NYU Physics 1

This page is for the Fall 2008 semester.

Physics 1 (V85.0091) is an introductory mechanics course in the NYU Department of Physics intended for physics majors and other science majors.

Staff

	name	contact	office
lecture	Prof David W. Hogg		Meyer 501
recitation	Ronin Wu		Meyer 516
grading	Daniel Jo Evans		Meyer 639
tutoring	Roman Baglay		see weekly schedule
tutoring	Philip Ponce de Leon		see weekly schedule
administration	William LePage	+1.212.998.7704	Meyer 424

Aims

There are several aims of this course, not limited to

learning the basics of kinematics (including relativistic kinematics), forces, mechanical energies, angular and linear momentum;
refinement of physical intuition; and
development of critical quantitative reasoning abilities, including estimation, approximation, and calculation.

Textbook and materials

Chabay, R. & Sherwood, B., Matter and Interactions, vol 1: Modern Mechanics, 2 ed, Wiley (2007), ISBN 978-0-470-10830-7
Hogg, D. W., Lecture notes on special relativity.

Make sure you get the second edition of Chabay & Sherwood as it is very different from the first edition.

Please send to Prof Hogg any errata you find for either book (along with any other comments) in your reading memos (described below). There are lists of errata for Chabay & Sherwood maintained at NYU and maintained by the authors (PDF).

Evaluation

Grades will be based on a strict numerical ranking generated with the percentages given in this table.

	percent
reading memos	5
recitation worksheets	10
problem sets	30
mid-term exam	20
final exam	35

Reading memos

There is a small amount of reading assigned (in the schedule below) for each week. Twenty-four hours before each Wednesday lecture (that is, by 12:30 each Tuesday) you will be expected to have emailed to Prof Hogg a short memo about the reading (please put the words reading memo in the subject line of your email; please do not send Word documents; just type a plain text email).

Each reading memo can say whatever you like, but it is most helpful if it describes what, in the reading, you did not understand, what you found confusing, and what you would like to hear about in class in the coming week. The primary purpose of the memos is to communicate to the instructors challenges encountered in the assigned reading.

Reading memos will be graded (leniently) on the basis that they demonstrate some serious attempt to understand the content of the reading. The secondary purpose of the memos is to ensure that you take the reading seriously and make an attempt to learn from it.

Reading memos emailed late will be graded zero unless there is a medical excuse.

Recitation worksheets

In most recitations, you will work through problems and discuss them with your recitation instructor and fellow students. Some of these problems will be organized into a worksheet that you sign and hand in at the end of the recitation.

It is not possible to do a worksheet in advance of recitation or after the fact. If you are not going to be able to attend a recitation, ask for an excused absence from Prof Hogg in advance. Recitation worksheets missed without excused absences will be graded zero unless there is a medical excuse.

Problem sets

A small number of problems are assigned each week to hand in as your problem set (see the table below). These problem sets are to be handed in at the Monday lecture.

Please feel free to discuss problem set questions with other students. Working together can be very educational and helpful; we encourage it! However, you must ensure that the work you hand in is your own. This is required by the principles of academic integrity; but it is also the case that you will not perform well on the exams if you have not worked out the problem sets yourself.

Problem sets serve a double purpose. They provide you with practice problems, and they provide the instructors with an evaluation of the abilities of the class. Keep these goals in mind as you work on the problem sets. Even a wrong problem set can get points awarded, but it is your responsibility to make sure your answers contain enough explanation, illustration, and physical reasoning to warrant it.

If you are not going to be able to complete a problem set on time, ask for an extension from Prof Hogg by email in advance. Problem sets handed in late without granted extensions will be graded zero unless there is a medical excuse.

Tutoring

All of the staff have office hours (see the weekly schedule below), and you should feel free to contact them at any time about the material of the course. In addition there is free tutoring available for this course, supplied by the Department and the Engineering program. The standard tutoring session times and locations (note: locations vary) are listed in the weekly schedule below. This valuable resource is most useful when you come to the session with a very specific question in mind.

Examinations

There will be one mid-term examination during the term and a final exam at the end, on dates given in the schedule below.

