading
Homework: 175 points
Discovery Room: 175 points
iClicker: 50 points
Each Exam: 120 points (for a total of 3x120=360 points)
Final Exam: 240 points
TOTAL POSSIBLE: 1000 point
Your final grade for Physics 140 will be based on your total score on all the components of the course (after the lowest DR and homework grades are dropped). Letter grade ranges are: A+(900), A(860), A-(840), B+(820), B(790), B-(770), C+(750), C(700), C-(660), D+(620), D(550) and D-(500), where the number in parentheses is the lowest score for that grade.
HWs: You will be graded on 13 homework assignments (14 total with the lowest one dropped), 10 points each. To get your HW score, multiply your total sum of points of your 13 kept HW assignments times 175/130.
DRs: You will be graded on 10 DRs (11 total with the lowest one dropped); each DR is worth 1 point. To get your DR score, multiply the sum of your remaining 10 DR grades times 175/10.
i>clicker: Each lecture in which the i>clicker is used is worth 2 points. You will be graded on only your best 25: the lowest grades will be dropped. Your i>clicker grade is then the sum of your points.
Exams: To get your score for each Exam, multiply your score times 120.
Final: The Final Exam is worth 240 points. To get your Final Exam score, multiply your score by 240.
EX grade: Excused Absence (see Section 12). The way that EX grades are applied is explained in Section 12.
AB grade: Absence . This becomes a 0 (zero) at the end of the semester.
12. Excused Absences
All docmuentation for an Excused Absence must be turned in within two weeks of an absence.
EX scores for Exams, Discovery Room, Homework, and Lecture (i>clicker) will be granted only in one of the following circumstances: (a) illness; (b) personal crisis (e.g., automobile accident, required court appearance, death of a close relative or friend, weather conditions preventing travel to campus); or (c) required attendance at an official UIUC activity (e.g., varsity athletics, band concert).
In case (a), go to the McKinley Health Center. After you have been seen, you will receive a Visit Confirmation note that you should take to the course secretary in 231/233 Loomis. (Do not take it to an instructor.) She will make a a photocopy of the note for the course record book and will distribute copies to all of your instructors (lecturer and Discovery Room TA). You may choose instead go to a private physician and obtain a written excuse. That excuse should contain your doctor's name and telephone number. Take the excuse note to the course secretary for recording, confirmation, and notification of your instructors.
In case (b) contact the Dean of Students' Office 333-0050. (At night this number is referred to as the Emergency Dean). The Dean's Office will subsequently send you a letter and a copy to the course secretary. She will place it in the course record book and send copies to all of your P211 instructors.
In case (c) inform your lecturer in advance that you will be missing an hour exam and request an I score. Similarly, inform your TA if you will be missing a Discovery Room. In addition, obtain a written note of confirmation from an official of the sponsoring office and take that note to the course secretary for recording and distribution to all of your instructors. Alternatively, request that the note be sent directly to the course secretary in 231/233 Loomis.
If you fail to take a regular or conflict Final Exam in Physics 140, you will receive an ABS letter grade for the course, which will be interpreted as a failure (F) in your semester grade report. Permission to change an ABS letter grade to an "I" (Incomplete) letter grade can only be granted by an authorized member of the Dean's Office of your college. If an "I" grade is granted, you must take a replacement Final Exam before the deadline specified in UIUC Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students. How Excused Absences are applied:
Exams: If your Confining Illness or Personal Emergency Excused Absence dates include the date of an Exam, you will receive an EX grade. If you have an EX on an Hour Exam, you calculate your grade by multiplying your Final Exam grade times 120/240.
Homework Assignments: Since you have a full week to do your homework assignments, an EX grade will only be granted if four or more days of that week are Excused Absences. Please do your homework assignments early, just in case an emergency occurs! An EX grade becomes the average of the other homework grades, after the lowest homework grade is dropped.
Discovery Rooms: An EX grade becomes the average of the other DR grades, after the lowest DR grade is dropped.
i>clicker: If you miss lecture due to an Excused Absence, you will be given the usual 2 points awarded for using the i>clicker in lecture.
13. Course Philosophy
This course is meant to be a fun way to learn how things actually work. We hope that by the end of the course you will understand why it is easier to stay up on your bicycle when you are moving than when you are standing still, why violins and pipe organs are shaped the way they are and why you need to always wear your seatbelt, pulled tightly, in a car or airplane. But even more, we hope you will discover questions you never even thought of before the course started, and that this gentle introduction to physics will spark your curiosity about the intriguing puzzles that surround us every day.