Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Announcements:
- Our first exam on material from the first five chapters is
scheduled for this Friday during class.
If you need to take this exam early, please let me know.
- In addition to my office hour today after class, I will also be available for online consultation using DyKnow Thursday evening from 10-11 pm.
- Since most of the exam will be multiple choice, bring a Scantron
sheet to record your answers.
- General structure of exam:
- ~25 multiple-choice questions
related to the main concepts of each chapter
- ~¾ conceptual, ¼
numerical questions
- Questions span the full range of
cognition: knowledge, comprehension,
application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation
- ~½ questions from class,
homework, or book examples; ½ new questions from textbook,
student companion website, or other sources
- One graphing question (worth 25%)
similar to the questions asked in class and in lab
Assignments:
- Review class notes, recommended homework problems, conceptual
questions from the textbook, lab exercises, and student companion
website.
Class Discussion:
Chapter 5 - Gravity
Video Clip: During last year's Superbowl, there was a
commercial that showed a FedEx
office on the moon. There are at least a dozen examples
of "bad" physics in this 30-second advertisement that cost $2.6 million
to air. Congratulations to Michael W., Adrianne H., Brittany L., Henry G., and David R. for
identifying the most instances of impossible events shown in this
advertisement. Here is my summary of the
good and bad physics from this ad.
What are the consequences of Newtonian thinking?
What limitations are there in our world today due to Newtonian thinking?
Examine Fig. 5.16 - Excellent summary of physics
Why not use the more modern and accurate theories instead of F = ma?
Rewind: Hands on friction - how does it feel?
Review for Exam
Bonus material (answers to student questions):
Why do photons have spin 1? - Photons are bosons, which have integer quantum angular momentum (spin) 0 or 1, but they do not actually "spin".