Jing Xia

Associate Professor

Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of California, Irvine

Email: xia.jing@uci.edu

Course Description:

This course will show you how to apply simple physics models to the motion of objects. UCI Physics 7C covers the following topics: force, energy, momentum, rotation, and gravity.

Lecture: Tue/Thu, 12:30 pm – 1:50 pm in DBH 1500.

Office Hour: Wednesday 3pm-4pm. FRH 4155

Discussion sessions: Thursday, check your eee.uci.edu webpage for the time slot of your session.

Teaching Assistants: Tam Nguyen <tamn2@uci.edu>

Textbook: Young & Freedman, University Physics with Modern Physics (13th edition)

Registration Issues: Enrollment and administrative questions should be taken to Physics Student Affairs Office, Federick Reines Hall 4109D. Add/drop cards are not longer accepted. You must use WebReg - Electronic Add/Drop ("EAD"). For all registration-related issues, including signatures, please contact: E-mail: physics.enroll@uci.edu. Phone: 1-949-824-7036 Office location: Frederick Reines Hall 4109D Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm and 1:00 - 3:00 pm.

Grading Policy:

The 7C course will be graded “on a curve,” which means your letter grade will be determined by your overall percentile rank among all students in the class. In a curved grading system, absolute scores only matter in relation to the scores of all other students. The expected average grade in this course is roughly a B. Your overall percentile rank will be determined by a weighted combination of your percentile ranks on the following assignments:

Final Exam (30%)

Midterm Exam #1(15%)

Midterm Exam #2(15%)

Graded Online Homework (sum all assignment points) (20%)

Quiz in weekly Discussion Sessions (15%)

In-class iClicker Participation (5%)

Exams:

Midterm 1 (Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7): In class, see class schedule below.

Midterm 2 (Chapters 8, 9 and 10): In class, see class schedule below.

Final Exam (Comprehensive, with emphasis on the chapter 8 onwards): Two-hour exam during the final week. Please check UCI registrar webpage for location and time. 

All exams are closed-book, closed-note. Any physical constants needed to solve a problem will be given. Seating charts and formulas to be provided (if any) will be posted in advance of each exam. For both midterm and final exams, you are required to do the following: Bring your UCI student ID to the exams. Your ID will be checked. On your desk will be allowed to have: the exam, pen, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, student ID and a simple calculator. No graphic or programmable calculators will be allowed. Scientific calculators that DO NOT graph and are not capable of being programmed to solve a store equations are allowed (see further details below). Arrive promptly on time. Latecomers will disturb others and/or delay the start of the exam. Leave your bags in the front of the classroom and store your cell phone in the bag after turning it off. Proctors will strictly enforce the policy that there can be no communication of any kind between students. You may not wear a cap or hat that would prevent the proctors from getting a direct view of your eyes. It is your responsibility to ensure that your scores have been correctly entered into the database. Scores will be posted on MyEEE. If there are clerical errors in your recorded scores, notify your TA in person within one week of the exam being returned. Scores will not be changed over the telephone and the TA must see your original exam to correct a clerical mistake. No scores will be changed after the last day of classes. Make sure to retain all graded work throughout the quarter. TA's will keep unreturned exam until the end of the quarter. There will be no make-ups for the exams.

Homework:

Homework will be assigned, submitted and graded online through Mastering Physics (http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com). Mastering Physics is required for Physics 7; you will need an access key, which is included with new textbooks purchased from the UCI Bookstore or available by direct purchase from the publisher’s website.

Detailed, step-by-step instructions can be found in To register for PHYSICS 7C Lec C (47250).pdf.

Please read and follow the instructions carefully. After logging into Mastering Physics, you will need to enroll for this specific course using the course code xia83986 for 47250. You must enroll using your 8-digit UCI student ID; if you enter this incorrectly, you will not receive credit for your homework. Extension students must use their extension student ID, which starts with the letter X and has 7 digits. If you are unable to resolve Mastering Physics website issues by carefully following the instructions and consulting the online help provided, please contact Physics Student Affairs office (FRH 4109).

