PHY 102 Syllabus: Fall 2023

MWF 10am - 10:50am in Bracy 06

Instructor Information

Dr. Julie Butler
Email: butlerju@mountunion.edu
Office: Bracy 107
Office Hours: Monday 1pm - 3pm, Tuesday 4pm - 6pm, Thursday 11am - 1pm, and by appointment
Cell Phone: 864-993-7133

Course Description and Learning Objectives

PHY 102: General Physics II is a survey of the three main branches of physics that were not covered in PHY 101: waves and optics, electricity and magnetism, and modern physics. All three of these fields of physics are important as they explain how many items in the modern world work, such as cameras and electronics, and are the basis for exciting research currently being done in physics, electronics, and engineering.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

Explain the difference between traveling and standing waves and be able to model both types of waves
Explain how charges interact and use Coulomb's law to determine the force between charges
Compare and contrast electric force, electric fields, electric potentials, and potential difference
Explain how simple circuits and electronic components work and classify different types of circuits based on their components and diagrams.
Summarize how different types of lenses work and how this knowledge can be extended to describe the function of cameras and eyes.
Explain why relativity is needed and determine the situations where it needs to be applied.
Summarize briefly why modern physics is needed and some of the important early developments in the field.

Material Covered

Unit 1: Waves and Charge Introduction
- Traveling Waves
- Standing Waves
- Wave Optics
- Coulomb's Law
Unit 2: Electricity
- Electric Fields
- Capacitors and Dipoles
- Gauss' Law
- Electric Potential
- Potential and Fields
Unit 3: Circuits and Magnetic Fields
- Ohm's Law
- Circuits
- Magnetic Fields
- Magnetic Flux
Unit 4: Optic and an Introduction to Modern Physics
- Reflection and Refraction
- Lenses
- Induction
- Camera and The Eye
- Magnification, Colors, and Resolution
- Relativity
- Introduction to Modern Physics and Quantization

Course Policies

Student Expectations:
- All students are expected to come to class ready to learn and help contribute to an environment that allows other students to learn. This means arriving on time and participating in lectures, not creating distractions for other students, and being courteous to students and the professor.
- It is expected that you completed all graded assignments and submit them on D2L by the posted deadline unless you are using an extension as detailed in the late policy.
Attendance Policy: Attendance at all lab sessions is required, but attendance at lectures is not required and will not be taken. If you choose not to attend a lecture you are still responsible for the material and assignments covered during that class. A reasonable and documented excuse is needed for a missed lab session. If you experience an extended absence due to illness or family emergency, please email me, and we can work out a solution.
Accessibility: The University of Mount Union values disability as an important aspect of diversity and is committed to providing equitable access to learning opportunities for all students. Student Accessibility Services (SAS) is the campus office that collaborates with students with disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations based on appropriate documentation, the nature of the request, and feasibility. If you have, or think you have, a temporary or permanent disability and/or a medical diagnosis in any area, such as physical or mental health, attention, learning, chronic health, or sensory, please contact SAS. The SAS office will confidentially discuss your needs, review your documentation, and determine your eligibility for reasonable accommodations. Accommodations are not retroactive, and the instructor is not obligated to provide accommodations if a student does not request accommodation or provide documentation. Students should contact SAS to request accommodations and discuss them with their instructor as early as possible in the semester. You may contact the SAS office by phone at (330) 823-7372; or via e-mail at studentaccessibility@mountunion.edu.
Academic Honesty: All work you submit with your name on it is expected to be original work. You can consult any outside source, including the internet and AI chats, for help on assignments, but you are not allowed to copy any solutions you find there directly. Additionally, you should be able to thoroughly explain how you arrived at your answer for all work you turn in. If you work closely with other classmates on an assignment, please indicate that the solution results from collaboration and list the names of all students who contributed (this is allowed and encouraged). If it can be proven that you used Chegg, ChatGTP, or another person to solve your homework (i.e., you are copying your solutions directly from these sources or others), or if you are found to be cheating on exams, you will receive a zero for the assignment and be reported for academic dishonesty.
Technology in the Classroom: All electronic devices are allowed in the classroom, provided that you do not use them to distract other students. All devices should be muted and notifications silenced for the class duration. If a device distracts other students, you will be asked to put the device away or leave the classroom.
Teams: A class Teams server is provided for all students to use to discuss the course and work on assignments together. All students can use the server, but its use is optional. All posts in the server must relate to the course, and all users must be respectful and considerate of the other users. Posts violating these rules will be removed, and students who repeatedly post off-topic or offensive material will be removed from the server.
Communications with the Professor: The best way to ask a question about an assignment is to post it to the class Teams. Even if I do not see the message quickly, other students may be able to help you. If you wish to contact me directly, the best way to reach me is by email or to come by my office. My cell phone number is also provided at the top of the syllabus if you need to contact me quickly.

