PHYSICS 317L - Rory Coker
Prof. Rory Coker
Office: RLM 8.312
Phone: (512) 471-5194
Fax: (512) 471-9637
Email: rory coker's civilian mail, coker's physics department mail

Office Hours:   Spring 2018,  Tuesday, 12 to 1 PM; Friday, 2:30 - 3:30 PM; RLM 8.312 [Subject to change.]

[C1] [C2] [S] [A] [OK] [F] [T] [KC] [T] [T2]

The Spring 2018 unique number is 56000; the class meets  12 noon  to 1 PM in Pai 4.42. Attendance is REQUIRED in class, and the roll will be checked each day using iClickers.   If you need personal help with the homework and are on campus, the Coaching tables by the elevators on the 5th level of RLM Hall will be manned at times to be announced, regularly on weekdays. TA #1, Wei-Jin Zheng, Office Hours: Monday 4-5 PM at RLM 14.318; problem sessions Wednesday 5:30-7:30 PM at RLM 11.238 and Friday, 2 - 4 PM, at RLM 5.114.  TA #2, Aastha Tripathi , office hours Wednesday 3:40 to 4:40 pm, at CPE 2.218.

Text:  Essential University Physics, Vol. 2, by Richard Wolfson (Pearson/Addison-Wesley, latest edition).  Earlier editions will work.

Syllabus and first day handout. Basis of course letter grade: Final exam, 25%; homework, 40%; best 2 of the 3 exams, 25%; class attendance, 10%. The lowest homework grade is dropped, the lowest quiz grade is dropped, and 4 zero clicker grades are dropped. Class attendance is NOT OPTIONAL; it is required, and contributes a significant percentage of the overall course grade.  See the course syllabus for more details. The way clickers must be registered, and used in class, changed drastically in January of 2017.  See the course syllabus for details.

The homework for this course is handled by the Quest on-line  homework service. Homework assignments are turned in by you on-line from your web-browser, logging-in with your UT-EID from https://quest.cns.utexas.edu/. An FAQ page is available here. Complete homework and quiz solutions are available on Quest within 15 minutes or half an hour after the deadline. As of Fall 2011, Quest requires a $30 charge per student for its use, which goes toward the maintenance and operation of the resource. After the 12th day of class, when you log into Quest you will be asked to pay via credit card on a secure payment site. You have the option to wait up to 30 days to pay while still continuing to use Quest for your assignments. If you are taking more than one course using Quest, you will not be charged more than $60/semester. For payment questions, email Quest Fees.

Here is a quick review of dot and cross vector products, and the use of unit vectors in doing them.

RUNNING TABLE OF HOMEWORK DUE DATES AND TIMES:
  • HW 1, average 95%, turned in by 118 of 118 students.
  •  HW 2, average 93%, turned in by 118 of 118 students.
  •  HW 3, average 93%, turned in by 117 of 118 students.
  •  HW 4, average 98%, turned in by 111 of 118 students.
  •  HW 5, average 97%, turned in by 115 of 118 students.
  •  HW 6, average 96%, turned in by 115 of 118 students.
  •  HW 7, average 97%, turned in by 114 of 118 students.
  •  HW 8, average 92%, turned in by 113 of 118 students.
  •  HW 9, average 86%, turned in by 114 of 118 students.
  •  HW 10, average 99%, turned in by 110 of 118 students.
  •  HW 11, average 99%, turned in by 109 of 116 students.
  •  HW 12, average 97%, turned in by 103 of 113 students.
  •  HW 13, average 95%, turned in by 107 of 110 students.
  •  HW 14, average 97%, turned in by 108 of 110 students.
  •  HW 15, average 98%, turned in by 105 of 110 students.
  •  HW 16, average 88%, turned in by 108 of 110 students.
  •  HW 17, average 97%, turned in by 109 of 110 students.
  •  HW 18, average 98%, turned in by 99 of 110 students.
  •  HW 19, average 95%, turned in by 108 of 110 students.
  •  HW 20, average 98%, turned in by 107 of 110 students.
    • Quiz 1 Statistics: Average 66%, Quest predicted average 66%. 114 of 118 students took the quiz. Highest grade(s) 100%, lowest grade 11%. 6 students made 100%, 14 students made from 89 to 80%, 24 students made from 79 to 70%, 28 students made from 69 to 60%, 17 students made from 59 to 50%, 16 students made from 40 to 49%, 5 students made from 30 to 39%, 3 students made from 20 to 29%, and 1 student made from 10 to 19%. Be alert to the fact that the material on Quiz 1 was the easiest we will encounter on quizzes this semester. The material on Quiz 2 is much more difficult. If you were unhappy with your Quiz 1 grade, be aware that very, very drastic steps in changing the way you study physics would be required in order to obtain higher grades on the next two quizzes.
    Class performance on Quiz 2: Quest predicted a 59% average, but the actual average was 54%. The quiz was taken by 114 of 118 students.  2 students made 100%, 4 made from 90 to 99%, 10 made from 80 to 89%, 12 made from 70 to 79%, 27 made from 60 to 69%, 23 made from 50 to 59%, 16 made from 40 to 49%, 12 made from 30 to 39%, 6 made from 20 to 29%, and 2 made from 10 to 19%. Essentially every question on the quiz was a topic of class discussion, and some were even topics of class clicker quizzes. There should not have been anything on the quiz that confused you, if you had studied with the aim of understanding and applying the concepts, and had taken careful note of the various warnings issued during class lectures about possible sources of confusion. Roughly 50% of the class missed every question except the one on resistance of a hollow wire, and the one on power lost in a parallel resistor DC circuit.
    Quiz 3 statistics: Average 88%. 108 of 110 students took the quiz. 34 students made 100%. 41 students made 90%. 20 students made 80%. 10 students made 70%. 1 student made 60%. 2 students made 50%. I noted that more than 10 students finished the quiz and turned in their answer sheets by 12:15 PM. Almost every one of these students made 100%.
    Final Exam Facts: About half the questions on the final will be from Chs. 20 - 28 and the rest will come from Chs. 33 - 39.  So the final will not be cumulative, but will cover only 15 chapters.  The final will be held in  CMA 2.306 on TUESDAY, MAY 15, 9-12 Noon.  There are 25 questions, about half on Chs. 20 - 28, and half on Chs. 33 - 39.  Your cheat sheet can be two pages, each written front and back, for 4 surfaces in total.  Quest predicts the average to be about 74% on this final.



    Here is a way to get extra credit!

    Some useful hints on how to study physics. [Author unknown.]

    Hints on how to take notes in a physics class. [Author unknown.]

    Here is the Golden Rule of physics problem-solving. Ignore it at your extreme peril.

    How to get involved in Undergraduate Research.

    Important: the Laboratory Course  117L is a REQUIRED CO-REQUISITE for 317L. It is your responsibility to register for and take the lab, simultaneously with 317L, unless you have already taken and passed it in a previous semester.  

    COACHES AND TUTORS: Coaches are present at tables by the elevators on the 5th level of RLM, at various times between 9 AM and 5 PM weekdays. Coaches are there to give you hints on homework problems, and mini-lectures on key concepts in basic physics. You can obtain a physics graduate student tutor by contacting the undergraduate secretary, whose office is around the North corner from the coaching tables on the 5th level. If you are experiencing any difficulties in doing the homework you probably need a tutor, and you would need to work with him or her beginning as early as possible in the semester. Note that free tutoring is available here. And free study group tutoring is available here. A fairly accurate but incredibly difficult to read online resource on basic physics is here. 

    CLASS NOTES FOR 317L: Ch. 20, Ch. 21, Ch 22, Ch. 23, Ch. 24, Ch. 25, Ch. 26, Ch. 27, Ch. 28, Ch. 29, Ch. 30, Ch. 31, Ch. 32, Ch. 33, Ch. 34, Ch. 35, Ch. 36,

    CLASS SLIDES FOR 317L and 303L (worked examples are often linked to these pages): Coulomb, Matter, E field, Gauss Law, Potential, Capacitors, Current 1, DC circuits, Ch. 29, Ch. 30, Magnetic Materials, Induction, Self-Induction, AC Circuits, Radiation, Polarization, Spectrum, Reflection and Refraction, Concave Mirrors, Thin Lenses! Optical Devices, Thin Films, Diffraction! Double Slit! Single Slit, Relativity 1, Relativity 2, Twins! Length Contraction! Binding Energy, Einstein's Theory of Gravity, Ch. 34, , Ch. 35, part 1, Ch. 35, part 2, Ch. 36, part 1, Ch. 36, part 2, Ch 36, pt 3, Ch 37, pt 1, Ch. 37, pt 2, Ch. 38, pt 1, Ch. 38, pt 2, Nuclear Decays, Radiation, Fission and Fusion, Ch 39, pt 1, Early Universe,

    CLASS SLIDES FOR OTHER CLASSES: Motion, Kinematics, Free Fall, Vectors 1, Vectors 2, Unit Vectors, Projectiles, Projectile Relativity, Estimating Acceleration, Centripetal Acceleration, Radial and Tangential, Relative velocity, All Three Laws, The Dark! Friction, Roller Coaster, Conical Pendulum, Work, Energy's Fathers, Kinetic Energy, PE and E, Conservative forces, Drawing the PE, CE and Mass, Deuteron, Then and Now, Satellites, Orbits, Planet Men, Dark Matters! Gravitational Potential Energy, Center of Mass, Geometrical Center, Stability, Equilibrium, Total Momentum, CM and Orbits, Impulse! Elastic and Inelastic Collisions, Where is it? Angular Velocity, Rotational Inertia, Rotational KE, Torque, Rolling, Rotational Inertia Race, Angular Momentum, Torque and Angular Momentum, Precession, Stable and Unstable Rotations, Statics, Atomic forces, Young's, shear and bulk moduli, SHO, Waves, Reflection, Superposition, Standing waves on rope, Group velocity, Wave Applets, Fathers of the Wave, Sound, Spherical waves, Standing waves in pipes, Doppler effect, Sound level, Diffraction, Chladni Plates, Pressure, Pascal Principle, Buoyancy, Bernoulli Principle, Fathers of fluid physics, Thermal Physics! Heat! Engines When physics lecture demonstrations go wild.

    How to open a corked bottle of wine with just your shoe and a wall.

    Single-concept video tutorials on basic physics.



    Newton

    In Spring 2018, watch for the Pizza Seminar! ♣



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