Homework is the primary tool for learning physics. Do not treat homework as an afterthought or leave it until the last minute. The best strategy is to attempt each assignment well before the due date, and seek out help from your TA and/or the instructor for any problems you are unable to solve. Homework is due on the following Sunday at 11:59 PM. Extensions will not be granted. Check the Course Schedule included in this syllabus, or the Mastering Physics course page for due dates. All required homework assignments will be included in your grade – the two lowest score will NOT be dropped. Homework problems will be graded automatically. You have six attempts to solve each part of a problem, with 3% deducted for every incorrect submission. Multiple-choice questions, if assigned, have larger penalties for incorrect attempts. Hints are available for some problems; using them will also result in a 3% deduction. Since this is a small deduction, you are encouraged to use the hints if you need them. Read the problems carefully and pay attention to the units of your answer – the problem may specify the units you must use. It is best to retain at least 4 significant figures for any intermediate results, to avoid round-off errors in later answers. You may return to redo problems for practice after they are due. This will not affect your score on the assignment. A “practice” is assigned each week for you to get familiar with the content of that week, and will not be graded.

Quiz and Discussion Sessions:

Discussion sessions are held on each week (check EEE for the time and palace of your session). The department has a strict policy that you must attend the discussion section for which you are registered. You will not receive credit for work submitted in the wrong discussion section. If you attend another section, you will receive no credit. The TAs will instruct all discussion sessions and grade the quizzes. Although named discussion sessions, there are mainly focuses on quizzes. Going through problems is covered by the 7LC tutorial sessions. There will be a quiz in each discussion session, except week 1, 5 and 9. Each quiz will contain 1 or 2 problems based on the homework and/or 7LC tutorial from the previous week.

Quizzes are graded on a 0-4 scale. Two lowest scores are dropped.

0: No effort or understanding. Also given for unreadable solution or for cases where the final answer is written with no explanation of the steps involved.

1: Rudimentary understanding and some effort made towards solving the problem. Also given if the solution is only partially readable or if the variables used are not defined properly.

2: Good gasp of the fundamentals required to solve the problem, however there wasn't a clear idea of how to proceed to solve the problem.

3: Almost complete gasp of solution except for errors either in some intermediate step or in the final answer.

4: Important steps legibly written out with the correct final numerical or symbolic answer. The quizzes are closed book, closed notes, no formula sheet is allowed, but a basic scientific calculator may be used.

iClicker:

Most lecture classes will have questions that require iClicker responses. (http://www.classrooms.uci.edu/ars/) Studies have shown that interactive participation during lecture promotes better understanding than the traditional format where students listen passively. iClicker responses also help the instructor gauge the class’s level of understanding and tailor the lecture accordingly. If you wish to get clicker points, you must bring your iclicker to every lecture class. For each clicker question, 1 point is awarded if you respond to that question with your iclicker. For a selected few iclicker questions (identified clearly before the questions is posted) in each lecture, an additional point will be awarded if your response is correct. Regardless of the number of clicker questions in a lecture, each lecture will count the same towards the total clicker score. To compute the total clicker score, only the top 10 clicker scores will be summed. Operating more than one iClicker in class is a case of academic dishonesty and will be treated as such. You must register your iClicker to get credit for responding to clicker questions. Do this again even if you have register your iClicker in the past. To do so:  Go to iclicker.com and register your iClicker serial number with your 8-digit UCI student ID number and your name EXACTLY as it appears in Webreg. An iClicker can be used by only one student during a given quarter. So if you have borrowed someone else's, make sure you register that iClicker under your name.

Accommodation for students with disabilities:

University policies for accommodation of students with disabilities will be followed. More information is available at www.disability.uci.edu, including information on testing accommodation and note-taking arrangements.

Academic Dishonesty:

This course will adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward all forms of academic dishonesty. Any student found to have committed cheating will automatically receive a grade of F for the course, and a report of the incident will be submitted to the appropriate dean(s). Please review the University's policy on academic honesty and contact the instructor if you have any questions.

(Tentative) Course Schedule: