Instructions:  (1) Read this outline completely.  Your first quiz, the only one to be announced in advance, will occur on Monday, January  7, and will include questions on information in this outline.  (2) Make sure you have been assigned a CID# (see below).  (3) Do Homework Assignment #1 and submit it by 5:00 pm on Thursday, May 3. (4) Study Chapter XX  by class time on Monday, January 7.  (5) Carefully read the information on the "Getting Started" sheet which was distributed on the first day of class. Follow the instructions found there.  (6) Continue by following the course schedule for the rest of the term, giving particular attention to reading assignments, homework assignments, walk-in lab exercises and examinations.

Instructor:  Clark G. Christensen, N482 ESC; office phone: 378-2207; home: 375-5951; email:  cgchristensen@byu.edu.   Office hours: MWF 2:00 pm-11:00 pm, other hours by appointment.

Course Schedule and Assignments:  This is found on a separate web page which you can visit by clicking on the heading at the left.  Adherence to the schedule in completing work is critical to your success in this course.

Text:  Serway, R., Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Vol.1, 5th edition (2000).  There are copies of the text in the tutorial lab (N304/N362 ESC) and in the reserve library (old edition,  QC 23.S458.1996).    If you plan to sell the textbook back to the bookstore as a used text, you will need to include the CD-Rom inside its back cover.  Also Physics 121 Supplement is available at the BYU Bookstore. This contains chapter outlines and notes, homework problems, lab instructions, homework covers, an exam cover and other items you will need.

Optional Books:  Kleppner, Quick Calculus (QA303.K665.1985) supplies a good math review, particularly for those who have been away from serious math for awhile.  Kleppner is available in the reserve library and in the bookstore.

Physics 121 Confidential Identification Number (CID#):   Your work in the course is recorded and published using a CID# which you have probably received by email.  If you have not received such a number click here:   CID#.  (If you have added the course in the last few days you may not have received a CID#.  If you have not received a number or do not know what your number is, clicking here will enable you to find your number.)

Special Situations: If you are repeating the course for any reason, or if you are on academic probation, or if your situation is unusual in any way, please see your instructor during the first week of the term. Understand that repeating the course does not make it easy. Too many students have wasted their time and money repeating the course without committing themselves to work hard enough to improve upon their previous grades. If you are a premed student or other preprofessional student, repeating the course for an improved grade, be aware that most medical schools and some other professional schools will calculate your GPA using your average Ph 121 grade, not your highest nor your most recent Ph121 grade.

Math Preparation:  You should have taken, or now be taking, a beginning calculus course (Math 112 or 119 or equivalent). Most students in Physics 121 have taken an earlier calculus course, but you can do well in this course taking calculus concurrently if your algebra skills are quite good (perhaps judged by your performance on the Calculus Placement Exam taken in the Math Department). If you have had a difficult time in your math courses and are concurrently enrolled in Math 112 or 119 you should postpone this course until after you have completed introductory calculus. We assume you are adept in algebra and trigonometry at the Math 110 level. Almost all items in the textbook mathematics review, Appendix B,  pp. A.15-A.31 and also the green math outline in the Supplement should be familiar (we don't expect you to have memorized the integrals, except for the simplest ones, on pp. A.30-A.31) and should represent mathematical tools at your command.

Physics Preparation:   You must have successfully completed Physics 121 or the equivalent thereof before taking Physics 123.  There are no other prerequisites other than those which you must complete for Physics 121.  Note that Physics 122 is not a prerequisite for Physics 123.

Calculator: You will need a hand calculator with exponential notation; trig and inverse trig functions; square and square root; cube and cube root, y^x, and several levels of parentheses (). A calculator that stores functions and plots curves will be helpful but certainly not a necessity. (You may not use programming capability to carry additional information into the exams.)
    We also recommend that you get access to and learn some sophisticated mathematics program such as Maple, DERIVE, Mathematica or Mathcad which you can use on a PC.

Time:  Physics is a time-intensive class.   There will not be a time during the semester when you do not have something to do for Physics 121.  Plan on at least 10 hours per week.  Some students will need much more and a few will need less.  Plan for more if you have not had previous calculus and physics courses, if your math skills are rusty or weak, or if your physical intuition is not well-developed.  Your best indicator may be how well you did on the "story problems' in earlier math and science courses.  We can help you develop your skills, but plan on more time.  You should probably take the course another semester if you do not have this much time now.
    You will have more to do than many of your friends in other disciplines.  Welcome to the real world of science and technology!  This will be one of the least-demanding professional courses you will take -- ask any upper-division student in your professional field.  You probably should consider another career choice if the time requirements here are onerous to you.

