Welcome to

Physics 1D03

PHYSICS 1D03 - MECHANICS

Me: Dr. W. OkońOffice: ABB-150 e-mail: okon@physics.mcmaster.caOffice Hours: TBA

Course web page (all sections):http://physwww.mcmaster.ca/PHYS1D03

Course web page (this section)http://physwww.mcmaster.ca/~okon/1d03/1d03.html

I will be posting news and lecture notes here!!!

Components of the course

-Labs: every second week, 4 labs in the term. 15% of the final grade.

-Tutorials: every second week, alternating with labs. 6% of the final grade.

- CAPA assignments, every week. 3% of the final grade

- Two term tests. Total 20% of the final grade. (MC + long)

- Final exam, 2.5 hours. 51% of the final grade. (MC + long)

- Classroom participation. 5% (i-clicker quizzes – see outline)

Things you need

- Lab manual (check bookstore asap) (same manual is used for 1D & 1E)

- Textbook (Serway) (same book is used for 1D & 1E)

- Casio fx-991 calculator

- i-clicker

Labs• Read the schedule for your lab/tutorial section.

• There is a pre-lab assignment (in the lab manual) to be completed and handed in just before each lab. This encourages you to prepare properly.

• In the lab, students work in pairs. The report is completed during the lab period and handed in before leaving (one report per pair).

• You must complete all the labs. A make-up week is provided at the end of term.

• If you’re repeating the course, go to ABB-241 to get a lab exemption form (there is no tutorial exemption!)

Tutorials

Tutorials alternate with labs. Dates for each section are on the lab schedule. Labs/Tutorials start on Mon Sept 16.

Each tutorial will be led by two graduate or senior undergraduate student teaching assistants.

In the tutorials you will learn to discuss physics problems, and to work effectively in groups of 4 or 5. Problems will be taken from the CAPA practice assignments.

Tutorials: Working in groups

• seeing other ways of doing a problem deepens understanding

• getting practice in communicating how to do a problem - an essential skill!

• getting practice in working in small groups. This will come up often in the next four years (and later).

ASK YOUR TAs QUESTIONS !!!

Avenue to Learn

• Avenue, CAPA, and Tutorials: We will be using McMaster’s Avenue to Learn system to post course information, and to give students access to the CAPA computerised assignments.  

You will be tested on the material in CAPA problem sets at the start of the tutorials, which you must attend.  Information on using the system can be found at

http://avenue.mcmaster.ca.

Homework Using CAPA

• There will be a CAPA assignment each week. Answers are entered into the computer The CAPA system tells you immediately whether the answer is correct, and allows you to try again. You can long on/off and keep working on an assignment as often as you like.

•The CAPA assignments themselves are worth 2.5% of your grade; and the tutorial quizzes are based on the same problems.

•You will get access to the CAPA assignments directly from Avenue to Learn. You have to get your login working to do CAPA!

•Read the CAPA help page before you start!

Concept Quiz Instructions

• Think about the problem by yourself for 1-2 minutes

• Find a neighbour who disagrees with you, and convince him/her that you’re right

• Use your i-cliker to answer

• Bring your clicker to every class - if you forget it and you need it, too bad

i-clicker Registration

• Go to the course website and follow the link

or

• Go here: http://www.iclicker.com/registration/

- Use student number- If you make a mistake, do it again, don’t email me!- Do it when you get your clicker

Example Quiz

A dump truck loaded with watermelons is driving at 10 m/s along a bumpy road. One of the watermelons tumbles off the back of the truck and falls to the road (it starts 5 m above the road and takes 1 second to fall). How far behind the truck is it when it hits the road?

A) less than 1 m B) 5 mC) 10 m

Lectures

• Important concepts and principles. Frequent demonstrations. Less time on complete solutions to

example problems.

• Read the text as well; the lectures won’t include everything. Reading BEFORE helps a lot !!!

• Lecture slides will be posted on my web page. The slides are not the whole lecture! Take notes as we work things out on the blackboard.

Missed Work Forms (MSAF)

For missed tutorials and midterm tests:

*When you use the MSAF form, the weight of the missed item is always added to the final examination.

*The mark on Avenue will eventually show up as "-2" if I received the form, but this may take up to a week as the forms need to be processed.

*E-mail me ONLY if your mark does not show as "-2" after about a week after you submitted the form.

*DO NOT fill out an MSAF form for missed class attendance or CAPA – these will be ignored/deleted and you will loose one form.

Physics 1D3 Lecture 1 15

Doing well in Physics 1D03• Keep up with the course! Spend at least a few hours every week on the course, even the weeks you have two math tests and a chemistry test. Attend the lectures and tutorials. Read the text. Do the problems.

• Practice problems from the text will be listed each week. Try several of these. Think hard about them; don’t give up on the difficult ones.

• Discuss questions and problems with other students. Explaining something helps you clarify your ideas.

Engineering I requires a lot of your time. Expect to work many evenings and weekends. Organise your time early in the term, before the deadlines arrive!

Homework • Read the course outline and find the course web page. Read everything…

• Get the 1D/1E lab manual (2013 edition). If the bookstore is out of stock, put in an order right away.

• Buy the text (new or used, any edition)– you’ll find it useful for the next few years !!! Read the first two chapters of the text (review); the next lecture is on Chapter 2.