PHYSICS 221 – Spring 2017

Professor: Prof. Virgil Barnes (in charge) Recitation TA : Nirajan Mandal

Office: Room375, Phone 45199 Office: Room 104, Physics Building
E-mail: barnes@purdue.edu E-mail: nmandal@purdue.edu
Office Hours: By appointment Office Hours: TBA

Lab Coordinator: Dr. A. Lewicki

Office: Room 142, Physics Building
E-mail: lewicki@purdue.edu

Class: Room 112 Physics Building

Lectures: Mon. & Wed. 8:30 – 9:20am or 9:30 – 10:20am
Recitations: Fri. 8:30 – 9:20am or 9:30 – 10:20am

Textbooks: College Physics, Etkina, Gentile, & van Heuvelen (Pearson)

Physics 21900, 22100 and 25200 Laboratory Manual, 2016/2017, Andrzej
(Andrew) Lewicki, LAD Custom Publishing, 2016.

i>Clicker: I-Clicker, Audience response device

Management: Blackboard is used for course management.

COURSE STRUCTURE
The course has three components: lecture, recitation, and lab. The lectures will be focused
on developing an understanding of fundamental concepts; the recitations will be devoted to
developing problem-solving skills; and the labs will give you a chance to test the laws of
physics presented in the lectures. Note that different people are in charge of different
components (see Getting Help below).

A tentative schedule can be found in Blackboard. It is meant to give you a rough idea on
the progression of the course and thus help you prepare for lectures (e.g., pre-lecture
reading). Please keep in mind, though, that it may be adjusted.

PREREQUISITES:
PHYS 220

LECTURE
In a lecture session, new material will be introduced. It will also be your chance to ask
questions on the materials that you find hard to understand (based on pre-lecture reading).

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You should not be shy about doing so. Demonstrations will also take place during lectures
to illustrate key physics concepts.
If you are not prepared for even one lecture, you will quickly fall behind. We are confident
that regular attendance in lecture and recitation classes will be rewarded with better grades.
You are advised to read the relevant sections of the textbook before coming to each lecture.
To encourage active participation we will conduct interactive exercises in class. You will
need an iClicker keypad to participate in the exercises. iClickers can be purchased at the
Purdue bookstore. You must register the serial number of your iClicker in Blackboard
or you will NOT receive any credit for the exercises.
The interactive exercises will begin during the second week of class. The exercises will
occur at random times during a class. You will receive 1 point for answering each
question and 2 additional points for each correct answer. There will be test runs to check
your iClickers during the first week of class. No excuse will be accepted for the loss of
credit due to iClicker malfunction or failure to register your iClicker.

RECITATION
In a recitation session, you will learn how to apply the concepts to solving actual problems
in recitations. You will be shown how to solve homework problems and learn the problem-
solving techniques. Therefore, you are expected to have attempted all assigned homework
problems before attending a recitation session. Interactive exercises with iClickers will
also be given at random times to gauge your learning in recitations, just like in lectures.

LABORATORY
In a laboratory session, you will perform hands-on activities to improve your
understanding of physics concepts as well as develop skills for working with equipment,
performing data analysis, and writing technical reports. Laboratory experience is an
important and required part of this course. If you do not obtain at least 50% of the perfect
score for the lab portion of this course, you will receive an “Incomplete” grade. Lab will
start the first week of classes. You will receive a separate handout covering the lab
schedule and requirements. Before going to lab, you must answer all pre-laboratory
questions scheduled for that week. The pre-laboratory questions must be answered on-line
in MasteringPhysics.

HOMEWORK
There will be 14 homework assignments. All homework is done using MasteringPhysics on
your computer. Each homework problem has randomly generated input values so each
student will have a unique answer. Make sure that you use your own input values when
solving each problem. To receive credit your answer must be within ± 1% of the correct
answer, so you are advised to carry at least 4 significant figures in your calculations.
You should enter 4 significant figures even if MasteringPhysics asks for less.

The homework is due by 11:59 pm on Mondays, unless otherwise noted. For each day late
will have 20% less credit.

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The homework grading policy is as follows:
A – Multiple-choice or true-false problems: If you answer correctly in the first attempt,
you will get 100% credit. If it takes you two tries to get the correct answer, you obtain
50% credit. No credit is granted after two attempts.
B – Numerical problems: You have a maximum of 6 attempts, before the deadline, to get
100% credit. No credit is granted after you have used all 6 attempts.

You are encouraged to view a Hint, when it is available, although you get a bonus of 2%
credit for not opening a Hint.

