PHYS 213 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Description

University Physics:  Thermal Physics

Credit:  Credit is not given for both PHYS 213 and PHYS 101

Prerequisite: Successful completion of  PHYS 211; credit or concurrent registration in MATH 241

Physics 213 is a calculus-based, introductory course in thermal physics.  Topics include:

• First and second laws of thermodynamics including:
  • kinetic theory of gases
  • heat capacity
• heat engines
• introduction to entropy and statistical mechanics
• introduction to free energy and Boltzmann factor
• many, many applications.

Students are expected to have a good understanding of:

• classical mechanics
• differentiation and integration of simple functions

and some familiarity with:

• basic statistics.

Course Goals

By the end of this course the student should be able to:

• understand many of the basic ideas of thermodynamics.
• relate to modern applications.

Course Components

All students are required to participate in all course components.  Credit is granted in each course component.  All course components are subject to the Academic Integrity Policy.

i>clicker

Course participation requires the use of i>clickers, an interactive audience response system. Students need to acquire one (new or used) at the bookstore, and bring it to every lecture, including the first lecture.

i>clicker Registration

Students' i>clickers must be registered at the beginning of every semester.

Learning Strategy

To effectively learn new material, students need a wide array of perspectives. Our learning strategy is tailored to help students efficiently process problems in physics by providing the necessary experiences.

In introductory physics, the learning strategy of the Department of Physics can be summarized as follows:

1. Think About It! (prelectures and textbook reading assignments)
2. Untangle It! (lectures)
3. Challenge! (homework)
4. Experience It! (labs)
5. Close the Loop! (discussion)

This course covers a large amount of new material. Each concept builds on previous course concepts.  Mastery of previous material is essential. This is the student's responsibility. In order to succeed the student must not fall behind!

Component Description

Think About It: Prelecture/Textbook Reading Assignments

Prelecture

Due before some of the lectures (there are only 10 prelectures), according to the course schedule, these research-based multimedia presentations and assessments are designed to introduce the key ideas/concepts of the lecture.

• Each question may be attempted several times.
• Each question must be answered correctly to complete the activity.
• No late credit.

Textbook

The textbook was selected to have maximum overlap with the course material and is highly recommended. The class notes are not a textbook.

• Reading assignments for each lecture are listed in the course schedule.

Untangle It: Lecture

Lectures are held according to the course schedule.  Lecture material will be presented as:

• Ask The Professor available through byteShelf if you have questions or comments.
• lecture.
• demonstrations.
• worked examples.
• interACTive learning segments (ACTs).

During these ACT segments students will work on an assigned problem. Students may also discuss the problem with the lecturer. These activities facilitate the resolution of conceptual difficulties with physics concepts. Student questions and comments in class are expected and encouraged.

Participation will occur as follows:

• Answer questions during lecture using the i>clicker response system.
• Credit will be granted for participation in each lecture.
• The notes from each lecture will be posted on the course schedule.

Challenge: Homework

The web-based homework covering each week's material is due the following week.  Homework is assigned and distributed within the homework system, byteShelf.

Homework problems are designed to:

• Evaluate conceptual understanding.
• Develop problem-solving skills.

Background for the homework is provided by working through the prelectures, attending the lectures, and reading the assigned material from the textbook. Students should use this background as a guide to finishing the weekly homework assignments.

Homework sets include the following:

• A web-based homework assignment.
• A web-based quiz.

Please refer to the schedule in byteShelf for due dates.

To start work on a homework assignment:

• Go to byteShelf.
• Select the homework for the week.
• Each problem, or part thereof, may be worked an unlimited number of times.

• Full credit for each correct problem will be awarded when an assignment is completed before the deadline.
• Up to 80% credit will be awarded for finishing a problem up to one week after the deadline.

To start work on a quiz:

• Go to byteShelf.
• Select the quiz for the week.
• Solve and answer each problem.  Each problem may be answered only once.

