General College Physics

Wisconsin Lutheran High School

Week 1

Welcome to General College Physics at Wisconsin Lutheran High School! The sidebar (to the right) has some basic information about this course, such as the Professor's contact information and the textbook we will be using. You might wish to take a look at that first.

Reading: PSE Chap 1, Physics and Measurement

In the first week, we'll begin by talking about Physics and Measurement. You should read chapter 1 of the textbook: the Pocket guide to accompany Physics for Scientists and Engineers (PSE) for this week.

Topics: I'll be covering some preliminary information on units such as length, time and mass. We'll discuss unit conversions and learn the valuable technique of dimensional analysis

Lab: To put this into practice, we'll do an experiment on pendulum motion during week 2.

Homework Problems for this week: Here are some problems involving the concepts of dimensional analysis, significant figures, and estimation. You may work on these with a friend, but you must write up and submit your own solutions. To receive full credit, your solutions must be handed in to me by noon on Thursday of Week 2. I do not plan to grade your solutions; I will just give you credit for handing in your best attempt. These problems serve as practice to prepare you for quizzes and tests.

Coulomb's law allows one to calculate the force that one electrical charge exerts a second, nearby, electrical charge. The formula for Coulomb's law is: (Force) = (coulomb's constant) * (charge 1) * (charge 2) / (distance between charges)^2. Don't worry if you are not familiar with this formula. Just use the technique of dimensional analysis, to determine the dimension of coulomb's constant. What might be the units of coulomb's constant? Answer: The units of the coulomb constant in SI are Newton-meter^2/coulomb^2. The dimension is M L^3 / T^2 Q^2
The speed of a wave traveling on the surface of the ocean depends only on (i) its wavelength and (ii) the acceleration of gravity. Using the technique of dimensional analysis, find a mathematical formula for the speed of the wave. Answer: v is proportional to sqrt(g * lambda).
Calculate the density (in grams per cubic centimeter) of a solid cube that measures 5.00 cm on each side and has a mass of 351 grams. Pay careful attention to significant figures. How many are there in your answer? Answer: Density = 351 grams/125 cc = 2.81 g/cc.
Approximately how many ping pong balls can be placed (in a single layer) on the surface of Lake Michigan? Do not look anything up anywhere. What quantities do you need to estimate? What assumptions must you make? Remember, when estimating, use only one significant figure. Answer: I'll estimate that the length is about 300 miles and the width is about 70 miles. Maybe 500 km long by 100 km wide. That's 50,000 km^2. A ping pong ball has a radius of about 2 cm. So its area is about 10 cm^2. So about 5 x 10^13 balls will fit.

Quiz: not yet (it's the first week!)

Classroom problems: As a reminder, these are some of the problems we worked out in class…

Dimensions and units: the universal gravitational constant, G, that appears in Newtons' universal law of gravitation.
Dimensions and units: energy, E, that appears in Einstein's formula E=mc^2.

General College Physics

Return to course website.

Course syllabus

Physics: The world around us is in a state of constant change: the sun and moon rise and set, waves crash, mists rise, rain falls, fires burn, rocks form, and mountains crumble. Amidst all of these changes, there are certain patterns; there is a discernible order. In other words: the stars, the seas, the clouds, the rocks, and the earth itself each seem to have a particular nature. Physics is the careful study of the natures of things. In fact, the word physics literally means "natures" in the Greek language.

Course overview: General College Physics is a year-long introductory course for advanced (typically junior or senior level) students at Wisconsin Lutheran High School who want to better understand the natures of the things we see around us. It is a dual-credit course offered at Wisconsin Lutheran High School in collaboration with Wisconsin Lutheran College. For a detailed overview of the topics we will be covering, refer to the course website (www.greatphysics.com) and the tentative calendar on the following page. Emphasis on theoretical topics, careful thinking, laboratory experiments, and problem solving makes this course challenging. My aim is to help you succeed in this course, and to have fun while learning physics. So please do not hesitate to contact me with any problems you may run into this semester!

Advanced Placement credit: While this is not designated as an AP course, students students have successfully taken the AP Physics test at the end of the year for college credit.

Course textbook: The course will be organized around a book: the Pocket Guide to accompany Physics for Scientists and Engineers (4th edition) by Serway. (I’ll call this PSE for short.) I would highly recommend obtaining a copy of this book. It is inexpensive, compact, and well-written. It will make a very handy addition to your home science library. If you don't want to buy it, I will have copies to loan out for the semester.

Course time and location: The course meets every day (Monday through Friday) during the academic year from 2:16 until 3 pm in WLHS 223—in the science wing on the first floor of WLHS. On late start days (such as Wednesdays) the course begins at 2:24.

Professor: Dr. Kuehn from Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC) is the professor for this course. Contact info: kerry.kuehn[at]wlhs.org

Teaching Assistant contact info: The Wednesday course sections (beginning in September) will be overseen by two teaching assistants. Alyssa Ebeling and Zeke Micheel are upper-level physics majors from Wisconsin Lutheran College. Here is their contact info: alyssa.ebeling[at]wlc.edu, ezekiel.micheel[at]wlc.edu

Course websites: In addition to the course information provided through WLHS’s OnCampus system, we will be also using a website I’ve designed for this course: www.greatphysics.com/WLHS1/

Homework exercises: I will assign weekly homework problems. These are designed to deepen your understanding of lecture material and to prepare you for the quizzes and tests. I do not intend to grade your homework solutions; I will merely give you credit for handing in your best attempt by the due date. Please refer to the late work policy for more details.

Laboratory exercises: Some of our weekly assignments will include laboratory work. Labs will typically take up at least two class periods. Your laboratory notebook pages must be submitted by the assigned due date. More details about the required format and expectations will be discussed before the first laboratory period. You will need to order/purchase a dedicated laboratory notebook. Here are guildlines on what to include in your laboratory notebook.

Quizzes: We will have in-class quizzes almost every week on Monday. To prepare for quizzes, you should read the assigned book chapter (at least once), review the lecture material, complete all of the homework problems, and review the homework solutions.

Tests: We will have a midterm exam before the end of the first (and third) quarters and a comprehensive final examination before the end of the second (and fourth) quarters.

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