General Physics I / Physics I Laboratory Course Fall 2017
Instructor: Dr. Yuri M. Strzhemechny
Office: SWR 373
Phone: 817-257-5793
Email: Y.Strzhemechny@tcu.edu
Web: http://personal.tcu.edu/ystrzhemechn/
Office Hours: T 8:00-8:50 AM, F 4:00-6:00 PM & by appointment
Lab instructions: Distributed via the Internet.
Course Description: This course will cover the following physics subjects at an introductory college level: Newton’s laws of motion, the conservation of linear momentum, angular momentum, and energy, the mechanics of fluids, internal energy and heat transport, and wave phenomena. This laboratory course will provide students with “hands-on” experiences that will anchor and reinforce the content of their corresponding lecture-based course.
Course Administration: Instructions and other materials are distributed via the Internet, on TCU Online and on my website:
http://personal.tcu.edu/ystrzhemechn/Classes/2017/Fall/Fall2017.html.
Course Design: This course is designed to encourage students’
maximum access to and hands-on experience with the range of physics phenomena
being studied. A strong emphasis is
placed on fundamental concept and skill development. The structure and intent of all course elements
should be understandable and functional.
The course is constructed with the following main components:
a) are to be turned in WITHIN ONE WEEK PERIOD after the lab class to your TA (unless otherwise specified by the TA or the course supervisor);
b) should be clearly identified with the student’s name and the lab section number;
c) will be considered late if not turned by the specified deadline (see above); late lab reports forfeit 10 points immediately and 10 points for each additional day after the deadline.
Grading: The final grade a
student earns for this course will be determined by their completion of the
assignments on or before the scheduled deadlines. Each section’s TA will maintain a record of
student points. The course grades will
be determined as follows: A: 100
– 90.1 pts., B: 90 – 80.1 pts., C: 80 – 70.1 pts., D: 70 – 55.1 pts., F: 55 and
below. For each lab grade, the
credit breakdown is: Pre-lab quizzes – 20 %; Lab reports – 80 %. Overall lab course grade will be determined
as an average of all the lab grades but one (11 out of 12), with the lowest
grade dropped. Even though the lab
portion of the course is only worth 20 % of your overall grade, you must attend
at least 11 (out of 12) lab sections and hand in a report for each lab. If you fail to complete 11 different lab
assignments, you will lose one letter grade from your overall course grade per
lab you are missing. Thus, if you
have a "A" average in the lecture and miss
one lab, your grade will drop to a "B". If you have a "C"
average and miss two labs, your grade will drop to an "F". It is recommended that you keep all of your
graded lab reports so that if there is a discrepancy later in the semester
about a "lost" lab, you will be able to provide documentation to
prove that you did indeed attend the lab section and turn in a report. In the absence of such evidence, we must
assume that you didn't turn in a report, so please keep your lab reports
for your own benefit!
If you have an excused absence for a lab that makes it impossible for you to attend on that day you must present documentation to Dr. Strzhemechny in his office (SWR 373) before the end of the week. If you need to make up a missing lab, you will have to arrange this matter with your TA. There will be a few days allotted for lab make-ups. If you miss a lab due to an unexpected absence caused by a documented medical or legal reason, then individual arrangements for make-ups will be made for you provided you can't make up the lab during the make-up days.
Lab attendance and participation: Students should attend the lab section they are enrolled in and they should make full and constructive use of the entire assigned lab time. Under special circumstances, students may attend additional or alternative labs (if and only if sections and space are available, with approval of the cooperating TA’s), in order to obtain additional supervision time for experiments, data analysis, and lab report writing. Early student dismissal from lab is only warranted if the student has turned in the Lab report page(s) for that lab. A student who has not attended a lab cannot obtain any credit for the corresponding pre-lab quiz and report – an automatic total forfeit of 100 % per lab. If a student has not actively and fully participated in the collection of a valid set of experimental measurements, observations, in-lab data analysis, and follow-up, then the student may not obtain any credit for the corresponding Lab report – a potential total forfeit of up to 80 % per lab (level of participation judged by the supervising TA).
Class calendar: We will follow the schedule given below
|
Dates |
Labs |
|
08/28-09/01 |
1. Accuracy and Error |
|
09/05-09/08 |
2. Acceleration* |
|
09/11-09/15 |
3. Projectile Motion |
|
09/18-09/22 |
4. Force Addition |
|
09/25-09/29 |
5. Frictional Forces |
|
10/02-10/06 |
6. Energy Conservation |
|
10/09-10/13 |
7. Momentum |
|
10/18-10/20 |
Make-ups |
|
10/23-10/27 |
8. Torque/Equilibrium |
|
10/30-11/03 |
9. Fluid Forces |
|
11/06-11/10 |
10. Oscillations |
|
11/13-11/17 |
11. Waves |
|
11/20-11/21 |
2. Acceleration**/Make-ups |
|
11/27-12/01 |
12. Thermal expansion |
|
12/04-12/06 |
Make-ups |
* All sections except for the Monday sections
** Only the Monday sections
Academic Misconduct: I would like to remind you about policies and procedures regarding your rights as well as responsibilities that are published in the TCU Student Handbook. You may have a paper copy but it is also available on line at http://www.studenthandbook.tcu.edu/student_handbook.pdf. Specifically I would like you to review Section 3.4 regarding Academic misconduct, i.e. cheating, plagiarism etc.
Disabilities statement: Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Student Disabilities Services in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 1010. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-6567.
Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at http://www.acs.tcu.edu/disability_documentation.asp.
Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible.