Physics 2B Fall 2016 Section 877305

Course Information/Syllabus
The only constant is change. You must check the TED web site every day for changes.
Updated 9/29/2016 9:49:39 AM

Announcements
See Course Overview slides for Homework, Reading Quiz, and Quiz information.

As of Summer 2016, there is a new Scantron form for Physics: F-289-PAR-L.

General Information
You should check all your grades as they are posted. You must notify me of any grade questions
within 1 week of their posting.
Podcasts available: http://Podcast.ucsd.edu

Instructor Dr. Eric L. Michelsen Office hours: Thu 1:30-3:30 pm,

emichels@physics.ucsd.edu. SERF 317 (or SERF-329 if too
crowded)
Teaching Assistant Samuel May, sjmay@ucsd.edu Office hours: Fri 11:00am - 2:00pm
At Tutorial Center: Weeks 2-3: Tu/W
5:00-6:00pm, Weeks 4-6,9-10: W/Th
2:00-3:00pm, Weeks 7-8: T/Th 2:00-
3:00pm, W 4:00-5:00pm
Text Randall D. Knight, Physics for Custom Edition for UCSD,
Scientists and Engineers, 4th ed., copies on reserve in Geisel library.
UCSD Custom, chaps 22-32
Course coordinator TBS TBS Mayer Hall Addition
Lecture times M 10:00-10:50 am, TR 11:30-12:20, iClickers required every class
YORK 2722
Discussion Fri 4-5 pm, Peterson 108 Attendance recommended. See below.
Problem session TBS Attendance recommended. See below.
Quizzes On even week Mondays see schedule below
Physics Department Sunday-Thursday. For hours, see 2702 Mayer Hall Addition
Tutorial Center http://tutorialcenter.ucsd.edu/
Check the official UCSD Schedule of Classes for updates.

Course Description
Physics 2B is the second quarter of a four-quarter introductory physics sequence. The course is aimed
at students majoring in science and engineering (e.g. chemistry, molecular biology, computer science,
mathematics). From the catalog: Continuation of Physics 2A covering charge and matter, the electric
field, Gausss law, electric potential, capacitors and dielectrics, current and resistance, electromotive force
and circuits, the magnetic field, Amperes law, Faradays law, inductance, electromagnetic oscillations,

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alternating currents and Maxwells equations. Prerequisites: Physics 2A, Mathematics 20B, and
concurrent enrollment in Mathematics 20C. (F,W,S). There will be calculus.

Course Goals
We want to understand not just the facts of electromagnetism, but the methods by which people
came to understand them
And so empower ourselves to discover/build/invent/do new things
We seek a conceptual and quantitative understanding of basic electricity and magnetism concepts,
to allow:
Understanding an electromagnetic situation
Deducing the qualitative behavior of it
Assessing what information is available or needed to perform meaningful calculations
Performing such calculations
Virtually all physical science occupations require such a basic understanding of electricity and
magnetism
Email or talk with me about your course goals

Quiz dates are firm,

Week Tentative Schedule of Topics topics may vary
9/22: 0 Course Overview
9/26: 1 Introduction to Electrostatics: Electric Charges and
Forces
10/3: 2 More on Electric Fields 10/3: Quiz 1
10/10: 3 Gauss Law
10/17: 4 Electric Potential 10/17: Quiz 2
10/24: 5 Potential and Field
10/31: 6 Current and Resistance 10/31: Quiz 3 (boo!)
11/7: 7 Fundamentals of Circuits
11/14: 8 The Magnetic Field 11/14: Quiz 4
11/21: 9 Electromagnetic Induction
11/28: 10 AC Circuits 11/28: Quiz 5
Finals Confirm with schedule of classes. Student ID required. 12/7: location TBD.
We want you to succeed. As part of that, we expect you to read ahead of the class, and start the
homework even as it is being discussed in class. I don't cover every topic in class; some I leave to the
book. I encourage questions in class, but if you want more individual questions answered, I also
recommend going to the office hours, discussion/problem sessions, and the Physics Tutorial Center.

Cool Websites
Get a feel for the size of the everything: http://htwins.net/scale/ (Thanks to a Winter-2011 student.)
Electric Field Hockey game: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/electric-hockey
My Funky Physics tutorials: http://physics.ucsd.edu/~emichels/ .
See Quirky Quantum Concepts (on the web page given above) for a description of the Greek alphabet,
and a brief review of complex numbers.
See Funky Electromagnetic Concepts for a description of phasors.

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Academic Integrity
Every honest student benefits from maintaining high academic integrity. Please read UCSD Policy
on Integrity of Scholarship in the UCSD General Catalog,
http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/AcadRegu.html. These rules will be rigorously enforced. A confirmed
case of cheating may result in a dishonesty F grade in this course, and/or referral to the dean for
disciplinary action. Cheating includes submitting another persons work as your own; copying from
another student on homework, or exams; knowingly allowing another student to copy from you; use of
unauthorized materials during a quiz or exam; or any attempt to obtain a higher grade by means other than
honest effort. Cheating also includes attempts to manipulate grades unfairly; and intentionally misusing
iClickers.

Homework, Reading Quizzes, and Mastering Physics

You are required to answer some questions online on Mastering Physics before we cover it in class.
This is to encourage you to read the material before we cover it in class, which makes the class discussion
much more productive.

The purpose of homework is to help learning.