Lectures:  Lectures will not be a repetition of the text. We will presume that you have already studied the text and we will use the lecture time to organize, emphasize, and illustrate it for you. We will also outline some problem-solving strategies that we have found to be helpful. We will give frequent, short, unannounced quizzes in class, covering either the day's reading assignment or material from the previous lecture.  If you miss a lecture, we recommend that you find out what you missed from a classmate.  You may not do make-up work for a missed quiz.

Homework:  Homework assignments, together with quizzes, account for 20% of the course credit. Assignments are given in Course Schedule on a separate web page. Homework is due at the distribution center just outside N373 ESC at the times indicated on the class schedule. Late homework receives no credit unless there are extenuating circumstances and you have the approval of your instructor.  Such approval should be obtained in advance, or, in rare instances when that may be impossible, as soon as possible after the homework is due.
    Homework should be submitted unfolded inside a white Physics 121 Homework Cover.   These are included in your Supplement packet.   Never insert more than one assignment in a cover sheet.  Note that only your CID#, not your name, is used for identification on the cover sheet.
    Physics is "learned" only by doing it:  watching someone else does not have a lasting effect.  Church members may liken learning physics to gaining a testimony.  Each person must do it for himself or herself.  You alone must pay the price of learning it.
    Solutions to assigned problems must be legible to your graders and must be complete. We take the attitude that the solution is everything; the correct answer is just one of the details. The ability to demonstrate your reasoning on paper is one of the valuable skills you will need as a professional.  We will try to help you develop that skill.  To that end we have included in the Supplement packet a "3D BE SNUB" model which may be followed in doing most homework problems.  It is often helpful to follow this model closely until you have developed a "feel" for what constitutes an adequate problem write-up.  Remember a numerical or symbolical answer, even if correct, is not worth much if you haven't communicated to your grader how you obtained it.
    We will score both homework and exams on the basis of accuracy, clarity and completeness. Our posted homework solutions will model appropriate format for your solutions. Even if you get full credit on your assignments you should occasionally review these posted solutions to get hints for your own presentations.
    Please notice the following particular expectations that we have for your submitted homework (and examination problems as well):

1. You must justify the use of conditional basic equations, e.g., you would not use the well known equation relating speed to constant linear acceleration, v = v₀ + at, without justifying it by pointing out that the acceleration in your problem is constant.

2. Whenever a vector quantity is represented by a symbol it must be designated with vector notation, usually with an arrow above the symbol. Unit vectors must also be designated as vectors.

3. Numbers representing the values of physical quantities must be associated with units wherever they appear. It is usually easiest to insert numbers only once, at the end of each solution.

4. Answers: Answers are given in the text for odd-numbered problems. You should calculate all numerical answers to three significant figures (unless you are specifically directed to do otherwise) even if the problem data and the published answers are given to only two.

5. Check Answers. You should check every answer to avoid "Obviously wrong" answers)those that are clearly not the correct result of the numerical or unit calculations from which they are supposed to be derived, or those that are obviously not consistent with the physical situation described by the problem. This is an important problem-solving skill and we shall try to help you develop it.

6. Use Explanatory Words. Good solutions use words to tell how the writer justified a starting place and how the solution follows from the first equations.

7. Although not required, we suggest that you follow the 3D BE SNUB format or something closely akin to it in doing your homework and test problems.

