6-6 afternoon

Trimester 3 averages will be available on WebAssign Monday afternoon. Exam scores are available now.

Have a good summer!

6-2 afternoon

Sorry for the late notice, but a student brought this item to my attention this morning.  I'll provide the Special Relativity equations on the exam cover page.  I'll also provide the Compton shift formula so that you don't have to do the algebra leading up to it. However, you do need to be able to set up the conservation equations that lead to the formula.

One more thing, if you picked up your green insert, bring it to the exam if you want to use it.

6-1 afternoon

Answers to P31

5-30 afternoon

I know it's difficult to stay focused at the end of the school year, but I encourage you to do so through exams. This is particularly for the juniors: Doing well on the last exam of the year goes a long way toward leaving the teacher with a positive impression. That can influence other teachers, too, since I'll report your exam grade on your final comment. (Other teachers do this, too.) I enjoy making glowing comments about how such-and-such a student showed great improvement toward the end of the course. That also makes a positive impression on teachers who will read your folder next year in order to get background information for writing your college recs.

Here are my focused recommendations for exam preparation. There will be either a photoelectric effect problem or a Compton scattering problem. That narrows down your study of Ch. 30. Do problems of both types in your review.  The material we went over Thursday is prime material for the exam. Be sure to complete the alpha decay problem for practice. You'll be glad you did. For Ch. 29, E.29.2 pretty well covers what you need to be able to do. One thing left out of that assessment is relativistic momentum. Review that, too. And be sure to know what the postulates of Special Relativity are. While the focus of the exam is pretty narrow in covering just 3 chapters, it's broad in that you'll need to be able to apply conservation of momentum and energy. But to be more specific about that, see the alpha decay problem and Problem 1 of P19. As for the last test, you needn't bring in equation lists. You may use the green inserts.

I'm finishing your test grades including possible boosts for the problem rework that you did Tuesday. I'll post those grades to WA soon. Physics teachers will be available for tutorial Monday at these times: 10 AM - noon, 1-3 PM, 3-5 PM. My time is 10 AM - noon.

5-28 afternoon

As always, bring textbook, notebook, and calculator to class. You'll need them all Thursday. You won't need a laptop.

5-28 morning

This note added since original posting: Exam coverage is limited to Chs. 29, 30, 32. Of course, you also need to be able to apply fundamental relationships such as conservation of momentum and energy. Our work in class Thursday will be directed toward a review of the latter in the context of radioactive decay reactions. Regarding Ch. 30, the areas of greatest importance are the photoelectric effect and Compton effect. Regarding Ch. 29, there will be series of short problems presented in a similar fashion to those in E.29.2.

Thursday in class you'll work on alpha and beta decay calculations and radioactive decay. You'll need to be familiar with Ch. 32. If you've completed E.32.2 before class, that will be sufficient. (Note that the due time for this assignment is 5:00 PM.)

I've corrected scores on the WebAssign E.29.2 you did in class yesterday. For some of you, WA didn't check your equations correctly. For A block, I told you not to do problem 5, since that one had issues (which I corrected for B block). Anyway, I've made a correction for that problem in the A block version of the assignment. I've also made corrections in both blocks in cases where your equations were correct but WA checked them incorrect. If you find things that I overlooked that you think you should have received credit for, submit them using the challenge form.

It will be useful for some of you to spend more time on E.29.2. If you wish, you may write out solutions to the problems. If you're going to do this, you must do it for all the problems rather than just the ones you missed. In your written solutions, use subscripts that identify the reference frame from which the quantity was measured. In your problem setup, clearly identify what's given and state whether--in the case of distances and times--the quantity is proper or not. I will be looking to see whether you're reasoning correctly or simply guessing at what quantities are proper. I know it was possible to do that successfully in some of the problems yesterday, since you had 3 tries on each. I also noticed that some of you were using the wrong definition of gamma. You were using the inverse of the correct definition. If you did this and also misidentified whether the time or distance was proper, then you could have obtained the correct result by cancellation of mistakes. If you write solutions to E.29.2, submit them by 5:00 PM Thursday.

