General Physics I / Physics I Laboratory Course                                      Fall 2018

 

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/2018/Fall/Fall2018.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:

  1. Lab Activities are instruction-guided physical measurements, calculations, data analysis, and/or experiment-related questions.  Each activity results in a set of graded Report pages.  Instructions (in the form of EXCEL files) are downloaded via the Internet, to be studied prior to lab attendance.
  2. Lab PreQuizzes encourage preparation for lab and are given during the first 5-10 minutes of the lab section meeting.
  3. Lab Report pages provide a summary of the individual student’s lab results and conclusions.  Specifications and questions for each lab report are contained in the downloaded instruction files.  Lab Reports:

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 pts., B: 89.9 – 80 pts., C: 79.9 – 70 pts., D: 69.9 – 55 pts., F: 54.9 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

08/28-08/31

1. Accuracy and Error

09/04-09/07

2. Acceleration*

09/10-09/14

3. Projectile Motion

09/17-09/21

4. Force Addition

09/24-09/28

5. Frictional Forces

10/01-10/05

6. Energy Conservation

10/08-10/12

7. Momentum

10/17-10/19

Make-ups

10/22-10/26

8. Torque/Equilibrium

10/29-11/02

9. Fluid Forces

11/05-11/09

10. Oscillations

11/12-11/16

11. Waves

11/19-11/20

2. Acceleration**/Make-ups

11/26-11/30

12. Thermal expansion

12/03-12/05

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 Code of Student Conduct. You may have a paper copy but it is also available on line at https://tcu.codes. Specifically I would like you to review sections dealing with 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, 11.  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) 257-7486.

 

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.