last update 15 December 2008

Welcome to Physics 121C Autumn 2008

MECHANICS

Prof. Marjorie Olmstead

Lecture Meets MWF 10:30 - 11:20 pm in Physics Astronomy A102
Tutorial Meets Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in PAB-B164
Lab Meets throughout the week in PAB-B108 or B110

Course Announcements

12/15 Course grades are posted on Tycho and have been submitted to the registrar.
12/15 The average on the final was 96/150, with a standard deviation of 25.
12/15 The solution to the final was not posted due to technical difficulties.
Older announcements.

Office Hours and Contact Information

Lecture:

Prof. Marjorie Olmstead olmstd@u.washington.edu Office: B433 685-3031

Study Center Hour:

Wednesday 11:25 am - 12:15 pm (after class)

Office Hour:

Tuesday 10:00 - 10:45 am or By Appointment in PAB B433.

Tutorial:

Prof. Peter Shaffer shaffer@phys.washington.edu Office: C224 543-6390
Tutorial TA assignments
Tutorial Web Site

Laboratory:

Prof. Jens Gundlach jens@phys.washington.edu Office: C529 543-8774
Lab Web Site
Lab TA contact info

Administrative enquiries:

Susan Hong susanh82 @phys.washington.edu C136 PAB 543-4982
Administrative Web Site (links to other 12x sites, TA contact info, exam statistics, how to get into a section, etc.)
If you wish to talk with an academic counselor about becoming a physics major or minor, or have general questions about the physics program, please contact Margot Nims [margot@phys.washington.edu, C139 PAB, 543-2772].

Course Links

Lecture Homework

Required HW Tycho Direct Link
Supplemental HW WebAssign Direct Link

Tutorial Home Page

Tutorial Homework Direct Link
Pretest Direct Link

Web Communications

Reference

Exam Info
Syllabus
General Course Information
Study Center Schedule
Description of purpose behind different aspects of the course.
Administrative Web Site (links to other 12x sites, TA contact info, exam statistics, how to get into a section, etc.)
Results of Enrollment Survey.
Departmental 12x Grading Policy

Exam Information

Links to Physics Career/Major Information

Americal Physical Society "Focus" -- Current, hot research results described at the undergraduate level.
APS "Physics" -- Distilling major results published this month in the Physical Review, including editorials and summaries.
Information on Majoring in Physics at UW.
UW Women in Science and Engineering

Provides networking, mentoring, tutoring, Study Center (for Credit!)

UW Chapter of the Society of Physics Students
American Physical Society Reports on Physics Employment, including

Statistical information on Physics Bachelors, including starting salaries, correlation of job needs with skills learned as a student, etc. (html list of links to tables and graphs)
The Early Careers of Physics Bachelors (pdf file)
State-by-State listing of Companies Hiring Physics Bachelors (html)

Old Announcements

12/9 Course grades will likely not be posted until Monday, Dec 14.
12/9 Solutions to the 121C final exam will not be posted until after 121A, 121B and 121D have taken theirs (sometime Thursday).
12/9 Multiple choice scores for the final are now uploaded. A few incorrect numbers were uploaded for a couple of hours. That has now been fixed.
12/1 Tutorial meets this week as usual for Simple Harmonic Motion. Lab is make-up only. You must sign up in advance for a make-up lab or risk not having the appropriate equipment set up. Only one lab may be made up in a single 3 hour session.
12/1 Information about the final exam is posted here.
11/20 As we approach the end of the quarter, check with your lab and tutorial TAs to make sure you agree on what work you have completed or missed.
11/20 If you have not yet registered your clicker, please do so now at this web site. A list of clicker numbers that have points associated with them, but no UWNetID, as well as a list of UWNetIDs for which there is no clicker number, is here.
11/20 A pdf of clicker questions through Nov 19 lecture is posted here.
11/20 A listing of topics covered on the Nov. 24 midterm is here.
10/31 A listing of the topics covered on Monday's midterm is here.
10/31 A pdf of clicker questions asked since the beginning of the quarter (plus a couple we didn't have time for in class) are posted here.
10/31 Comment on Tycho problem with mass spinning around a rod, attached with two strings: I recently learned that part of the issue with that problem was that about 10% of you got random numbers that generated an unphysical result, with the tension in the lower string going negative. If you find this to be the case during your review, blame Tycho and not your knowledge of physics. The problem was extra credit, so it won't affect your grade. You should, however, understand it before the midterm.
10/22 Clicker points have been tabulated through today's lecture, starting from Oct. 6, and posted on Tycho. There are nearly 50 clickers that have been used at least once, but not registered. To get credit for your clicker points, you must register your clicker here. If you changed clickers after October 6, then you should register your new clicker and also send Prof. Olmstead an email with your old clicker number in it so she can connect both with your name -- the registration system only keeps track of your most recent registration.
10/22 Supplemental HW grades will only be posted on WebAssign.
10/22 Midterms not picked up in class are available for pickup in Susan Hong's office, PAB - C136. If you have a missing score due to failure of the TA to be able to read your name, bring a sample of your handwriting to Susan to claim your paper.
10/14 The solution to the 1st midterm is posted on GoPost.
10/9 Seat Assignments for the 1st Midterm are posted on Tycho under "Seating" in the gradebook section. Please check your seat assignment before Monday morning.
10/9 Traffic on the course GoPost Chat Room is lower than in previous years. If you haven't yet checked it out -- it is a way to have conversations about homework problems or complex concepts with your fellow students.
10/9 Information about what is covered on the first midterm is posted here.
10/9 Bring a scantron "bubble sheet" to the midterm, as well as a number 2 pencil with which to fill it out. You may also bring one page of notes and a calculator.
10/9 Your best 8 out of 10 will count on this week's Tycho HW since we didn't get to circular motion with forces or friction by Wednesday's lecture. You can thus skip those two problems with no loss of credit. If you did them already, they will count as extra credit against a future HW assignment.
10/9 Clickers are now available at the UW Bookstore. Make sure you get the kind with "H-ITT" on it.
9/25 Clicker issues: The bookstore is on back-order for clickers, due in "early October". For a clicker to work in A102, it needs to say "H-ITT" on it. It does not need to be registered to work (just before the end of the quarter so I can assign your clicker's points to you). I'm not sure if the same clickers work in chemistry and/or biology. Those of you with old-style (infra-red, not radio frequency) clickers will need to have fresh batteries and aim your clicker at one of the receivers up near the ceiling that are scattered about the sides of the lecture hall. Those of you with new-style (radio frequency) clickers will need to set your frequency while in the classroom with the computer listening for your clicker. We'll do that in class on Friday. The procedure is:

hold down the double down arrow button for about 5 seconds until the LED turns from green to red.
press the 2 keys for the channel, in this case "0" or "J" and "1" or "A".
hold down the double down arrow button again until the LED flashes green.
The clicker channel will remain set until you hold down the double down arrow button again. Occasionally this happens by accident in a backpack, so you may have to reset at some point.

9/25 The first Tycho assignment is posted, due next Thursday night. See Tycho HW. It is somewhat longer than usual because there is no tutorial HW this week.
9/25 The first Supplemental HW assignment is listed on the Syllabus and posted on WebAssign. See the Supplemental HW link for instructions.
9/23 Preliminary results from the enrollment survey are posted here in a pdf file. This is based on roughly half the class filling out the survey. If you have not done so, please fill out the survey here.
9/23 New sections have been added: a tutorial on Thursday at 4:30 and a lab on Tuesday at 6:30. If these fit your schedule as well or better than your current schedule, please move into these sections to free up space in your old sections and allow late registrants more choice.
9/15 This class will use the audience response system, or "clickers." To get credit for your clicker points, you must register your clicker here.
9/15 Please fill out the enrollment survey at this web site. If you were registered on September 8, you should have received an email announcing this survey. It will help Prof. Olmstead structure the class to your needs. It also allows her to collect statistics on the interconnections between math/physics preparation and class performance. So far, she has found that coming to class (as measured by number of clicker questions answered) is a far better predictor of final grade than any math or high school physics class.
9/15 WELCOME to Physics 121C: Mechanics. All students must register for both laboratory and tutorial.
9/15 If you want to change your lab or tutorial, keep visiting the online time schedule to see where there are open spots. Check often, since spots may open up as other people change sections or drop the course; note that the UW website is only updated every night at midnight, so spaces may open up during the day as other students change their schedules. If you really need to get into a closed section, please follow these overload instructions.
9/5 The GoPost chat room for Physics 121 is now live. It can be found at https://catalysttools.washington.edu/gopost/board/olmstd/7073/, and requires a UWNetID for access.
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