5-23 afternoon

No class Friday. For Tuesday, I'll expect you to have read all of Chapter 29 and be ready to use the various relationships (time dilation, length contraction, mass increase, addition of velocities, mass-energy equivalence, relativistic kinetic energy) to solve a series of short problems. I haven't decided if we'll use clickers or WebAssign to register answers. Bring your laptops just in case.  I expect everyone to have their textbook and calculator. Lab-legal shoes not required!

I'll stop by school this afternoon to pick up P31, and I'll place P30 in the pickup box.

Have a good break!

5-22 morning

There's no class today. I won't be at school.

5-20 afternoon

There is class Thursday for students who

1. have late assignments
2. haven't picked up returned assignments (Papers that have been in the pick up box for more than a week have been placed in a yellow folder pinned to the bulletin board.)

You may also pick up your green AP exam insert. Just ask for it.

5-19 morning

I will have the green AP exam inserts available for the test tomorrow as well as for the final exam. You may use an insert instead of or in addition to the usual equation sheets.

This afternoon or sooner I'll post rubrics for the L19C table/graphs and also to P26. If all goes according to plan, there will be papers to pick up late this afternoon.

5-15 afternoon

I think I've set WebAssign preferences so that you can see your percentage score for the trimester. This is only an estimate, since I'm currently counting labs as 0 weight until I get some more scores entered. For this estimate, here's how I'm weighting grades:

Test (one so far): 40%
E assignments: 20%
P assignments; 40%

Your final grade will be weighted as given here. The test Tuesday can have a significant effect on your average, since that test will effectively cut the weight of the first test in half.

5-14 morning

Just to let you know that tomorrow in class we're going to try using the personal response devices. (We used these way back in the fall.) I'll pose questions about single-, double-, and multiple-slit interference, and everyone will register answers with their clickers. We'll discuss each question after the answers are in, and then we'll go on to another one. This will be like a guided assessment with the whole class participating at the same time. In order to be ready for this, see item 4 in the announcement below. You could even fill out one version of this table in advance using the textbook theory as a guide. If you do so, be sure to bring another blank version. You'll fill out the latter in class after we complete the clicker assessment and have discussed the answers.

5-12 evening

Hope you had a good experience taking the AP exam yesterday. If you felt afterwards that you didn't do well, don't let it worry you. It's not unusual for students not to complete the exam to their satisfaction. You've probably figured out by now that's part of the physics test-taking experience.

We'll meet as a class Thursday. Attendance is required. We're going to have some follow up work on L19, Part C. I'm not satisfied with the results of the lab. Rather than marking your reports, we're going to take another approach. We'll concentrate on using the textbook theory to make predictions. Do the following to prepare for Thursday's class:

1. Print this table in landscape orientation. Print this template in portrait orientation. You must bring these with you to class. Don't plan on using the physics printer unless you do so long before the start of class. Don't make any entries in the table or on the template prior to class. I will have special instructions that have some differences with those in the original L19.
2. Bring your textbook with you to class. Don't plan on sharing texts.
3. Don't plan to use your laptop during class. I'll display any necessary instructions on the screen.
4. Review the information on single-, double-, and multiple-slit interference as presented in the text. Concentrate on similarities and differences between these in terms of spacing, sharpness, and brightness of fringes.

5-10 morning

I've posted the second half of the practice AP multiple-choice assessment.

5-8 afternoon

I've posted on WebAssign a practice AP multiple-choice assessment titled AP MC 1. I provide this for review but not for a grade. This assessment is actually half of a full multiple-choice assessment from a prior AP exam. I'll be providing the other half later.

5-7 morning

If you haven't taken your observations for L19, Part C and expect to come in to take them some time other than this afternoon (before 4:30 PM), email me.

5-6 afternoon

A student left a physics text outside my office Monday afternoon. If you picked up someone else's text by accident, please bring it to my office, and I'll see that the student gets it back.

5-6 morning

Ch.14 tests are available to be picked up in my office. I've posted the key on my bulletin board.

5-3 evening

I've posted information about AP Review on the schedule.

5-2 morning

About completing L17, Part B

1. If you've completed your sighting and angle measurement, then you can go ahead and complete your report. At this point, you should be working individually.
2. If you haven't taken measurements, check with me to make arrangements.

The modified due date for reports is the end of my tutorial Monday, 6:30 PM. If you didn't submit your drawing already, one member of your group will need to submit that with her/his report.

5-1 afternoon

Tomorrow during class I'll ask for volunteers who can come in to do part A of L19 on Monday afternoon. If you can do this, you'll also need to come up with a partner who can come in at the same times. There are three possible times:  4:15, 5:00, and 5:45. This will take about 45 minutes and substitute for half of Tuesday's lab period. If you sign up for 4:15, you'll need to turn in P26 when you arrive if not before. Otherwise, P26 is due at 5:00 PM.

4-30 evening

I've checked P24A-2. I changed the scoring to award partial credit of 75% for answers that were correct except for the number of significant figures. I also checked that your answer to problem 4 was consistent with your wave speeds in problem 1. If you see an override of +1 point on your total, it was for problem 4.

I've recorded scores for P23 in the WebAssign gradebook. If you don't have a score, that's probably because your paper was turned in late. When papers come in late, they go on to a stack of papers that may be checked at a later date. This may be at the end of the trimester when I may award partial credit if that has the effect of boosting you above a borderline. In order to have your papers checked with the rest of the class and be assured of getting your credit, turn papers in on time.

I recommend printing out the instructions for L17 and bringing them with you to the lab. You'll be working individually tomorrow, so there will be a lab setup for each person. The tables may be very crowded. It's possible you can move to a lab area to work; however, I didn't reserve the labs, so I can't be certain of that until class time.

4-28 evening

Several people have asked if the test is on paper or WebAssign or a combination. The answer is that it's all on paper. As always, be sure to bring your approved equations. Here's the key for V12. I've also made the questions, responses, and solutions available for L16 on WebAssign. However, I haven't checked any responses yet.

4-27 afternoon

As it turned out, I found time to post the schedule today. As the week progresses, I hope to add to the items for Week 31 (May 5-9) so you can plan ahead. The AP B Physics Exam is Monday, May 12.

I suspect that the midterm evaluations are somewhat distorted toward the high end, as no test score is included in the average. Tuesday's test may have as much as a 20% weight in the trimester average. If we have a second test, that weight can be brought down to about 10%. A rule of thumb for comparing relative weights of, say, WebAssign questions to corresponding test questions is that the latter have 5 to 10 times the value of the former.

By the way, grades on P20B, P21, and E.14.04 aren't finalized. They aren't currently included in the WebAssign gradebook.

It seems that the AP B Physics syllabus has become a casualty of the NCSSM schedule. With breaks, Mini Term, and three exam periods during the year, it simply isn't possible to cover the syllabus. For comparison, my external online students will complete the syllabus this week and have open days for AP review the week of May 5. They've done more labs and assignments and covered more material than my NCSSM students. But they also have more class days. This doesn't mean that I'll be piling work on you this week and next. The homework load will be normal. While I've tried to emphasize the importance of Modern Physics, I'm not requiring that the Ch.31 and 32 assignments on the list be turned in before the AP B exam. I do, however, recommend that you do the assignments by May 9 if you're taking the exam. That's why I've left the due date at May 9.

4-25 morning

The keys for P20B, P21, and E.14.04 are available.

4-24 morning

I'll be doing a workshop this weekend, so it's not likely that I'll get next week's schedule posted on Sunday. So here's a heads up about some upcoming assignments next week.

P24 is due Wednesday. The A part is on WebAssign and the B part on paper. I'll post the A part later today.

Plan to attend class on both Th and F next week. We'll be doing lab work.

P25 will also be due next week, probably on Friday.

We need to finish Ch. 26 next week. That leaves one chapter (Ch. 28) other than Modern Physics to do before the AP exam.

4-23 morning

I mentioned this in B block yesterday but forgot to do so in A block. The physics teachers are becoming concerned about cell phone use on the physics floor. This is a reminder that cell phone use isn't permitted in academic areas. This includes classrooms and labs and the hallway, whether classes are going on or not.

4-22 morning

There's no class on Thursday unless you have late homework that you haven't submitted. If the latter is the case, I expect you to be working on it in the classroom during your class period.

4-21 morning

First, be sure to read the previous announcement posted Sunday.