With few exceptions, each exam question will be a problem you have seen before, in lecture, in recitation, or on a problem set, with small changes or shortened for time. The idea is that good performance on the exams will demonstrate that you have really done the assigned work throughout the semester.

If you have to miss any examination for any non-medical reason, you must make arrangements with Prof Hogg by email in advance. Missed exams will be graded zero unless there is a special arrangement made or a medical excuse. No special arrangements will be made for travel conflicts.

Miscellaneous

audio recordings: While I don't forbid making audio recordings during class, you must not post, publish, or share them without the written permission of every student in the class (which you are unlikely to get). This is because the classroom setting is a private setting in which everyone should feel free to speak plainly and without regrets.

feedback: Please ask questions during lectures and recitations. If there is something you don't understand, many other students are having the same trouble, guaranteed. If there is some aspect of the pace, content, or structure of the course you don't like, or any other feedback you would like to give, please let Prof Hogg know as soon as possible. If you wait until course evaluation forms are handed out at the end of the semester, you will have benefited next year's class at the expense of your own!

Weekly schedule

Friday
Monday	11:00–12:15	Meyer 501	Hogg office hours
	12:30–13:45	Meyer 121	lecture, problem set due
	14:00–16:00	Meyer 421	de Leon tutoring
	16:00–19:00	Meyer 639B	Baglay tutoring
Tuesday	11:00–12:30	Meyer 421	de Leon tutoring
	12:30		reading memo due
	15:30–17:00	Meyer 639B	Baglay tutoring
Wednesday	09:30–10:45	Meyer 102	recitation, worksheet
	11:00–12:15	Meyer 501	Hogg office hours
	12:30–13:45	Meyer 121	lecture
	14:00–15:15	Meyer 102	recitation, worksheet
	15:30–16:30	Meyer 516	Wu office hours
	16:00–19:00	Meyer 639B	Baglay tutoring
Thursday	11:00–12:30	Meyer 639B	de Leon tutoring
	13:00–14:00	Meyer 639	Evans office hours
	14:00–16:00	Meyer 421	de Leon tutoring
	17:00–18:30	Meyer 421	Baglay tutoring
Saturday	13:00–16:00	Silver 407	de Leon tutoring (note location!)
Sunday

Assignment schedule

The following table is subject to change; please check back here frequently. C&S Chapter numbers refer to chapters in Chabay & Sherwood; SR Chapter numbers refer to chapters in the Hogg special relativity notes.

start of week	problem set due Monday	Monday lecture	reading memo due Tuesday	Wednesday lecture	worksheet on Wednesday	notes
Sep 01	none	holiday	none	mass of the Earth	none	Labor Day Sep 01; no recitations this week
Sep 08	ps 0	dropped bucket	C&S ch 1	thrown stone	numerical integration
Sep 15	ps 1	acceleration, velocity, position	C&S ch 2	relativity	none
Sep 22	ps 2	bouncing ball	C&S ch 3	circular kinematics	dimensional analysis of orbits
Sep 29	ps 3	icy, banked curve	C&S ch 4	mass on a spring	friction
Oct 06	ps 4	roller-coaster design school	C&S ch 5	strings and pulleys	none
Oct 13	none	holiday	none	mid-term exam	none	Columbus Day Oct 13; no recitations this week; mid-term exam in lecture Oct 15
Oct 20	none	radial orbits	C&S ch 6	damped harmonic oscillator	small variations
Oct 27	ps 5	rolling energy	C&S ch 8	elastic collisions	potential energy
Nov 03	ps 6	inelastic collisions	SR chs 2+3	the rocket	bouncing
Nov 10	ps 7	time dilation and length contraction	SR chs 4+5	space-time diagrams	space-time diagrams
Nov 17	ps 8	relativity's paradoxes	SR ch 6; C&S ch 9	relativistic collisions	the interval
Nov 24	ps 9	rolling with and without slipping	C&S ch 10	statics	none	no recitations this week
Dec 01	ps 10	collisions of finite bodies	none	solid-body rotation	rolling
Dec 08	ps 11	navigation in the Solar System	none	gyroscopes	TBA	last day of classes Dec 10
Dec 15	final exam Dec 17 at 12:00 in Meyer 121