Class Web Page:
http://casswww.ucsd.edu/ph8/
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Our WWW pages will contain most of the following: exam times, handouts,
scans
of lecture notes, a table of topics covered, announcements of
when materials have
been graded and are ready to pick up, answers to
exams and homework, grades,
and links to WWW pages.
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Schedule:
Lecture:
Tues/Thurs 12:45-2:05
Warren Lecture Hall 2005
Section:
There will be no sections for this class.
Final exam: Monday March 20, 11:30-1:30 pm.
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Instructor:
Office Hours:Tuesday 2:30-3:30 PM
SERF 329
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Course Coordinator:
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Instructor's Secretary:
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Course Description:
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Physics 8 is a fun course that answers the question: "How do things work?".
It is for non-science majors who have no experience with science,
physics or math. Your goal is to become familiar with the scientific way
of thinking and solving problems, using everyday devices as examples.
We begin with the devices, discuss how they work, and explore the
underlying physical principles. The devices and machines are grouped by
the principles that govern their action, rather than by their use.
The course will stress concepts, rather than descriptions. We will ask
lots of questions, to gain a thorough understanding of how things work.
I will draw a few graphs, and some basic algebra might help you in places,
but in general this course is "math free".
The required text is:
The New Way Things Work
David Macaulay
Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston, 1998
ISBN 0-395-93847-3
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The cost is $24.50 from www.amazon.com
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This award winning book, which has sold over 1 million copies, is
exceedingly well written and presented. It is hard to think of any
other science book that is more readable. Since it is not a traditional
textbook, it lacks questions, problems and reviews. We will do these
in class and homework instead.
We will follow the topics covered in the text. If we were to average
about 40 pages of reading per week, we could cover much of the book.
But, it's better to skip many topics to allow more time for discussion.
We will concentrate on the physics and move more quickly over the
engineering design of machines.
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TOPIC | PAGE |
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Mechanics: (We will cover this section quickly) |
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Forces |
36 |
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Pulleys |
54 |
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Screws |
62 |
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Gyroscopes |
76 |
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Friction |
82 |
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Molecules,Fluids,Heat and Energy |
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Floating |
94 |
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Action & Reaction |
100 |
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Flying |
106 |
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Pressure |
120 |
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Heat |
142 |
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Chemical Engines |
156 |
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Nuclear Energy |
164 |
| Waves |
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Light |
178 |
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Photography |
198 |
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Printing |
208 |
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Sound |
218 |
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Telecommunications |
234 |
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Electricity and Magnetism |
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Electricity |
256 |
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Magnetism |
274 |
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Sensors & Detectors |
290 |
| Digital Equipment |
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Digital Data |
316 |
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Storage |
328 |
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Processing |
340 |
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Processing |
348 |
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Display |
357 |
| Inventions |
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Inventions |
374 |
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Class Activities:
1. As we start each topic, I will summarize the main points and explain
the technical terms and physics concepts that are mentioned in the book
and other materials.
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2. You should then read the relevant part of the book, and other assigned
and recommended materials and prepare questions for discussion.
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3. The next time we meet, we will discuss your questions about the material
that you read. Sometimes we will do practice exam questions.
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Grades:
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First Midterm: 15% Tuesday February 15, 2000 (Subject to change.) |
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Second Midterm: 25% Thursday March 9, 2000 |
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Homework: 30% |
Final Exam: 30%
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Please bring the following to exams:
B2 pencils
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Green scantron forms
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Blue-books for written answers
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Questions in class, on the homework and in exams will include all of the
following types:
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1) Basic knowledge and terminology (memory): what does this word mean.
2) Tests of understanding: explain in words or with sketches, summarize,
predict what would happen under changing circumstances.
3) Analysis: break a topic down into its key parts.
4) Synthesis: combining disparate topics and ideas, e.g. looking for
patterns, commonalities, and differences.
5) Evaluation: compare, contrast or choose the best.
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The exams may include anything from the lectures, homework, and any
assigned readings (e.g. from the book or other material). Some of the
questions will simply test your memory, but most will require that
you understand and have practiced using the ideas that were presented
All three exams may include any topic covered up to that time, including
those already covered in an earlier exam.
Your numerical (not letter grade) score on each of the exams and the
homework will each be scaled so that the maximum possible score (not the
average of the actual scores) contributes the appropriate percentage of
the total score. The letter grade will be assigned to the sum of these
scaled scores.
We will not "curve "the grades, so the grade that you receive depends
only on your performance and not on that of the best or worst or average
students in the class.
The pass/no pass point is decided by inspecting the answers of the relevant
exams. There is no pre-determined percentage score to pass, and there is
no pre-determined percentage of people who will get a given grade. Exams
may include some tricky questions which thoroughly test how well you
understand the ideas: hence the percentage for passing could be around
50%, with A's above about 70%.
If we must pro-rate your work because you were ill, we will combine the
scores from the exams which were taken, using the announced ratios
(0.15, 0.25, 0.3), and multiply this sum to correct for the missing exam.
For example, if you were to miss the final, your grade would be calculated
from:
(0.15 x 1st midterm% + 0.25 x 2nd midterm%) x
(0.15 + 0.25 + 0.3) / (0.15 + 0.25).
We will give each of you a code number for this course. You should
write this on all homework and exam materials. If you accidentally write
your name onto these materials, they will be much harder to retrieve.
Graded material will be left in a box outside of the elevator on the 3th
floor of the SERF building. We will indicate when this happens on the class
web page. You will be able to track the points that you obtain towards your
final grade on the web pages.
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY and CHEATING: Please read the UCSD General
Catalog entry on "Dishonesty, Academic", (p.72 in the 1999-2000 edition).
These rules will be enforced. Cheating includes submitting another person's
work as your own, copying from another person, allowing someone to copy
from you, and using unauthorized materials during an exam. You should do
homework on your own, and ask the TAs and the instructor for advice and
help. We do encourage you to work in a study group, but you must:
1. On each homework, write down the names and code numbers
of everyone in the group, (including any tutors).
2. Write out your own assignment, using your own
words for all of the answers.
If you copy from a book or anywhere else, you must write down the reference
(including page numbers), and indicate with quotation marks exactly what
you copied. We will compare homeworks, and any that appear to be copied
will be sent to the Dean's Office of the student's college.
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Syllabus
