Physics 8A Syllabus (Introductory Physics)

Summer 2021
Dr. William Golightly
Instructor office hours: MTuWTh 3:30 - 4:30 pm over Zoom.
E-mail: wgolightly@berkeley.edu

Course Description:

Prerequisite: Mathematics 1A, 10A, 16A or its equivalent, or permission of the

instructor.
Topics: Kinematics, mechanics, fluids, waves, and thermodynamics.
Lectures: Live lectures will be presented through Zoom MTuWTh from 11 am – 12:30
pm. They will also be recorded, so that they may be viewed later.
Discussion/Laboratory (D/L) sections: Every student must be enrolled in one
discussion section and one lab section, both with the same number. These meetings will
be held live over Zoom. Beginning the second week, you will be working on one lab
experiment each week. One meeting per week will be devoted to answering questions
you may have about the lab (this may take place during either a lab or discussion
section). Before the meeting, a video of the lab will be made available, and you will be
able to work on your lab report at your own convenience. You are not required to attend
the lab meeting if you do not have any questions, but you are encouraged to participate.
All other meetings will function as discussion sections, which will be centered on
problem-solving and worksheets. You must submit lab reports for your experiments,
which will be counted toward your grade. Attendance at discussion sections does not
directly affect your grade, but again, you are strongly encouraged to attend. Note: D/L
meetings begin on Monday, June 21, except for 9-11 sections, which begin on Tuesday,
June 22.

Course website: Go to https://bcourses.berkeley.edu.

Text: The required text is OpenStax University Physics, vol. 1 and 2. This can be
accessed online or downloaded from the Amazon Kindle store for free. (You may prefer
to get a copy of Essential University Physics, vol. 1, by Richard Wolfson, which is much
more concise.) For the D/L sections, we will also be using the Physics 8A Lab Manual
(Fifth Custom Edition), which we will make available on bcourses.

Midterms: Midterm exams will be held synchronously, i.e. during regular class time.
Midterm 1 will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, July 14-15; midterm 2 will be held
on Wednesday and Thursday, July 28-29. For both exams, only part of the class on
Wednesday will be devoted to the exam. The exams will be open-book and open-notes
(but not open-friend or open-student!)

Practice midterms will be posted to the website before each midterm. There will also be
a practice final exam.
Homework: A total of 11 homework assignments will be given. You will be doing the
problems online using ExpertTA. The homework assignments will be due on Mondays
and Thursdays at 11 pm, beginning Monday, June 28. (There is also a practice
assignment that you should do before you start any of the assignments, and is intended to
simply acquaint you with ExpertTA.)

Class updates: I will frequently be posting announcements on bcourses in which I let

you know what material we’ll be covering in our next lecture, as well as other
information about the course.

Final Exam: The final will be held over three days, Tuesday through Thursday, August
10-12, during regular lecture times. On Tuesday, you will be given one problem, and on
Wednesday and Thursday, two problems each day. The first two problems on the final
will cover the same range of material as the midterms; the last three problems will cover
the material after the second midterm. As with the midterms, the final exam will be open-
book and open-notes.

Grading: Your grade will be determined as follows: Each midterm is worth 20%, the
final is worth 35%, the labs are worth 15%, and the homework is worth 10%. The class
will be curved based on the final overall score, with the top 25% getting an A, the next
40% a B, and the rest a C, D, or F.

Academic Misconduct: Although it may seem that it is easy to get away with cheating
on exams when they are held online, it is actually not difficult to tell when students are
copying from one another, or making use of online resources. Any form of cheating is a
serious disciplinary offense. Students who are caught will be reported to the Center for
Student Conduct.

Tentative Schedule:

Week Topics covered

1 One-dimensional motion; constant acceleration; vectors; projectile motion
2 Forces; Newton’s first and second laws; friction; Newton’s third law
3 Uniform circular motion; work; conservation of energy
4 Center of mass; momentum; collisions; rotational dynamics; rotational energy
5 Rolling without slipping; statics; fluid statics; fluid dynamics; oscillations
6 More on oscillations; traveling and standing transverse waves; sound
7 More on sound; heat and temperature; ideal gases; first law of thermodynamics
8 Review and Final Exam