Elements of Physics 161
Fall 2008

Web Site:  You must regularly check our physics 161 course home page.  Important announcements about homework, laboratory/workshop, exams, etc. will be posted there.

Required Text and Manuals:

1.  Required Text: “College Physics” by Serway/Vuille, eighth edition.
The local bookstores stock this textbook, packaged with WebAssign as a:
Custom made bundle (loose-leaf) of the selected chapters used in this course, called Serway/Vuille, “College Physics 161”, eighth edition + Enhanced WebAssign. ISBN 0495746045, priced at $ 88.00.

2.  Alternative Text:
If you prefer the complete version of Serway/Vuille, that also includes the chapters not covered in this course, you are welcome to purchase:
  Serway/Vuille, “College Physics”, eighth edition + Enhanced WebAssign. ISBN 0495491500, priced at $ 135.00.

3.  Other Texts: Also acceptable are: Seventh Edition, Sixth Edition, or Fifth Edition. (All are available as used books).
Some books come also as separate Volume I and Volume II, which makes it easier to carry around, but you will need the complete text.
  Hunting for used textbooks can be done in the University Bookstore, or on websites like www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, and www.CampusBookSwap.com with further info at www.maketextbooksaffordable.com. May be you know a fellow student who took the same course last year.
  Still another alternative to obtain the textbook is on www.iChapters.com and they advertise three options: a) New printed texts, shipped free, b) Electronic texts (which supposedly you could print yourself), or c) Individual chapters. Since we have no experience with this service, and do not know what their final product will look like, we advise caution.

4.  WebAssign Registration Card - for Serway/Vuille eighth edition -- Contains access code number needed to access online homework assignments. This comes as a card that can either be purchased at the bookstore (CAC and Cook/Douglass) or online at https://www.webassign.net/v4secure/.
This WebAssign Card is already included when you purchase the "packaged" eighth edition of the textbook.
If you buy the card separately (cost is about $25.00), make sure it applies to Serway/Vuille eighth edition, since problems assigned in this course are selected from that version.

5.  Laboratory Manuals for each lab-session ( will be available as we go along, on this web site as pdf formatted files.)

Instructors:
Lecturer: Professor Paul Leath
 office: E260 Serin Physics Laboratory,  phone: 732-445-2521
 Office hour: Thursday 3:00-4:00pm or by appointment
 email: leath@physics

Tutoring:
Professor William DeBuvitz
 tutoring session: ARC 332 (Alison Road Class Room Building),
 time: Friday 10:00am-12:00noon

Course Administrator:
Wim Kloet , office: Serin Physics W211 , phone: 732-445-2517 , office hour: Thursday 10:30-11:30am or walk-in  
e-mail: kloet@physics

Teaching Assistants (to be revised):
Steve Rodan   phone: 732-445-6886   office: ARC 230    office hour: Wednesday 11:00am-12:00pm and 6:00-7:00pm    
e-mail: strodan@physics
Mike Solway   phone: 732-445-6886   office: ARC 230    office hour: Thursday 3:20-4:40pm     
e-mail: mikesol@physics
Junya Yagi   phone: 732-445-3927   office: Serin Physics E380     office hour: Tuesday 1:00-2:00pm     
e-mail: yagi@physics

Lecture:
Two 80-minute lectures per week on Tuesday and Thursday 6th period (5:00-6:20 pm) in the Physics Lecture Hall.
The textbook gives a systematic presentation of the course material. You are expected to carefully read the sections assigned in the syllabus before coming to lecture.  In the lecture, important concepts and their interrelationships will be emphasized.  Applications and problems relevant to the concepts will be discussed.
Demonstrations will be shown to illustrate the physical effects under discussion.
Exam questions will be based on some materials covered in the lecture.

Laboratory/Workshop (to be revised): (3 hours)
All sections meet in room Serin Physics W232.
 section   time                                 instructor
 07         Mo 6:40pm-9:40pm       Kloet
 01         Tu 8:40am-11:40am       Solway
 02         Tu 12:00pm-3:00pm       Rodan
 08         Tu 6:40pm-9:40pm       Rodan
 03         We 8:40am-11:40am       Solway
 04         We 12:00pm-3:00pm       Yagi
 09         We 6:40pm-9:40pm       Solway
 05         Th 8:40am-11:40am       Yagi
 06         Th 12:00pm-3:00pm       Rodan

Laboratory/Workshop: The 3-hour period includes problems, quizzes and laboratory and is an important part of the course.  It will consist of activities intended to solidify your understanding of the concepts and to prepare you for the problem-solving required for homework and exams.  The exams may include questions based directly on the laboratory/workshop.   Activities will include discussion of homework, quiz, performing of experiment and writing a report. You will work in groups of two; it is important that two of you work together and both fully participate in the activities.  If graphs have to be made, each student prints his/her own graph and labels them as such. In preparing your lab report, discussion with your group partner is important; however your responses must be in your own words and not copied from someone else. Being able to convey your scientific results in a clearly written report is an asset in your future endeavours. Identical answers clearly coming from members of another group will not be given credit.

You will need to obtain printouts from Lab/Workshop (pdf format) (before coming to the lab) of
(1) Lab Manual of this week's Experiment
(2) lab report to have data sheets to record your data and hand in at the end of the lab session. 

Laboratory Manuals:
Before coming to the lab session, you will need to read introduction and instructions in the laboratory manual of the scheduled experiment. Beware that paper copies will NOT be available in the lab. 

Homework: WebAssign,
an Internet-based homework delivery system will be used for homework assignments.  For details about how to use WebAssign click here.
To actually see your personal version you have to go online and sign on onto WebAssign Student Login.   Students will submit their answers to about ten back-of-the-chapter homework problems each week using WebAssign. WebAssign changes the numbers for each student, so that your answer will differ numerically from your classmates’ answers.  Upon submission WebAssign will immediately grade your answer and return a detailed summary.  You will be permitted to resubmit your answers five (5) times with only the last submission counting, but you must adhere to the strict deadline.  To utilize WebAssign you will need to purchase an individual access code that will include an instruction manual.

It is permissible and indeed desirable for you to discuss the problems with your classmates and get/give help if one of you are having difficulty.   You must be sure that you understand the basic concepts behind each problem.  It has happened that several students who had a perfect WebAssign grade still failed the course.

Exams:
There will be two exams during the semester and a final exam.  For exam schedule see syllabus.
The materials covered in the exams are shown on the syllabus.
The final exam is comprehensive but emphasizing the material after the second exam.
Read Grading and Examinations for further information.