General Physics I (PHYS-UA 11) Course Information Fall 2015

Section 1
T & R, 9:30 - 10:45 PM
Professor Burton Budick
Office: Room 705 Meyer
E-Mail: burton.budick@nyu.edu
Telephone: 212-998-7683
Office Hours: By appointment

Pre-requisite: Calculus I
Lectures:

Text: University Physics, Extended Version with Modern Physics, 14th Edition, H. D. Young and R.A.
Freedman (Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 2014). Regarding the paperback version sold at the
NYU Bookstore, volume 1 will be used in General Physics I. The same text will be used in General
Physics II.
MasteringPhysics: A website where you can check your homework. Access to MasteringPhysics is
bundled with the text sold at the NYU Bookstore.
Laboratory Manual: General Physics I Lab Manual; Science Workshop Manual (for computerized
experiments, No charge). The lab manual can be downloaded from the website
http://physics.nyu.edu/~physlab/GenPhysI_PhysII/genphys1.html

General Information: This course is an introduction primarily to mechanics and thermal physics. It will
introduce to most of you a new way to think about your world. The predictive aspect of physics rests on a
quantitative approach. Therefore, you must have at your fingertips high school algebra, geometry, and
trigonometry. You must know differential calculus, which will be used from time to time in class, but
sparingly on exams, and elementary integral calculus. Mastery of algebra, trigonometry, and the facts of
geometry is absolutely essential. If you need to review any of this mathematics, do so immediately. An
Appendix in the text covers the necessary material.
The class work includes lectures, homeworks, and laboratories. Each week there are two lecture
sessions, and a lab session. The lectures are devoted to discussing and clarifying text material, to working
illustrative problems, and to demonstrating physical principles and their applications. Your experience
will be most rewarding if you read the assigned text material before coming to lecture. You may not
understand all the material, but a prior reading will help you focus attention on the portion of the lecture
that covers it. As soon after lecture as possible, study the text again and the notes you took in class.
Course information as well as the syllabus will be posted on the General Physics I NYUClasses
website which you may access through your NYU Home account.
Using The Text: Study the relevant sections of the text before the lecture. Try doing the examples
worked out in the text before looking at the solutions. If you have understood the material you should be
able to do this. This will also give you valuable experience in problem solving. Analyze the Discussion
Questions at the end of the chapter. These are not assigned, but are a good way to acquire the concepts of
the course. If you have any uncertainty about a Discussion Question, bring it up in the tutoring sesssion.
Studying and understanding the diagrams in the text is in our experience a most valuable learning method.
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Online Homework with MasteringPhysics:

You will access the homework assignments on www.masteringphysics.com. You must purchase an
access code for the MasteringPhysics system. You can do this by going to the NYU Bookstore, or by
going directly to www.masteringphysics.com and using a credit card.
Please note that if you purchase an access code from any other source, you run the risk of it not working
and Pearson will not assist you in addressing the issue.
In addition to the MasteringPhysics access code, you will need to enter the course ID for the Fall 2015
semester of General Physics I, which is MPBUDICK21424. You will not be able to access homework
without this course ID.
Acquaint yourself with the grading policy and due date for each assignment.
You must first learn how to use the system properly. To aid you in this, your first assignment is called
Introduction to MasteringPhysics. While it will not contribute to your grade, it is strongly
recommended that you complete this assignment. Doing so may prevent you from losing credit on
homework assignments. This assignment will introduce you to the wide variety of questions you may
encounter, such as sorting questions, ranking questions, and graphing questions. The system also
provides hints for many individual problems.
You must check that your computer is set up properly to use MasteringPhysics. You will find the
following web page useful in assisting you with this task:
http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com/northamerica/masteringphysics/students/support/systemrequirements/index.html
The following video might prove helpful. It provides tips on registering for MasteringPhysics.
http://www.masteringsupport.com/videos/registration_tips/registration_tips.html
Specific homework problems and suggested due dates are to be found online.

Laboratory (20% of your grade): Beginning the second week of the term (the week of September 13),
your laboratory section meets once a week. You must attend the laboratory section in which you enrolled.
The laboratory is an essential part of this course. If it is not completed satisfactorily, the final grade for
the entire course will be incomplete (I) or an F. A grade of I, if assigned, resulting from incomplete lab
work cannot be made up before the following summer or fall term, when laboratories are scheduled again.
You will do 11 experiments over the course of the semester.
Your 10 best labs will be counted towards your lab
grade.
You must participate in every laboratory session, complete all the experiments, and submit satisfactory
reports on them. You may be excused from the lab only upon presentation to your lab instructor of a
proper medical note from your attending physician saying that you were too ill to participate or for a
religious observance. In the case of illness, without a note from your physician, a grade of zero will be
recorded for the experiment. With such a note, the instructor will enter a grade of Excused.
To account for different grading scales by different instructors, the average grade for each lab section will
be normalized to 85%.
Your lab instructor will give you full instructions on what you are expected to do in the laboratory and
how to write lab reports. Lab reports are to be handed in to your lab instructor at the beginning of the lab
session one week after the experiment. Each student should take an active role and gain hands on
experience. A graded report will be returned to you in one week. If a report is submitted late, credit will
be deducted from the grade.
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You must be familiar with the experiment BEFORE coming to the lab: The lab session is short, so you
will waste precious time if you do not read the lab description carefully and think about the goals of the
lab. Your lab instructor may give the class a short quiz on the material at the beginning of the session.
Even when working in teams, everyone must participate in doing the experiment. Everyone must take
data, and each persons data sheet must be signed and dated by the lab instructor before leaving the lab.
That signed and dated sheet must be submitted with the lab report. The emphasis in reports should be on
the measurements made, their analysis, and their interpretation. A substantial part of the grade will be
based upon the instructors observation of the level of your participation during the laboratory.
Repeating the Course and Labs: If you are repeating the course and have a satisfactory grade in the lab,
you may skip the lab in this course and use your previous lab grade. Notify your professor and Bill
LePage in the Physics office, Meyer 424. His email address is wlp1@nyu.edu and his phone number is
998-7704.
Optional Tutoring: Free tutoring is available from Teaching Fellows associated with the course. A
schedule will be available on Blackboard beginning Friday, September 11. Staff will be available to help
you learn important concepts and how to solve physics problems. Tutoring will begin on September 14 in
room Meyer 424.They will give you problems to work on (some similar to homework problems and some
whose solutions are presented in the student solutions manual), possibly in groups, and provide assistance
as needed. You can also get help doing problems on the examinations from previous semesters that are
posted to Blackboard. While they can provide some guidance doing the homework problems, they will
only be able to show the full solutions after the due dates for an assignment has passed.
College Learning Center: Additional assistance for this class is available to you free of charge at the
College Learning Center (CLC) located on the 1st Floor of Weinstein Hall (right behind Java City).
For information on one-on-one and group peer tutoring, please stop by the CLC or go to their
website: http://www.nyu.edu/cas/clc/
Studying for the Exams: As part of your preparation for examinations we recommend: (i) studying the
homework problems (try doing them again without looking at your previous work), (ii) studying the
examples in the assigned sections in the textbook (try doing them without looking at the solutions printed
in the text and then contrasting your ideas about the problem with the texts), and (iii) studying the
example problems done in the lecture.
Term Exams (35% of your grade): There are 3 13-question multiple-choice exams during the term (not
including the final exam.) The exams are on the Thursdays indicated in the attached course schedule.
These exams are in normal class hours in the regular lecture room.
The two exams with the highest scores will be averaged together to determine each students exam grade.
If you do not take a term exam it will be counted as a zero and your grade will computed using the other
two term exams. No make-up exams will be given.
All exams are closed book and notes are not permitted. Important constants and formulae will be given.
You will need to use a non-programmable hand calculator on the exams. If you already possess a
programmable calculator you can use it, but you cant use any information stored in the calculators
memory. You cannot use any communication device, such as a cell phone, that has a calculator built into
it. Please check your calculator before the exam to see that it works.
Final Exam (35% of your grade): The final exam is cumulative and consists of 20 multiple-choice
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questions. You must take the final exam unless a note from a physician is presented within 48 hours of the
exam. If such a note is presented, a grade of I is assigned if your grade for the course is passing up to that
point. Otherwise a grade of F is assigned.
Exam Sign Out When you have finished an exam, please give it to a proctor, show your I.D. and sign the
roll sheet.
Past Years Exams will be posted on NYUClasses. There is no guarantee that this years exams will be
similar. No other practice exams will be issued. If you wish further practice, do some of the unassigned
problems in the text. Answers to odd-numbered problems are given in the back of the text.
Final Grade Your course average is computed from your term average (35%), final exam (35%), lab
average (20%), HW (10%).
A median course average is equivalent to a letter grade of B-.
Continuing to General Physics II requires a grade of C- in General Physics I.
Exams and courtesy Please turn off cell phones, pagers, etc. when in lectures, labs, recitations and before
entering the exam room. LEAVE ALL BOOKS, COATS, BOOKBAGS ALONG THE WALLS!
OCCUPY EVERY OTHER ROW, EVERY OTHER SEAT. BRING A SPARE CALCULATOR. If you
finish an exam early, please leave quietly, closing the door behind you.
Problem Solving Problem solving is arguably the most important aspect of this course. You can know
the material, but if you cannot solve the problems you are missing the most important part of this course.
The ability to solve problems is not innate in most of us. It is acquired by tenacity and hard work. It is in
general not acquired by having someone show you how to do the problems.
Try solving the worked examples in the book before looking at the books solution. Make a
serious attempt at homework problems before seeking help.
Your text has sections that are labeled Problem-Solving Strategy which are highlighted in green.
These are worthwhile examining.

DAY

Reading

Problems

Th
T

Sept
Sept

3
8

1.1-1.9
2.1-2.6

Ch. 1:22,35,39,57
Ch. 2:11,31,34,35,36,46,63,68,71

Th

Sept

10

3.1-3.5

Ch. 3:11,16,30,43,46,56,57

Th
T

Sept
Sept

17
22

4.1-4.6
5.1-5.3

Ch. 4:30,33,35,39,44,48,49
Ch. 5:15,26,34,60,74,77,89,92

Th Sept 24 9:30 am EXAM #1 Chapters 1-4

T
Th

Sept
Oct

29
1

5.4-5.5
6.1-6.4

Ch. 5:45,46,90,96,99,104,107
Ch. 6:29,31,46,53,66,72,79,82,89
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T
Th

Oct
Oct

6
8

7.1-7.4
8.1-8.3

Ch. 7:9,39,40,42,51,55,57,66
Ch. 8:8,24,31,32,41,42,43,44,46

T
Th

Oct
Oct

13
15

8.4-8.5
9.1-9.4

Ch. 8:79,83,86,96,97,98
Ch. 9:2,13,24,33,67,70,71,75,76

Oct

20

10.1-10.6

Ch. 10:29,37,40,43,44,45,62,75

Th Oct 22 9:30 am EXAM #2 Chapters 5-9

T
Th

Oct
Oct

27
29

11.1-11.3
12.1-12.5

Ch. 11:11,12,14,21,47,50,67,77
Ch. 12:14,17,28,32,33,66,72,43,44,75,77,81

T
Th

Nov
Nov

3
5

13.1-13.3
13.4-13.6

Ch.13:5,11,22,25,26,49,54
Ch. 13: 55,61,65,73,75

T
Th

Nov
Nov

10
12

14.1-14.3
14.4-14.5

Ch.14:11,28,29,31,37,39
Ch. 14: 48,49,80,81,92

Nov

17

17.1-17.5

Ch. 17:17,47,52

Th Nov 19 9:30 am EXAM #3 Chapters 10-14

Nov

24

17.6-17.7

Ch. 17: 53,69,70,87,97,106

T
Th

Dec
Dec

1
3

18.1-18.5
19.1-19.4

Ch. 18:14,33,55,56,59,72
Ch. 19:9,10,12,21

T
Th

Dec
Dec

8
10

19.5-19.8
20.1-20.4

Ch. 19:18,24,42,46,54,58
Ch. 20:3,10,12,14,25,36

Dec

15

20.5-20.7

Ch. 20:38,41

?? FINAL EXAM??

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Schedule of Laboratory Experiments

Week of:
Sept 14

Motion 1

Sept 21

Motion 2

Sept 28

Equilibrium of a Particle

Oct

05

Newtons 2nd Law

Oct

19

Work-Energy

Oct

26

Collisions in one Dimension

Nov

02

Centripetal Force

Nov

09

Rotational Motion

Nov

16

Conservation of Energy

Nov

30

Gas Law and Absolute Zero

Dec

07

Mechanical Equivalent of Heat

The lowest laboratory grade will be dropped.

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