This is the first of two one-semester courses on advanced general physics. The primary purpose of these courses is to give you an understanding of classical mechanics and classical electromagnetism at a greater depth than that covered in introductory physics. In Physics 323, we will focus on classical mechanics while Physics 324 in the spring will focus on electromagnetism. The format of the course will consist of both lectures and active learning recitation sessions.
There will be weekly lectures on Wednesday from 12:10 pm to 1:30 pm. The currently assigned lecture room is TIL-252, but I'm in the process of trying to get that changed. I'll let you before the first week of classes whether that has been successful.
I will post lecture notes before each Wednesday lecture. Please read these notes and come to class prepared to ask questions. If there aren't sufficient questions, then I will ask questions of randomly chosen students.
I will take attendance both at the beginning and at the end of lecture. In order to receive full credit for attending you must be there at both the beginning and the end. If you are only there for one , you will receive half credit. Since being in attendance means mentally as well as physically, use of laptops and cell phones during lecture is not allowed. If you are seen using one, your attendance credit for that lecture will be reduced by half. In most lectures, there will be a brief quiz at the end of class on material covered.
The recitation meetings will be on Thursdays in RWH-208. Section 1 will meet from 8:30 am to 9:50 am and Section 2 will meet from 10:20 am to 11:40 am.
During the recitations, you will work on the homework problems assigned for that week in groups of three students. The recitations will begin with a 10 minute introduction to the problems for that week. You will then work on these problems with your group for 40 minutes. A graduate teaching assistant, an undergraduate Learning Assistant and myself will be available to answer questions and to assist with problems. We will them spend the remaining 15 minutes discussing the problems. During that time, selected groups will be asked to go over a particular problem and lead the discussion on it. Active participation by the students in these recitations is essential and will count toward 20% of your course grade. At the end of most recitation sessions, there will be a 15 minute quiz on the material covered during the recitation.
There is no required text for the course. I will post slides and notes for each lecture that cover material that you will be tested on in the quizzes and exam. There are two books that I recommend for those who would like to see material that supplements the lectures: Introduction to Classical Mechanics With Problems and Solutions by David Morin and The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics by Leonard Susskind. The latter is an excellent book written by a great physicist who will teach you deep, fundamental concepts of physics in a very simple way. I highly recommend it. Note, this book is also called The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics .
The syllabus for the course can be found here here. It shows the lecture and recitation topics for each week and the schedule of recitation quizzes. It also lists the relevant pages from the books by Morin and Susskind for each week's material. The syllabus is meant to be flexible and will be modified as appropriate as the semester proceeds.
During the first week of class, I will conduct a survey to decide what would be the best times to hold regular office hour(s) but please don't hesitate to come to see me about any questions you might have concerning the course material or related physics. If you would like to meet with me outside of office hours, simply email me at physics.rutgers.323@gmail.com listing three times that you are available. I will get back to you within 24 hours letting you know which of those times would be good for me.
My office is Serin 328 W. If you would like to contact me, please email me at physics.rutgers.323@gmail.com. This is a special email account that I've set up for this course. Please use this email for all communications having to do with this course. Please do NOT use my physics.rutgers.edu email.
I will post weekly homework problems. The problems will not be graded but are meant to help you to learn the material and to prepare for the quizzes and exams. We will, however, collect the homework to check that you have made a good faith effort to solve the problems. You can find solutions to the homework problems here. It is to your advantage to try to solve the homework problems before looking at the solutions. The homework will in general consist of a range of problems from straight forward to challenging. Making an attempt at the homework problems is very important. The homework will count for 15% of the course grade.
There will be ten in-class quizzes during the semester. They will be given at the end of the recitations. Mid-semester you will be allowed to retake the first five quizzes and at the end of the semester you will be allowed to retake the last five quizzes. The final grade for each quiz will then be best of the two grades. The quiz grades in total will count for 40% of the course grade.
There will be a 3-hour, final exam. The date for the final exam will be announced later. The final exam will count for 20% of the course grade.
The course grade will be based on the following criteria:
| Lecture attendance/quizzes: | 10% |
| Recitation participation: | 15% |
| Homework: | 15% |
| Recitation quizzes: | 40% |
| Final exam: | 20% |
Back to the Physics 323 Home Page.
This page is maintained by Prof. Steve Schnetzer.