“[The universe] is written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes. [But] we cannot understand it if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols in which it is written. This book is written in the mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word of it.”
-- Galileo
I made a number of announcements in class.
Tutorials begin next week.
Effective immediately see Dr. Savaria in MP 901A to change your tutorial section. His office is on the 9th floor of the tower of McLennan Labs, 60 St. George St.
Almost every week there will be a written homework assignment. They may consist of one or more of:
The written homework is worth 6% of your mark in the course. They are normally due by 5PM on Monday. They are turned in via the "Drop Boxes" located in the basement of the tower of McLennan Labs.
The first written homework assignment is 4 problems from the end of Chapter 1 of the textbook and 1 supplemental problem.
| You may access the assignment by clicking on the button to the right. It is in pdf format, and will appear in a separate window. | |
Since tutorials have not yet started, this assignment should be completed and brought to your first tutorial next week.
There will be a pre-class quiz, delivered via WebCT software, almost every week. They are intended to help motivate you to read the textbook sections for the coming week's classes before class. They count for 3% of your mark in the course. They are due by 10 AM on Wednesday. We have set up the software so that it is now ready for you to access it.
| Further details, including information on how to set up your WebCT account, may be accessed by clicking on the button to the right. It will appear in a separate window. |  |
There are currently 2 quizzes available:
Almost every week there will be a problem set delivered with MasteringPhysics software. You purchased a Student Access Kit for this software as part of your textbook package. The "MP Problem Sets" are worth 6% of your mark in the course. They are due by 5PM on Friday.
| Further details, including information on how to set up your MasteringPhysics account, may be accessed by clicking on the button to the right. It will appear in a separate window. |  |
There are currently 2 assignments available:
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Written homework, pre-class quizzes, and MP Problem Sets will all help you to learn Physics. Your knowledge of Physics is demonstrated on the Tests and Exam. If you do not do these assignments yourself you will not learn as much Physics and will not do as well in the course. |
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For the class on Monday, September, 20, read §1.9 - §1.11 and §2.1 - §2.7 of the textbook.
We discussed the then-revolutionary idea of the universe as a clockwork, developed largely by:
As part of our discussion of this mechanistic worldview, which is at the heart of classical physics, I showed the following spectacular image.
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The render was done by cazzanova and is used by permission. I have reduced the size of the original so it fits in a browser window. The original is at: http://www.deviantart.com/view/211768/ |
We worked on a pair of problems related to the concepts of density and dimensions. For Part B the class discussed the answer in small groups; this is called Peer Instruction, and we will be using it in many classes.
You may access a pdf version of the questions by clicking on the button to the right. It will appear in a separate window. To view this file requires Version 5 or better of the Acrobat Reader. The current Acrobat Reader is Version 5 or 6, depending on the operating system. You may get the latest reader free at http://www.adobe.com. |
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Here are the answers to the questions. Part A: 5 Part B: 2.
For these and subsequent in-class questions, I will wish to re-cycle them in future years. Thus, I would like them to remain confidential between you and me. The questions will remain available for you all year via this page, and I have disabled printing.
| You may access the "Journal" of today's class by clicking on the button to the right. Separate window. | |
I got the derivation of the number of degress in a radian garbled in the above Journal file. Here is the corrected version.
How many degrees in a radian?
1 radian x 360 degrees / (2 pi radians) = 57.3 degrees
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The arrows take you to the summaries for the previous or next class. |  |