Walk-In Labs:   Several short experiments, altogether accounting for 10 per cent of the course credit, are to be performed in the Walk-in Lab, S415 ESC.  The scheduled lab equipment will be available from 12:00 noon on the Wednesday beginning each week's assignment until the building closes on the next Tuesday night. Except for the week of Memorial Day, two experiments are assigned each week.  (On Memorial Day the lab will be closed.)    Lab reports are to be submitted before 12:00 noon on the Monday while the labs are still set up for those whose surnames begin with A-K, and before 12:00 noon on the Wednesday of the lab take-downs for those whose names begin with L-Z.    (Exceptions:  Lab Report #7 will be due at 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 26, and Lab Reports #12 and #13 will be due at 12:00 noon on Saturday, June 16, for those with A-K surnames.  Reports #12 and #13 will be due at 10:30 pm on Monday, June 18, for those with L-Z surnames.)  We recommend that whenever possible you complete your report while still in the lab and submit it in the appropriate slot of the "Physics 121 Lab Report Bins" just beneath the window as you exit the lab.  Descriptions and report forms are provided in the Supplement packet.   There will be no lab make-up work and late lab reports will receive no credit.  The Walk-in Lab will be open and available anytime the building is open (about 6 am to 11 pm) except for Wednesday mornings, 7am -12noon, when it will be unavailable because of experiment set-ups and take-downs.  Click here to visit the Walk-in Lab Schedule which is on a separate web page.

Distribution Center:  Assignments are handed in and everything is returned through the distribution center in the hallway just outside N373 ESC.  You put your homework into the Physics 121 slot corresponding to the first digit of your CID#.   Assignments and exams are returned to the distribution slot corresponding to the first two digits of your CID#.

Posted Solutions:  Solutions to homework problems and exams will be posted in the display cases near N362 ESC.  These are for your review. Questions and solutions are not to be copied.  Copying posted solutions is not an effective learning strategy.  You need to work through problems on your own, using posted solutions only when you reach a step you cannot do on your own.

Tutorial Lab:  Teaching assistants (advanced students) will be available in the Tutorial Laboratory, N304/N362 ESC (two interconnected rooms), to help you with homework problems and other physics-related questions. The room is open whenever the building is open, but TAs are there only during certain hours which will be posted.  (You can check on the tutorial lab schedule by visiting the website:  http://128.187.18.10/tutorial/schedule.html.)   We encourage you to be prudent in the use of the tutorial lab. It is not a study hall, but rather a place to get additional help on problems you have already worked on. Beware:  if you rely too heavily on the assistance of tutors in doing homework you will not develop the independence in problem-solving you will need to do well on the examinations.

Collaboration: You may study with other students, in fact we encourage you to form study groups.  However you are not to use completed solutions provided by other students or from any other sources.  Personal integrity would dictate that such work would not be submitted; your own intelligence will tell you that such practices will leave you with inadequate preparation for classes and professional assignments in the future.  Exams are not collaborative projects; you must do them without outside help.

Quizzes:  As an incentive to help you keep current in your work we will have unannounced quizzes during many lecture periods. These quizzes will generally cover material from either the current day's reading assignment or the previous lecture and/or demonstrations. Quiz scores will be treated as homework in the computation of grades.  Quizzes will be given at various times throughout the lecture period, not necessarily at the beginning. The point value of quizzes will be variable.  Typically a single quiz will carry of weight of 0.2% to 0.6% in determining your grade.  There will be no possibility of make-up quizzes.

Midterm Exams:  There will be three "midterm" exams, each of which will account for 17% of your grade, scheduled as shown on the Course Schedule page.  You can expect a few conceptual questions and (mostly) problems covering a wide range of difficulty, some similar to the most complex homework problems. The exam questions will often require strategies from several parts of the text, in contrast to the homework problems which are usually more limited.
    The exams are closed book and notes except for an "exam cover" which is provided in the packet and on which you may put your own collections of information. This is a chance to summarize, for yourself, what you think is important. Photocopied information is not allowed.
    All exams are taken in the classroom during our regularly scheduled class time, extended as appropriate.  Bring your exam cover, a calculator, paper and your choice of pencil or pen. There is no time limit other than the close of the class period.   Please let me know if details of the exam schedule do not permit you to do your best.  Our objective is to allow each of you to do an honest exam under circumstances that allow you to do well.

Final Examination:  The final examination, accounting for 19% of your grade, will be given at the regularly scheduled time, 1:00 pm to 4:50 pm on Thursday, June 21, in the course classroom, 215 ESC.  It will be different from the other exams in that it will be of multiple choice format so that it can be quickly graded.  Many of the questions will be problems.  These will tend to be less involved than the problems on the midterm exams since no partial credit can be given.  There will also be a number of purely conceptual questions.  As with the midterm exams you will be allowed to take your exam cover, with your own handwritten notes, and a calculator to the final exam.