EXAMS
There will be two 75-min evening exams and a two-hour final exam. The final exam will
be cumulative but with some emphasis on material not covered on the evening exams. All
exams will consist of multiple-choice questions and be closed book. An equation sheet will
be supplied with each exam. The evening exams will take place on:
Exam 1: Feb. 21, 2017 8:00-10:00 pm in Elliott 116 (Hall of Music)
Exam 2: Apr. 4, 2017 8:00-10:00 pm in Elliott 116 (Hall of Music)

Please use this information to resolve any exam conflict as soon as you notice it. As a rule
of thumb, smaller classes than this are more flexible in scheduling exams. In case a
conflict cannot be resolved, you must notify Prof. Barnes of the situation no less than two
weeks before each exam, along with the name and contact information of the instructor
for the other class. Note that if the other class offers make-up exams, the situation would
not be considered a conflict. Per university rules, a class will be canceled for each evening
exam. The date and time of the final exam will be announced later.

Those with Adaptive Learner status must email to Pam Blakey, pblakey@purdue.edu
(she is in the undergraduate teaching office, Room 144) no less than two weeks before
each exam to receive special arrangement.

ABSENCES AND EXCUSED GRADES

There is no way to make up missed evening exams or iClicker interactive exercises.
Unexcused absences will be assigned a zero score. Excused (EX) grades will be given only
in one of the following circumstances: (1) illness; (2) personal crisis (e.g., automobile
accidents, required court appearance, death of a close relative, weather conditions that
make it impossible to get to the university); and (3) required attendance at an official
Purdue activity (e.g., athletics). You must contact Prof. Barnes as soon as possible but
before the exam, except for emergency situations, to discuss your situation. Appropriate
documents (e.g., a written note from a doctor, with his/her name and phone number
included) will be needed to judge the merit of the excuse. No more than one evening exam
can be excused. Missing the final exam cannot be excused. At the end of the semester, an

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EX grade will be replaced by the average of the percentage scores for the exams that you
have taken.

For iClicker exercises, the 6 lowest lecture scores and the 3 lowest recitation scores will be
dropped in the derivation of your final grade. This is meant to cover all circumstances that
prevent you from attending lecture or recitation classes, so there is no need to submit any
document for missed lectures or recitations.

EXAM BONUS POLICY

If the percentage score for your final exam is better than your lowest non-zero evening exam
percentage score, it will replace that score. Hopefully this can build morale and motivate
your continued hard work in this course.

GRADING
Your final grade will be based on a maximum of 670 points:

Midterm #1 100 14.9%

Midterm #2 100 14.9% NOTE the homework,
Final Exam 150 22.4% lab, and recitation and
Homework 100 14.9% lecture quiz score totals
Laboratory 150 22.4% will each be scaled such
Recitation quizzes 40 6.0% that a perfect score would
Lecture quizzes 30 4.5% be the appropriate
TOTAL 670 100% number in column two.

Letter grades will be derived using a curve which has yet to be determined. We expect the
cut-offs to be near 90%/80%/70%, etc. It is possible to get a D or F in this course. Note
also that you must pass (50% or better) the lab in order to pass the course. The
requirements for passing the lab are given in a separate document on lab policies. It is
important to note that the lab is administered separately from the lecture. Dr. Lewicki is the
person in charge of the lab.

During the semester, you should regularly check that your exam, homework, and iClicker
exercise grades have been correctly entered into your Gradebook in Blackboard. It is your
responsibility to bring any issues with your assigned grades to the attention of Prof.
Barnes immediately and certainly to have them resolved before the final exam week.
We will NOT consider any unresolved issues after the final exam week.

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GETTING HELP
You are encouraged to seek help from the recitation instructor during his office hours on
any questions that you may have. You may get additional help from teaching assistants in
The Physics Help Center that is located in Physics Room 11. Hours when the help room is
staffed will be posted on the door soon after the semester starts.

To report problems, you should contact:

Mr. Mandal, issues related to homework
Dr. Lewicki, issues related to lab
Prof. Barnes, issues related to lectures, as well as all other logistical issues

When you email Prof. Barnes, please make sure that you include “PHYS221” on the
subject line, to avoid having your message appear as spam and thus filtered out.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
Cheating will not be tolerated. Just don’t do it! It is not fair to other students or to you. If
you are willing to put in the effort of attending classes and doing homework, you will have
no problem earning a respectable grade. Discussing homework problems with other
students is not considered cheating and is in fact encouraged. However, direct copying of
others’ work is considered cheating. Use common sense.
If a student is found to be cheating on homework, s/he will receive 0 points for that part of
his/her grade, and possibly F for the course in more serious cases. A student caught
cheating on an exam will receive an F for the course and be reported to the Dean of
Students. In more serious cases, the student may be suspended or expelled from the
university. The same applies to all parties involved in cheating.

EMERGENCY
In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading
percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester
calendar or other circumstances. Please check Blackboard for information about changes
in this course.
Please visit: http://www.purdue.edu/ehps/emergency_preparedness/index.html, to find key
emergency preparedness resources.