To understand the material, you must practice solving problems.
Reading quizzes are typically 2-4 questions, and are assigned on Mastering Physics roughly twice per
week. They will be announced on TritonEd. See:
http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com/northamerica/masteringphysics/students/support/index.html
for information on setting up to use the Pearson Mastering Physics website.
Other homework is assigned roughly weekly. All the homework is strongly recommended, even
though only the online homework is collected or graded.
The first step in solving a problem is often the most difficult, so it is very important for you to start
work on your own. Studying in groups may be valuable, but can not completely replace working on your
own. Problems given on the weekly quizzes will resemble the homework and iClicker questions. The
textbook contains numerous worked sample problems, and a number of questions and exercises at the end
of the chapter.

Learning physics is about understanding why a solution works,

rather than just getting the correct numbers.
Blindly plugging numbers into formulas is useless.

Week 1 Chapter 22: Conceptual: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 13. Ex. & Prob.: 1, 11, 12, 13, 15, 26,
29, 35, 40, 41, 67, 77.

iClickers
The classroom response system is used to stimulate discussion and thought throughout the lectures.
You must bring your iClicker to every class. Responses are a small part of your grade, though credit will
be given for any overall effort judged significant.

The point is thinking, not necessarily getting right answers all the time.
Please think for yourself, as that will improve your grade on other materials (rather than letting others think
for you). Dont distract yourself searching the book for the right answer; that only hurts you. Instead,
think for yourself.
Registering your iClicker: You must register your iClicker on TED by the 2nd week to get credit.
Use your full 9-character student ID, starting with A, and the full 8-digit clicker ID, including any

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leading zeros. On the left list, choose "Tools". Then in the lower right corner of the tools pane (you
probably need to scroll down), is iClicker Student Registration.
You can share an iClicker with someone in a different class, but not with someone in the same class.
More answers at:
http://iclicker.com/dnn/SupportCenter/FAQs/tabid/179/Default.aspx
Your iClicker score is the number of days where you answered 75% of the questions. This will be
enough for full credit. Extra credit will be determined by overall class performance (essentially, curved).

Discussion and Problem Sessions

There is a weekly discussion session, and a weekly problem session, hosted by the TA. The topics are
driven by student questions during the session. This is a chance for you to get answers to your questions.
After working on the homework, please come with good questions. You should ask, I tried doing the
problem this way, and ran into a roadblock. Can you help me through it? Or, What concept do I use to
get started on this problem? (You should not ask, How do I do this problem?)
There is little difference between the two sessions, though the problem session is slightly more focused
on working problems than discussion session. Usually, there is enough time for you to ask any question at
either session. Problem Session ends early if there are no more student questions.

Quizzes
As of Summer 2016, there is a new Scantron form for Physics: F-289-PAR-L.

You must bring your Scantron form, and two soft pencils with you to quizzes, and know your Student
ID. The old forms wont work. Fill out your student ID ahead of time. Please do not fold your Scantron
sheet.
There are 5 closed-book quizzes, given on the schedule above. No note-sheets are allowed. You must
know some basic equations (e.g., F = ma); any equations beyond those will be given. I will post ahead of
time the formulas that will be given on the quiz. Quiz scores and correct answers will be posted on the
web. Your overall quiz grade will be computed from your best 4 of the 5 quizzes; one quiz can therefore
be missed without penalty.
The purpose of dropping one quiz is to accommodate one unavoidable conflict for
medical, academic, athletic, or other reasons. The purpose is not to improve your grade.

There are no make-up quizzes. If you anticipate missing more than one quiz due to unavoidable
circumstances, you must discuss this with the instructor in the first week. There is no guarantee
that you can be accommodated, and you will likely have to drop or withdraw from the class.
Please do not ask to take any exam early or late; to be fair to everyone, the answer is always No.
The quizzes are multiple choice and approximately 10 questions. I recommend you fill in your 9-digit
Student ID (use 1 for A) before coming to class. We do not use the Exam number field.
Quizzes may ask about any concept used in HW, Reading Quizzes, or iClicker questions. They
are not simply rehashed HW questions with different numbers.
All quizzes are cumulative, and may include anything covered so far.
You will need a calculator (but may not use a laptop or phone) during the quiz. You may wish to
bring some blank scratch paper as well.
You must enter your 9-digit Student ID on every quiz/exam, using 1 for A. Fill out your
name and Student ID before coming to class, so youre not rushed. Write your name, the course
number, and quarter on the Scantron form. ID errors (missing or incorrect) will be penalized from
the quiz score.

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Final Exam
Your student I.D. is required to take the final exam.
The final will be just a big quiz: a closed-book exam, with no note sheets, and uniformly cover the
whole course. It will be multiple choice questions, just like the quizzes. As always, you must bring a
Scantron form (same as quizzes) with you, and a calculator (but not a laptop or phone). You may wish to
bring some blank scratch paper as well. There will be approximately 30 questions.

Course Grade
You should check all your grades as they are posted. You must notify me of any grade questions
within 1 week of their posting.
I consider many factors in setting the cut-lines for the final letter grades. To be fair to everyone, I
choose the cuts from a blind list of course scores. The spreadsheet does the rest. Please do not ask me to
change your grade. The final grade weighting will be determined when all the scores are in, as part of the
overall grading process. See course overview slides for grading.

Course Notes
See TED.

Book and Other Corrections Clarifications

I have to revise these for the new 4th edition of the book.

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