Introduction for Physics 160

PHYSICS 160

Spring, 2002
Section 001: MWF 11:00 - 11:50 AM , Regener Hall 103

Professor:   Daniel Finley
Office: Physics & Astronomy Bldg., 800 Yale Boulevard, Room 168
Telephone:     277-8799 ;     email:     finley@tagore.phys.unm.edu
Office Hours:
The class homepage is at     http://panda.unm.edu/courses/finley/p160.html
The class now has two Teaching Assistants, Svetlana Sutton, who has considerable experience helping students learn beginning physics, and Hank Anderson, who is a senior graduating in physics this year. You may contact either of them, via e-mail, by clicking on the links above labelled by their names. Svetlana also holds office hours each Wednesday afternoon, from 4:30 to 5:30 PM, in her office, Room 30, in the PandA building, at the NE corner of Yale and Lomas; Hank holds office hours each Tuesday afternoon, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM, in the main lobby of the Physics and Astronomy Building, at the NE corner of Yale and Lomas.

Text:     Fundamentals of Physics , Halliday, Resnick, and Walker;
6th Edition, Parts I and II [Chapters 1-16] (paperback)
The text comes in 5 paperback parts, for easy carrying.
We will use part 1 and 3 chapters from part 2 this semester.
All 5 parts will be covered over the course of the 3 semester course.

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the beginning semester of a general introduction to physics. I look forward to working with you and getting to know you better. We will begin with Chapter 1 and work (with some exceptions) through Chapter 12, and then add material from Chapters 14 and 16. Your input, in terms of questions and comments, and your work with problems and exams, will help determine our pace, although we will be guided by the weekly syllabus. It is very important that you READ the text material before coming to class; therefore, you should refer often to the syllabus, which lists what material we will be discussing each week. I also ask that you bring the textbook to class with you, as these paperback sections are not particularly heavy. During class we will be referring to illustrations, diagrams, etc. regularly!

The syllabus is also a Reading Assignment Guide. Please use it to read carefully through the material to be covered, BEFORE the lecture.
Then, re-read it, afterward; it should be easier this second, or (perhaps) third, time.
An important portion of your work is to ask questions, both inside and outside of class, especially of me but also of each other. [On average, I expect that each class member will require about 10 hours per week on the material, for homework, reading and studying, asking questions, etc., in addition to classtime!

Beginning physics is a difficult course;
however, I believe it is also quite an exciting course!

Grading Policy

At the end of the semester, there will be 4 different grades for each student:
  1. one for the average of all the Homework Scores,
    click here to go to the webpage discussing policies on homework,
  2. (the highest) two of your grades on the three exams,
    click here to go to the webpage discussing policies on exams,
    There will also be an occasional, unannounced, brief quiz;
    these grades will be included in the overall homework scores.
  3. and the score for the Final Exam.
Your complete grade will be the sum of these 4 scores; each will count 25%.
The grades will be "curved" so that the class average becomes a grade in the C+ area, unless of course it is already higher than that.

Because the lowest exam grade will be dropped, and because of the curving of grades, there will be NO make up examinations.

Help with the Course