PHYSICS 208 SPRING 2008

Instructor: Hendrik van Hees
Office: 212 Cyclotron Building
Phone: 845-1411 (Ext. 241)
Office Hours: M-W-Th 2:00-4:00p or by appointment
E-mail: hees@comp.tamu.edu
Homepage: http://cyclotron.tamu.edu/hees/index.html


Where to find the Cyclotron Institute

Cyclotron Map


Teaching Assistants

SectionTAe-mail
813 (Lab+Recitation)Melissa Fullertalveren@physics.tamu.edu
814 (Lab+Recitation)Jie (Joyce) Wangwang2035@tamu.edu
815 (Lab only)Chris Bertinatocbertinato@physics.tamu.edu
521 (Lab only)Matt Searsmsears@neo.tamu.edu
522 (Lab only)Ke Wangkephwk@physics.tamu.edu

Physics Helpdesk
Monday-Thursday 9:00am-4:00pm
Friday: 9:00am-12:00pm
Location: HELD 211

There, physics graduate students can help you with questions about the material in our Phys-208 course.


Text book: DON'T PANIC Vol. II by William H. Bassichis (5th Edition)
Problems: All problems and exercises in each chapter

Exams: 2/12, 3/18, 4/15; 7:00-9:30pm; HELD 105, 107, 109, 111, 113, and 200
Final Exam: 5/5, 10:30am-12:30pm


News

Apr/22: Conflict with math exam/Prof. Bassichis's Review for the Final Exam

Those of you who have to attend a math test during recitation/lab time are excused from the recitation and lab today.

Prof. Bassichis will give a review for the final exam an Wednesday, April 30, 3pm at Zachry room 102.


Apr/14: Exam tomorrow.
The 2nd Exam will be tomorrow (Tue, Apr/15) at HELD 113. As last time we have two shifts:
7:00-8:00pm Sections 521, 522, and 815 for those with the last name beginning with letters M-Z
8:05-9:05pm Sections 813, 814, and 815 for those with the last name beginning with letters A-L


Apr/09: Exam review and tips about study strategies.

Today in the lecture we decided for a date for our review session concerning the upcoming Exam III (April 15, 7pm). It's

Sunday, April 13, 7pm in ENPH 202 (our usual lecture room).

Please come prepared with questions concerning the material. I have posted my solutions for the problems and exercises of chapter XII. So please have also a look at them to find out which parts of the material are not clear to you yet concerning circuits.

Despite answering your questions, I'll work the two practice exams on the course-web page (you find also the corresponding solutions there).

Generally, a good strategy to study for exams is to first try to solve the practice exams without looking at the solutions to find out, whether you have understood the material properly and also whether you have practice enough to solve the problems in time (1 hour for 4 questions).

It's also a good idea to start already your review of the complete material towards the final exam. You find my last year's final exam on the course-web page, including solutions. It consists of 8 questions, and you have 2 hrs. time to solve it. The same strategy tips above of course apply to practice for the final exam too.


Mar/17: Exam tomorrow CORRECTED.
The 2nd Exam will be tomorrow (Tue, Mar/18) at HELD 113. As last time we have two shifts:
7:00-8:00pm Sections 521, 522, and 815 for those with the last name beginning with letters M-Z
8:05-9:05pm Sections 813, 814, and 815 for those with the last name beginning with letters A-L


Mar/03: Various Announcements.

The 2nd Exam (Mar/18, 7:00pm) will be about the material up to (including) Chpt. VIII of the book. Therefore, this week we will have a review during the lectures (Wed: Examples to simple circuits; Fri: Discussion of Exercises to Chpt. VIII (Exercises to Chpt. VII will be covered in the recitation tomorrow)).

Special review session: Sunday, Mar/16, 6:30pm in ENPH 202 (our usual lecture room). We'll go through the material, including practice exam(s) II. It's of course very good, if you have prepared questions about the material!


Feb/18: Lab 3 Announcement. Lab 3 will be on Tue, Feb/19, investigating simple time independent circuits with resistors and capacitors. Below you find the official announcement to download
[Lab 3 Announcement (pdf)]


Lectures

M-W-F 12:40-1:30p in the Engineering and Physics Building (ENPH), lecture room 202
First lecture: Mon, Jan. 14

Tentative Schedule

WeekTopic
Jan. 14-18 Mechanics Review, Chap. 1
Jan. 21-25 Chap. 2
Jan. 28-Feb. 01 Chap. 3
Feb. 04-08 Chap. 4
Feb. 11-15 Chap. 5, 6
Feb. 18-22 Chap. 7
Feb. 25-Feb 29 Chap. 8
Mar. 03-07 Chap. 9
Mar. 10-14 Spring Break
Mar. 17-21 Chap. 9
Mar. 24-28 Chap. 10
Mar. 31-Apr. 04 Chap. 11
Apr. 07-11 Chap. 11, 12
Apr. 14-18 Chap. 12
Apr. 21-25 Chap. 13
Apr. 28 Review
May 05, 10:30-12:30 FINAL EXAM

Recitations

Usually we shall discuss the problems and exercises as given in the textbook. Additional exercises and problems may be provided in the lectures and also will be made available for download on this web site!

