General Information

This is the home page for the honors section of PHYS207, the calculus-level introductory physics course. It contains a general description of the course and links to sites of possible interest to students in the course. Other pages in this system contain problem-solving suggestions and hints for studying physics, as well as the assignments and proposed schedule for the current semester.

Instructor:

Maurice Barnhill

Office:

Sharp Lab 224.
Enter Sharp Lab from the mall, come up the stairs, turn right, and go to the last office on the right before the elevator. If the door is open, I will be back very soon. Check for notes.

Office hours:

Any time I am in the office. My schedule is frequently updated. To get a promise that I will be present at a given time, see me after class or send me EMAIL.

EMAIL:

1. I can be reached at mvb@udel.edu ..

2. I read mail at least twice each weekday and sometimes on weekends as well.

WWW:

Much of the material for this course will be available on the WORLD WIDE WEB. Find a machine with NETSCAPE installed, choose "File" and "Open page" from the menu, and enter    http://www.udel.edu/mvb/207hp.html  .  If you don't remember the direct address, just go to http://www.udel.edu/ and choose the links to "academic" [programs], College of "Arts and Science", and Department of "Physics and Astronomy" . From the Department home page pick "Maurice Barnhill" out of the list of home pages and find the "PHYS207" link on my home page.

Textbook:

Halliday, Resnick, and Walker,Fundamentals of Physics, fifth edition [Wiley].

Homework rules:

Work in groups. However, the final paper you hand in you should write up yourself. If you can't finish a problem, give me your scrap work rather than nothing and you will get most of the credit for the problem. You may hand in your paper at the end of the discussion section so that you can take notes on the paper. Your notes must be in a different color from your work so that I know which is which. If after the discussion section you still do not understand what you did wrong on a problem, mark that problem for me (or perhaps a grader) to read carefully and comment on. Do not neglect the homework. About 85% of the variation in test scores in PHYS207-208 can be predicted from the variation in percentage of homework problems turned in.

Exam rules:

Do your own work. No notes, books, etc. are allowed. If you bring a calculator, it must have nothing stored in memory at the beginning of the test. (I will give you any numerical constants that you need.)

Honesty:

Very important. You are preparing to be scientists and engineers, and both science and engineering would collapse if their practitioners were not rigorously honest.

Grading system:

There will be three hour exams, and the lowest grade will be weighted half what the other two are. I do this by calculating the average all three possible ways and taking the best final result. I will give you a specific grade scale for each exam, so you will know exactly where you stand at all times. The grade weights are

Lab	15%
2 Higher Exams	24% each
Lowest exam	12%
Final	20%
Homework	5%

Reading the text:

Please skim each chapter before we take it up in class.

1. I use the appropriate mathematics for a given topic, even if you haven't gotten to it in math classes [rare, happily]. If I use any math that you haven't seen, tell me immediately, and I will go over it until everyone is satisfied that they understand it.

2. We will go into much of the physics at greater depth than I would attempt in a regular class.

3. I will spend an average of half a lecture a week talking about topics in current science, as often as possible something which has become known within the last few months. You will not be held responsible for this material on exams. If you would like for me to talk about something in particular, ask me; if your question is not in a field I know I will do my best to learn enough about it to explain it. Occasionally I may ask other people from the Department to talk about things of special interest to them.