For Tuesday's class, each person must have copies of the following items: a) your group's data for L16, b) your group's graphical analysis for L16, the template for P22. Don't plan to print or exchange files during class.

Here's a reminder of my policy regarding absences. There have been many anticipated absences recently, and most people have followed proper procedures. Regarding homework that comes due when you're gone for college visits, competitions, athletic meets, etc, I expect assignments to be submitted on time unless you've made arrangements well in advance for extensions.

Several students should have been in class today as a result of not submitting Friday homework. When you miss submitting an assignment, I expect you to attend every official PH403 class period until the work is completed. (See Assignments & Evaluation.) That means several of you should have be in class today. For today only, I'll allow students with missing assignments to attend my afternoon tutorial (5:30 - 6:30) as a substitute. I'll wait until after tutorial to report the day's attendance.

4-20 afternoon

I've made changes to the Weekly Schedule. These are noted on the schedule page. I thought it made more sense to give the Ch.14 test all at one time during a lab period rather than splitting it into two parts. In your review you should revisit all the associated assignments, ask yourself what fundamental concepts/relationships and problem-solving methods the assignments involved, compare your answers to the key, and try doing selected problems again. In addition, this assignment, which you have not yet done, will provide good preparation for the lab portion of the test. While you will not submit V12, you're responsible for the assignment. A key will be available during tutorial on Monday the 28th.

4-18 morning

In case you're wondering when I'll post the form for the L16 report, the answer is Tuesday just before lab. You'll complete the report during the lab period (after the 25-minute test).

There has been a flurry of requests for extensions recently. Generally, I've granted them if it was the first request from the student in a long time. I'm much stingier with second requests. As always, plan ahead to deal with anticipated absences for sports, college trips, competitions, etc.

Have a good weekend.

4-17 morning

Next week would be the right time for a test on Ch. 14. Due to the test schedule, we're limited to a 25-minute test.  Content coverage will be limited to the first 7 sections of Ch. 14. This test will be given during your Tuesday lab period. I highly recommend reviewing all assignments associated with those sections. I still haven't finished checking P20B but will do so before the end of this week.

Regarding Monday, which is a Friday schedule, I'm not planning to have class.

4-16 afternoon

I'm in the process of looking over your data and graphs for L16.  I'll be sending you information that you may need for completing your report. In some cases, I may require your group to come in Thursday or Friday to either retake data or correct/complete your graphical analysis.  I'll send such notices by email.

4-15 morning

Several students have been asking about whether I've checked P20B. I'm making slow progress on the free response questions. I'll post a message here when I've finished checking the assignment.

4-14 morning

Here's more information on preparing for tomorrow's lab. If everyone in your group is well prepared, you can easily take data and complete the analysis in the lab period. That's what I expect. Being prepared means that you do the following before the lab period.

1. Complete and submit the prelab components today by the due time. (5:00 PM for paper copy and 8:00 PM for WebAssign)
2. Read the lab completely and know what you're supposed to do.
3. Form a group with 2 other students. One person in the group emails me the names of the group members Monday night. (Pick partners that will support you by being prepared themselves!)
4. Print one copy of the lab instructions per group. (You'll collect the data in the hallway. Laptops must be left in the classroom so you won't have access to them for instructions while you're taking data.)
5. Your group prepares in Word a template of the data page that you will use. (Check with me during my tutorial, 5:30 - 6:30 PM today, for feedback on your data page  template.)
6. Print one copy of your data page template per group. (You'll turn in this hard copy to me during the lab period.)
7. Read the L11 evaluation that I send you. If your matching table for that lab had deficiencies, review the requirements for matching tables in Lab FAQ and be ready to produce a complete graphical analysis for the lab.

Arrive to your lab period with the necessary materials and shoes. Your group may start taking data if all members of the group are prepared and your prelab assignments have been completed satisfactorily. This will happen within 5 minutes of the start of the lab period for the best prepared groups. Data can be collected in half an hour, and the analysis can be completed in another half hour. This will leave time for your group to submit all necessary materials.

4-11 afternoon

I've been holding off on announcements until I could tell you that I had some assignments checked. I'm still working on some, but here's what's been done:

M12: Take a close look at significant figures on this assignment.
E.14.02: I most likely have comments on your free response answer on the 5th item.
Ch. 23 Quiz
P19 and P20A are in the pickup boxes.

I'm still working on P20B.

The WebAssign gradebook is updated with 3rd trimester grades. I've removed the 2nd trimester grades.

If you want to get a head start on next week's work, here's the schedule so far. WebAssign forms aren't posted, but you can work out answers anyway and have them ready to post to WebAssign.

Have a good weekend!

4-7

I've started on the schedule for W-F. One thing I know for certain is that E.14.02 is due Wednesday.

3-27

For students who want to work ahead and complete all modern physics assignments before the AP exam, I've posted those assignments here. The tentative due dates are all set to the Friday before the AP exam. These will be adjusted as we get closer to the exam.

3-20 morning

We're running more than a week behind in the schedule and will be unable to complete the AP curriculum before the AP exam. While we will probably be able to start Modern Physics before the exam, it's looking like we'll be doing most of that material after the AP exam. Modern Physics is an area that is always covered on the exam, and there has always been a free response problem in that area as far as I know. While you might be able to sacrifice that area and still do well on the exam, I recommend that you spend some time between now and April 9 getting a head start on Modern Physics. That's chapters 30-32.  If you're interested in working ahead on assessments, email me, and I'll see about posting some.

3-19 afternoon

Remember to bring your equation lists to the quiz if you want to use them. Also, we almost ran out of lab computers for the last quiz. So please bring a laptop if you don't normally bring one.

3-19 morning

I've checked E23.01, E23.01, and E.23.03. Be sure to examine in preparing for the quiz. As always, the Chapter Reviews will also help.

Remember that for the quiz Thursday, you need to be able to use Lenz' Law and Faraday's Law as well as know about applications to transformers and generators. This includes the text material as well as the readings posted on Moodle. That includes the oscilloscope reading, too.

3-17 morning

There's no class meeting this morning. This week's schedule will be posted later today.

3-12 morning

I've posted changes to the schedule. These are highlighted in cyan.

I've decided not to use the lab form that I mentioned in the previous announcement. You'll write your report on notebook paper as usual. Be sure to wear your lab-legal shoes every lab day.

Looking toward next week, we'll meet Tuesday for lab and Thursday for an online quiz on Ch. 23.

I'll have your quizzes checked later this morning.

3-11 morning

Recent changes are highlighted in yellow.

I want to alert you to the fact that I'm making a change to Thursday's schedule. I haven't posted it on the schedule yet, because I don't quite have the assignment ready. I do know this, however.

• I won't be here Thursday! I just remembered that I'll be at a conference. We'll have to meet Friday instead. :( Sorry
• E.23.03 will be due at 8:00 PM Thursday rather than 8:00 AM.
• There will be several pages of reading on cathode-ray tubes to do before your Friday class period. This reading is available now on Moodle.
• There will be a 5-minute online quiz on cathode-ray tubes at the beginning of your Friday class period.
• You will need to print out a lab form to bring with you Friday. I'll have this ready Wednesday.

3-10 morning

The lab you will do Tuesday requires a printout. See Step 2 of Part A. Be sure to print this before the lab period and bring it with you. Each student must have a copy. Enter your name on this form to indicate that you read this announcement.

If you will be absent Thursday due to early sports dismissal, plan to do Thursday's lab during Friday's class.

3-7 afternoon

Here's an assignment that will be due late next week. I recommend getting an early start.

3-7 morning

This is for students in section A. If you missed me for the exam discussion on Thursday the 6th, there will be another opportunity next week.

3-6 afternoon

In preparing for the quiz tomorrow, remember the Chapter Reviews and Practice Problems are available here.

Sometime next week, I'll delete all entries from the Trimester 2 WebAssign gradebook, and I'll add grades for Trimester 3 assignments. This will let you keep up with grades as they're added. So what I'm saying is that if you want to have a record of your 2nd trimester grades, be sure to record them before next week.

Here's a modification in Monday's assignment. The assignment I had originally planned isn't ready. The following assignment is due Monday at 5:00 PM instead. It's a paper and pencil assignment for which you'll show complete solutions. Do the following:

1. Open the WebAssign assessment, Exam-Winter08.
2. For each of the following problems for which your result was incorrect, write a complete solution on paper.