• Full credit for each correct problem will be awarded when an assignment is completed before the deadline.
• No credit received for quizzes turned in after the deadline.

Experience It: Laboratory

Students must be on time for laboratory. No credit will be granted to students arriving more than 10 minutes late for lab.

The lab cycle is designed to provide the opportunity to experience the concepts developed in lecture. The laboratory portion of this course will consist of four (4) 2-hour laboratories, each involving a series of activities:

1. A prelab exercise due at the start of each laboratory period.
2. The laboratory exercise in which students will:
   1. set up simple experiments to investigate topics studied in class
   2. make predictions about the outcome of an experiment
   3. perform measurements of different phenomena studied in lecture
   4. analyze experimental results
   5. answer questions concerning the results and predictions.
3. A laboratory write-up to be completed during the session and turned in at the end of the lab session.

Close the Loop: Discussion

Weekly 2-hour discussion sections are required. Students select a discussion section during registration. Quizzes will be administered during the discussion section in all but the first week.  Solutions to discussion questions will be posted on the course schedule at the end of each week.

Each discussion session will consist of the following:

• A tutorial, consisting of several multi-problem exercises to be solved in small groups, facilitated by the section TA.
• A short quiz (approximately 20 minutes in duration) covering the previous week's material.

• This quiz will be graded and recorded in the gradebook.

Each student is expected to:

• Arrive on time. If the student arrives more than 10 minutes late they will get zero on the quiz.
• Come prepared. The required materials for each discussion section are:
  • Discussion Materials for Physics 213.
  • A calculator.
  • A writing implement (pen or pencil) and paper.

Exams

Review the course schedule for the exam dates.

Exam room assignments are made based on the student's discussion section. Attendance is taken by discussion section teaching assistants.

To each exam bring:

• a calculator
• a #2 pencil
• student ICard.

Exam scores will be posted in the student gradebook.

Conflict exams will be scheduled for those with a documented University schedule conflict.

Conflict exam times will be announced in lecture.

Mid-Term Exam

This course administers one 90-minute multiple-choice exam. This is done in accordance with University policy as described in: Article 3, Part 2. Section 3-202 covering Evening, Midterm and Hourly Examinations of the Student Code.

Students are expected to take the regularly scheduled midterm exam.

In accordance with University policy, conflict examinations will be administered for students with the following conflict types (from the Student Code):

1. Other examinations, including special examinations, scheduled at a prior date.
2. Regularly scheduled performances or rehearsals.
3. Regularly scheduled classes, including kinesiology and military.
4. Sickness, regular employment, or other extenuating circumstances.

The exam will be multiple choice and have the following format:

• Three-Choice Multiple Choice
  • 3 points each
  • no partial credit
• Five-Choice Multiple Choice
  • 6 points each
  • partial credit option
    • 3 points for two (2) marked answers, one of which is correct
    • 2 points for three (3) marked answers, one of which is correct.

Final Exam

The final exam will be two hours in length and will cover material from the whole semester, approximately 1/3 pre-midterm and 2/3 post-midterm topics.

A combined final exam and a conflict exam will be administered.

Supplemental

Also there will be open office hours every week to give students one-on-one assistance if they need more help.  Do not be bashful about taking advantage of these!

Academic Integrity

All activities in this course are subject to the Academic Integrity rules as described in Article 1, Part 4, Academic Integrity, of the Student Code.

Infractions include, but are not limited to:

• cheating
• plagiarism
• fabrication
• academic interference
• computer-related infractions
• unauthorized use of university resources
• sale of class materials or notes
• facilitating infractions of academic integrity.

Violations of any of these rules will be prosecuted and reported to the student's home college.

All aspects of the course are covered by these rules, including:

• quizzes
• homework
• i>clickers
• exams
• labs
• documentation submitted for petition for an excused absence

© 1999-2024 Department of Physics :: College of Engineering :: College of LAS :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
If you have questions about this page, please e-mail the Undergraduate Office (undergrad@physics.illinois.edu).