Pre-Class Homework

The goal of pre-class homework is to get you familiar with the material we will be covering during the week. These assignments will include some reading assignments as well as a few questions to be submitted. These questions will be mainly conceptual but may occasionally include a few simple calculations. Pre-class homework assignments should take no more than 1.5 hours to complete, with the majority of this time spent getting familiar with the new material.

Post-Class Homework

Post-class homework problems will be assigned during each class (1-3 questions per class). The collected post-class homework for one week will be on the Thursday of the next week. For example, during Week 2 post-class homework questions will be assigned on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then they will be due on Thursday of Week 3. These questions will be similar to the questions that will be seen on exams and are thus a great study tool for the exams. Post-class homework assignments should take no more than 3 hours per week to complete. All post-class assignments will be due by 1pm on the assigned due date.

In-Class Assignments

In-class problem-solving sessions (either as a subset of a class period or during dedicated class periods) are not graded. This time is dedicated to solving problems based on the new material in class in small groups or solo. The goal of these assignments is to practice with the material covered during the week before graded assignments and with the assistance of your classmates and professor. The types of problems given in class will be similar to those encountered in the post-class assignments and on exams.

Group Work Policy

All in-class assignments and homework assignments can be completed with other classmates. Each student needs to turn in their own assignment with the names of all collaborators on the assignment. Turning in an assignment that was completed as a group effort with only your name on it is considered cheating (see the above section on academic dishonesty).

Exams

This class will have for exams, one at the end of each unit. The exams will not be purposely cumulative but due to the topics being covered in this course, the material will build on itself. The dates of the exams are as follows:

Exam 1: Monday, September 18, 2023
Exam 2: Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Exam 3: Friday, November 10, 2023
Exam 4: Monday, December 11, 2023 (1 pm - 4 pm)

The fourth exam will take place during finals week and contain a mixture of topics from Unit 4 and cumulative questions.

Each exam will consist of 3 free-response questions (each with multiple parts) covering conceptual and calculation questions. The 4th exam will consist of an additional 2 questions covering topics from throughout the semester. Calculators are allowed on exams and an equation sheet will be provided. No other external resources are allowed during the exams.

Labs

The lab sessions are a required part of this course. Lab sessions teach important reporting and analysis skills in a group setting and reinforce concepts learned in lectures. A scientific calculator that can be used to solve logarithmic, trigonometric, and exponential equations is required in each lab session. Lab assignments are due in person at the start of the following lab; electronic submissions for D2L are not accepted for the lab sessions. More information will be provided during the first lab session.

Grading Policy

Participation: 5%
Pre-Class Homework: 10%
Post-Class Homework: 15%
Exams: 50%
Lab: 20%
Assignments that are not submitted will receive a zero

The lowest pre-class homework grade and the lowest post-class homework grade will be dropped from the final average. This includes assignments that were not turned in and received a zero.
The average exam grade will be calculated using the following formula:

Exam average = 0.4(A) + 0.3(B) + 0.2(C) + 0.1(D),

where A is the highest score, B the next highest, C the next highest, and D the lowest score.

Percentage grades can be converted to an A-B scale using the following:
- A: 100-94
- A-: 93-90
- B+: 89-87
- B: 86-84
- B-: 83-80
- C+: 79-77
- C: 76-74
- C-: 73-70
- D+: 69-67
- D: 66-64
- D-: 63-60
- F: 59 and below

Late Policy

Extensions will not be given on assignments, and late work will not be accepted EXCEPT in very special circumstances such as extended illness or family emergencies (talk to me).

Textbook and Course Websites

The textbook for the course is Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Randall Knight.
Lecture notes and homework assignments are located at juliebutler.org/classes/phy102
A digital copy of the book and practice problems are available through Pearson on MasteringPhysics
Homework assignments will be submitted on the course D2l page