• finding the distance traveled by the rotating disc while slowing to a stop
• calculating the net electric field for the red and blue charges in the IWP applet
• finding the speed of an oscillating mass when halfway to the equilibrium position
• both parts of the Physlet gas compression problem
• both parts of the charge calculation problem for the network of series and parallel capacitors

3-5 evening

Some students had uncharacteristically low exam scores despite the fact that many of the problems were taken from previous assignments. This may indicate the need for a different study strategy for some of you. It's not sufficient to cram the night before a quiz, test, or exam. You should have discovered this by now. Study is an ongoing, daily process. It's much more than getting your WebAssign assignments submitted on time. You also need to be doing the following:

• After each assessment comes due, check the teacher's solutions against your own and read any comments. I try to check assessments the same night they come due. Sometimes, it takes me more time. This is true if there is a series of assessments (such as the M10 series) and they contain many free response items (such as M10b-2). If you have questions about any of the solutions, get them answered either by discussing with other students or with me.
• Do extra problems and conceptual questions at the end of each chapter. Learning to do anything well and efficiently takes practice. In this class as well as the Advanced Topics classes and, for that matter, college physics classes, there's always the expectation that students will solve more problems than the assigned ones.
• Read the announcements, since that is where I will give general feedback about assignments. Of course, if you're not reading this, it obviously does you no good.

With the above in mind, go back and review the M10 series of assignments as well as E.22.02. I've checked all of these. I have some comments below for everyone about some of the problems.

• The most fundamental problems on the M10 series are those requiring net force solutions. You must know these methods. Knowing the fundamental methods puts you in a position to do many problems.
• When asked to tell why something is observed, that means an explanation in terms of physics principles and concepts is required. Many people overlooked an explanation on the 3rd problem of M10b-2.
• On problem 10 of M10c, a number of students changed the electric field back to 5000 N/C and observed wild behavior of the particle. My intent for this problem was for you to see that the result was independent of mass and that the charge didn't matter either, since the electron and proton have charges of the same magnitude. The electric and magnetic forces are opposite for each, but they add to 0 in both cases. In order to avoid giving you a double 0 for both a wrong observation and explanation, I gave you at least 1 point unless your explanation was unbelievable.

I've signed forms for three students who will miss Tuesday's lab for an Econ activity. This is a reminder to those students that they must do the lab Monday afternoon. I'll be on the floor until 6:30 PM.

Submit this form, which will report when you read this announcement.

3-3 afternoon

The schedule for this week is complete. Note the 30-minute quiz on Friday and the need to bring your equation page from the exam.

If you want to go over the free response portion of your exam or discuss solutions to the online portion, come to class Thursday. This is optional but highly recommended. The results of the exam indicate that many people need to modify their study strategies (not just for the exam but on a day-to-day basis) in order to be successful at the level of which they're capable.

3-2 evening

I've posted the assignment for Tuesday. Although you'll have much of Tuesday's class time to work on parts of the assignment, you're welcome to get a head start.

I'll post the remainder of the schedule during the day Monday.

2-29

I've found a way to display all your grade as well as your averages. I've imported them into the WebAssign gradebook. They're organized and weighted according to the 5 categories given on the evaluation page. You'll be able to see all your grades, including non-WebAssign assignments, when you log in to WebAssign. You'll also see your 2nd trimester average. No grades from 1st trimester are included.

Some WebAssign assignments are not included per se in the gradebook. You can easily identify these items, because they're categorized as Homework. This is simply a catch-all category for non-gradebook items. Here are such items:

• There two instances of L10ext listed in the ScoreView. That's because I accidentally hit the Save button twice when creating the entry. I can't figure out how to delete one of them. So I categorized one of them as Homework so that it wouldn't appear in the gradebook.
• V09 is categorized as Homework. That was an optional assignment. I wanted it to count for bonus points, but that meant the number of total possible points needed to be 0. WebAssign wouldn't let me make that change without changing all earned scores to 0s, too. So I created a new assignment called V09opt, entered the possible points as 0, and then entered by hand all the earned scores from V09. I then categorized V09opt as E so that it would appear in the gradebook.
• L14-1 and L14-2 were two different versions of the same assignment. Some of you did one, some did the other. If both were imported to the gradebook, everyone would receive a 0 on one or the other of the assignments. In order to prevent that from happening, I categorized them both as Homework. Then I created a new assignment called L14, categorized as L, which contained all the non-zero grades from L14-1 and L14-2.
• Exam-Winter08 was the online portion of the final exam. I wanted to delete the lowest two 2-point problems from everyone's exam, but WebAssign wouldn't let me do that. So I categorized Exam-Winter08 as Homework. Then I created a new assignment called T2 Exam(WA) and categorized it as Exam. I made the total possible points 36 rather than the 40 points of Exam-Winter08 and entered your scores from the latter by hand.

The item labeled Bonus in the E category are the bonus points for reporting mistakes on the Moodle forum.

In about a week, I'll erase the 2nd trimester gradebook and start over with 3rd trimester. If you want to record your averages for later reference, do that promptly.

Now here are some notes about the exam. I overrode WA scoring on some of the problems. Here were the overrides that I made. Some of them may affect you.

• If you submitted hard copy for the oscillating object problem, I scored that by hand and adjusted the WA automatic scoring accordingly.
• For the applet problem where you were to find the net E-field of red and blue charges, if your sign was wrong but magnitude was correct, I added 1.5 pts.
• If your answer to the second part of the Physlet thermodynamics problem was incorrect but consistent with your answer to the first part, I added 2.0 pts.
• If your answer to the second part of the capacitor series-parallel circuit problem was consistent with your answer to the first part, I added 1.0 pt. The two values must be equal.

There were no overrides or adjustments to the free response part of the exam.

2-24 afternoon

As it turns out, we'll use the lab computers for the online portion of the exam tomorrow. There are enough computers so that I can split the class into 2 groups. Half the class will do the online portion from 1:30 - 2:30 and the other half from 2:30 - 3:30 PM.

2-22 afternoon

Be sure to take a look at the Feedback link at the top of the Weekly Schedule page. I've posted some keys and model solutions for relevant assignments.

People have asked what the first WebAssign assessment of the trimester is. The answer is E.10.1. I recommend clicking on the Schedules link on the Weekly Schedule page. Then you can quickly navigate to the schedule for any week.

People are also asking for estimates of their trimester averages. Here's what I recommend you doing in order to get an estimate:

1. Find the average of all your WebAssign assessments starting with E.10.1 but exclude the Chs. 9,10 test. Also be sure to count the version of L25 that you took.
2. Average your cumulative test score with your score on the Chs. 9.10 test. (One other item--the lab practical--will eventually be averaged with these two, but I don't have scores for the practical yet.)
3. Now average the WA percentage and the Test percentage. This will be a rough estimate of your average. It doesn't include labs and a few other things like M06 and M09.

Remember that the final exam will count 20% of the trimester average.

2-22 morning

Your tests will be ready to be picked up at 11 AM this morning. Pick them up by 2 PM today, as I may not be available after that time. I will post test grades in Moodle.

2-21 morning

If you've read the information about the exam below, enter your name on this form and submit it.

2-20 afternoon

Thoughts about the exam:  There will be an online component, so bring your laptops. The computers in the physics labs will also be available, since we have the 4th floor for our exam. In order to encourage you to go back through all of this trimester's WebAssign assessments, the online part of the exam will pull primarily from problems/questions on these assessments. Of course, I reserve the right to do some rephrasing and provide different givens, but my goal is for you to critically examine previous work.

There will also be a free response component. This will only cover the content since the last test. So that's Chs. 19-21 (magnetism not included). Expect one lab-type problem and one theoretical problem on this portion.

And yes, I plan to get your tests back to you soon.

2-20 morning

Here are answers for P18a.

See the exam tutorial schedule here:  http://courses.ncssm.edu/physics/exam_tutorial_schedule.htm.

2-19 afternoon

Scores and key for L14-1 (A block) and L14-2 (B block) are available.

2-19 morning

Today in class you'll need to know the direction of geographic north. If you don't know the answer, you can figure it out. On which side of our classroom does the sun rise?

2-15 afternoon

Next week we start magnetism. In preparation for a lab on magnetic fields Tuesday (L14), read section 22.1 of your text as well as the Introduction of the lab. We'll start class Tuesday with a 5-minute online quiz on this prelab assignment.

2-14 evening

I checked E.21.04b tonight. I noticed on problem 10 that some people didn't enter their values. In those cases, I didn't give credit for item 11, the total power. I also didn't give credit for item 11 if the values given in item 10 weren't consistent with the answer to 11. I deducted 1-2 points if the values of power had obvious mistakes. Finally, I deducted a half point for item 11 if the significant figures were grossly incorrect. For example, it doesn't make sense to give an answer to a tenth of a joule out of 13,000 J.

I also checked E.21.06a. Most people did very well. The most frequent mistakes (and there weren't many) were on the last three parts of the second problem. I suspect this has to do with carrying insufficient digits in calculations. For a chain of calculations such as this, rounding error builds on itself. It's best to carry calculations through each step on your calculator without rounding. This is always good practice.

2-13 afternoon

When you show up for your lab practical, please don't tell me at that time that you want to postpone to another day. I'm willing to entertain requests for postponements but only if they show some forethought rather than desperate last minute pleas. If you want to ask for a postponement, do so by 10 PM tonight.

2-13 morning

I've made checks of your theory (step 7 and Parts A and B) of L13. I looked for these things:

1. You drew the circuit diagram and labeled components.
2. You used the junction rule and stated where you used it.
3. You used the loop rule (once in Part A and twice in Part B) and stated where you used it.
4. You solved correctly for potential differences and resistances.

Items 2 and 3 were the ones that people neglected most frequently.

You should consider L13 as practice for the lab practical. It was practice in doing circuit theory and and practice in measuring potential difference and current in multi-resistor circuits. Don't neglect the loop and junction rules for the lab practical prelab. I'll expect that you clearly show how you use them.

Now that I've made these initial checks of yesterday's work, you may come in to complete the lab with your partner if you didn't do so yesterday. You can pick up your paper from me. It would make sense to do this before the time that you're taking the lab practical.

Schedule for  Lab Practical

Thursday
Price
Jang
Choi
Kuei
Jiang
Ogrodnick
Strawn
Baker
Xue
Ahmad
Zhu
Koepnick
Alexanian
Fan
Ellis
Wang, Eric
Mendu
Cockrell
Cooper
Powers
Li

Friday
Bongu
Tenorio
Jung
Kim
Lee
Burgo
Ketel
Xu, Eric
Erkes
Chen
Funkhouser
Feng
Wu

Monday
Wang, Edina
Xu, Kangyue
Humphrey
Cave
Peres-da-Silva

2-12

If you haven't signed up for Thursday or Friday for the lab practical (or emailed me asking to postpone to Monday's tutorial), do so today. I'll be taking down the the sign up sheets Wednesday morning. If you haven't signed up for a spot, then I'll sign you up for an open spot. I'll email final assignments to everyone sometime on Wednesday.

Just in case it isn't clear, this lab practical is a lab test. However, you have the advantage of knowing specifically what will be on the test. In order to succeed, you must do the prelab in advance, because you won't have time to do it in the 50-minute period. You must submit your paper at the end of that period.

I also want to emphasize that you have to take your measurements with no help from a partner. I won't be helpful either. At this point, I expect you to be able to use a multimeter to measure currents, potential differences, and resistances. If you want to do practice measurements, you're welcome to come in after classes to do so. If you take equipment off the cart, please return it. Also, please don't disturb classes in order to get equipment. Do your practicing after classes are over.

I will be away at a workshop this afternoon, but I'll be back Wednesday.

2-8

I've checked selected parts of L25 and placed the papers in envelopes on the second shelf of the physics table just outside the double doors going into the physics hallway (in case you want to pick them up over the weekend). There are no scores yet; there are just marks like checks, x's, and inc. Here's what they mean:

check means correct :)
x means incorrect :(
inc means incomplete or there's a better answer

If you have no x's or inc's, then you're finished with the lab. A score will be assigned later. Otherwise, there will be an opportunity for corrections. I'll post this soon.