Appeals:  If you feel that you have been graded unfairly, on homework, lab reports, or especially exams, it is possible to appeal your scores. For homework and lab report appeals attach to all of your work on that particular assignment (including your homework cover) a written explanation of why you feel your score is inappropriate.  Then place your appeal in the "Physics 121 Appeals" slot  at the distribution center.  For exam appeals attach an exam appeal cover (with which you have been provided in the Supplement), filled out completely, especially with your explanation of why you feel your score is inappropriate, to the contested item (leave the previous cover sheet attached) and submit it directly to your instructor. All appeals should be submitted within one week of when the work is returned to you. Otherwise they will be automatically disallowed.
   Appeals should be reserved for major injustices. Nearly all grading of problems is somewhat subjective and subject to small inconsistencies. Small inconsistencies tend to even out so it is not worth either your time or ours to process them through the appeals system. If you classmate received 7 points for a solution no better than your 6-point solution, don't fret about it, you almost certainly will get a similar advantage over him/her at some other point. On the other hand, we will make every effort to either adjust your score (or explain why no adjustment is warranted) in cases where you feel you have been dealt a large injustice. Since only 20% of your grade is based on homework and quizzes, each homework assignment accounts for less than 1% of your grade. A few points on one or two homework problems is therefore of so little consequence as to be a waste of both your time and ours, if appeals are made.  We will, however, gladly make bookkeeping corrections even when the errors are small, e.g., if your grader has incorrectly added up your homework points.  You need not fill out an appeal form on bookkeeping errors. Simply bring your paper directly to your instructor at the end of a class period.
    No appeals, except those involving either Homework assignments #12 or 13 or Midterm Exam #3, will be accepted after the beginning of the Reading Day at the end of the term.

Emergencies and Make-up Work:  Please contact your instructor as soon as you know of any circumstance that will keep you from meeting the class schedule.  We can work around many difficulties, but please let us help you plan how to proceed once the normal flow of class work is interrupted.

Incompletes:  If you find that you cannot complete the course before the end of the term, you may want to petition for an I (incomplete) grade.  You will need to become familiar with the university regulations for I grades before you apply.  Please see your instructor immediately if you are contemplating the request of an I grade (there may be other solutions to your problem).  The university requirements are quite stringent; successful applicants are rare.  You are counseled to not take an I unless circumstances so dictate and you are certain of your commitment to finish the course work.  Human nature being what it is, most I grades transform into E grades.

Messages:  We will put announcements and instructions in the message section of the course web page from time to time. We will assume that you are informed of these announcements within two school days after their appearance on the web page.  Although this outline is a binding contract describing our procedures and requirements for the course, we reserve the right to make changes that are appropriately advertised.

BYU Standards: Each of you has signed a pledge to maintain BYU standards including those of honesty, respectful treatment of others, and modesty and dignity in dress and grooming. Your instructor is also committed to those standards and expects, as a matter of honor, that the conduct of all class members will be in conformity with those standards.

A Note on Honesty:  We all know that there are several ways to receive a high grade in any course without doing assigned work and without knowing very much.  Those who use these strategies will be punished by inexorable, irrevocable, and immutable laws of human intellectual development.  Unless repented of, such habits invariably lead their victims to become professional and intellectual parasites.  If you are caught in this trap, we invite you to repent now before the consequences become more obvious to us all.  We are available to help you with this process if you would like us to.
    In particular, please do not copy our posted exams and solutions to homework problems and exams.  Since these can only be obtained dishonestly, we presume that you would not use such material if you were to encounter it.  Copying and using such items is a very inefficient way to study the course material.  Please let us help you design more effective strategies.

Students with Disabilities: BYU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to qualified persons with disabilities.  If you have any disability that may adversely affect your success in this course, please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities Office at 378-2767.  Services deemed appropriate will be coordinated with you and your instructor by that office.

Sexual Harassment:  BYU's policy against sexual harassment extends not only to employees of the university but to students as well.  If you encounter sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, please talk to your instructor, contact the Equal Employment Office at 378-5895, or contact the Honor Code Office at 378-2847.

Scores and Class Standing: You can monitor our record of your scores and class standing by visiting http://webs.byu.edu/courses/scores.html#spring.   You can also visit this site by clicking on the "Grades and Class Standing" link on the Physics 121 Course Page. 

Grades: