El Camino College Physics 2B Electricity, Magnetism, and Modern Physics Course Outline Spring 2010
Class Times: Section 1642 meets Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:00-1:25 in Physics 101 and Thursdays at 9:30-12:40 in Physics 108.
Instructor: Perry Hacking; Office Planetarium; 660-3593 (x3245); Office Hours: Mondays - Wednesdays 11:00-12:00; Tuesdays-Thursdays 3:30-4:30. Although not an official office hour, you can often reach me on Saturdays 1:30-2:30 in Physics 102 - you can chance it or I suggest that you verify it with me in advance. Email: phacking@elcamino.edu
Text: College Physics, by Serway & Faughn. 7th ed..
Prerequisites: Physics 2A, with a grade of C or better.
Exams: There will be four 50-point exams and a 100 point comprehensive final exam. The exam questions will be similar to the homework questions.
Homework: There will be homework assignments for every chapter of the book that we cover. Homework will be worth 100 points total. Homework is the key to success in this course.
Labs: We will perform approximately 8 labs. Your total lab work will be worth 100 points.
Grading: I will total all of your points at the end of the semester to determine your grade. The grade scale is as follows:
Percentage Total Points
90 - 100 A 450 – 500 A
80 - 89 B 400 - 449 B
65 - 79 C 325 - 399 C
50 - 64 D 250 - 324 D
Students who withdraw after May 14, 2010 will receive a letter grade based on the entire semester's requirements.
Preparation: Make certain that you are ahead in your reading, and current on your homework! Homework will be due almost every time we meet (including labs). You will be able to find every topic that we cover in your text.
Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcome (SLO): In general, the objectives of the course are to learn the physical principles of electricity, magnetism, optics, and modern physics and to learn to correctly analyze physical problems that deal with those subjects. The official course objectives and SLO can be found at: Physics 2B Course Objectives.
About this course: The best way to learn physics is by seeing as many different ways that it can be applied in the real world. That is what we are going to do. Most of the examples that we will use will be simple ones that isolate the concepts that we will be learning about. Of course the real world is more complicated and real world problems often involve many different laws or concepts. The process is the same, however - try to identify the concepts at work in the problem. Before we can tackle the real world, we will start in this course to understand and solve problems that usually involve only one or two concepts, and rarely three or more. Before we are done, we will routinely solve problems that involve multiple concepts.
Advice: This is a very important course for you. I will assume that it shares top priority with your math course in your schedule. If you do not give this course top priority, future physics and related courses will suffer. The Physics 2 series is often thought of as the cornerstone of your entire education in any technical field. Make it a strong cornerstone. Even though the homework grade is only worth 20% of the total points, it is probably the most important aspect of this course. Practice, practice, practice. That will be our motto. Homework will be our tool. We will practice a great deal in class also. You can be assured that I will treat this course as your most important one also. I pledge to do my best to make this wonderful course as understandable and interesting as I possibly can. I hope to fill you with the wonder that I have for our physical universe around us.
However, when I stumble and you become confused, it is YOUR responsibility to stop me and ask for clarification or a different explanation or illustration. Silence on your part translates into an assumption on my part that you understand.
Come to class with an active mind ready to learn every evening that we meet. Don't show up burned out and hungry. This is not a painting class where you can relax and unwind. I require your full attention. I need fresh brains in my class!
Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible..
Here is our schedule - note that I may switch lab and lectures from and to lab and lecture days as is required to ensure that you will be ready for the tests. Don't assume that every lecture day will always be lecture and all lab days will always be lab. I will announce any changes in class.
Week Chapter Subjects Lab
1. 15 Electric Forces and Fields None
2. 17 Current and Resistance Exp 61
3. 16 Electrical Energy and Capacitance Exp 64
4. 18 Direct Current Circuits Exp 62
5. 19 Magnetism Exp 65
6. 20 Test 1, Faraday's Law None
7. 20 Faraday's Law Exp 66
8. 21 Impedance, LRC circuits, EM waves Exp 67
Spring Break
9. 22 Reflection and Refraction Test2. None
10. 23 Mirrors and Lenses Exp 50
11. 24 Wave Optics Exp 52 Extra credit lab on 5/8 at 1:30 EXP 55
12. 25 Optical Instruments, Exp 53 Extra credit lab on 5/15 at 1:30 EXP 57
13. 26 Relativity Test 3 None
14. 27 & 28 Quantum and Atomic physics None
15. 29 Nuclear Physics Test 4 None
16. 30 Elementary Particles, Final Exam None