SectionTimeDayLocationTA
8132:20-3:10pTueHELD 119Melissa Fuller
8143:55-4:45pTueHELD 119Jie (Joyce) Wang
8155:30-6:20pTueHELD 119H. van Hees
5216:30-7:20pTueHELD 119H. van Hees
5227:30-8:20pTueHELD 119H. van Hees

Tentative Schedule

WeekTopic
Jan. 15 no recitations
Jan. 22 Chap. 1
Jan. 29 Chap. 2
Feb. 5 Chap. 3
Feb. 12 Chap. 4
Feb. 19 Chap. 5
Feb. 26 Chap. 6
Mar. 4 Chap. 7
Mar. 11 Spring Break
Mar. 12 Chap. 8
Mar. 25 Chap. 9
Apr. 1 Chap. 10
Apr. 08 Chap. 11
Apr. 15 Chap. 12
Apr. 22 Chap. 13
Apr. 29 Review

Labs

SectionTimeDayLocationTA
8133:20-5:10pTueHELD 208Melissa Fuller
8144:55-6:45pTueHELD 209Jie (Joyce) Wang
8156:30-8:20pTueHELD 208Chris Bertinato
5217:30-9:20pTueHELD 209Matt Sears
5228:30-10:20pTueHELD 208Ke Wang

Lecture Notes

Here you find scans of my handwritten lecture notes. They are just my preparation for the lectures. They are not brought in text-book style, but perhaps they can help to follow the logics of the presentation better. Of course, they are based on "DON'T PANIC" Vol. II, but deviate sometimes a little bit from the presentation there.

Lecture Notes I (1.3MB pdf) (Mechanics Intro, Chpts. 1-4)
Lecture Notes II (676kB pdf) (revised Mar/05/08) (Chpts. 5-8)
Lecture Notes III (1.5MB pdf) (extended Chpt. 12 Apr/15/08) (Chpts. 9-12)
Lecture Notes IV (505kB pdf) (extended Apr/23/08) (Chpt. 13)

NEW! Worked out examples for simple AC circuits

RL circuits
RC circuits
CL circuits

Solutions to problems and exercises in the text book

...will be posted after each recitation.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4; Problem 4: alternative solution
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13

Additional Material

Electromagnetic waves [print version]

Christopher Bertinato's Website for Physics Students (contains some extra material for Physics 208 (and 218))

Syllabus (21kB pdf)

Course Policies (33kB pdf)

Some figures for lecture on Gauss's Law (130kB pdf) [print version (113kB pdf)]
Coordinates (76kB pdf), updated Feb/20/08 [print version (75kB pdf)]

Resistor Lab Review (2.8MB ppt) [The same in pdf (1.2MB)]
Resistor Lab Manual (95kB Word document) [The same in pdf (57kB)]

Electrical field of a finite homogeneously charged wire (55kB pdf)

Relationships of SI derived units (from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST))
The International System of Units (from NIST)
Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) (from NIST)


Quizzes and Solutions

QuizSolutions
Quiz 1 (27kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 1
Quiz 2 (30kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 2
Quiz 3 (30kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 3
Quiz 4 (30kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 4
Quiz 5 (25kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 5
Quiz 6 (100kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 6
Quiz 7 (75kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 7
Quiz 8 (44kB pdf) Solutions to Quiz 8

Practice Exams and Solutions

Practice ExamSolutions
Practice Exam 1-1 (26kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Exam 1-1 (68kB pdf)
Practice Exam 1-2 (35kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Exam 1-2 (70kB pdf)
Alternative solution to Practice Exam 1-2, Problem 1 (21kB pdf)
Practice Exam 2-1 (33kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Exam 2 (81kB pdf)
Practice Exam 2-2 (55kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Exam 2-2 (85kB pdf)
More detailed solution to problems 1 and 4 (69kB pdf)
Practice Exam 3-1 (33kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Exam 3-1 (77kB pdf)
Practice Exam 3-2 (47kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Exam 3-2 (89kB pdf)
Alternative solution to problem 2 (92kB pdf)
Practice Final Exam (77kB pdf) Solutions to Practice Final Exam (199kB pdf)

Exams and Solutions

ExamSolutions
Exam 1 Solutions to Exam 1
Makeup Exam 1 Solutions to Makeup Exam 1
Exam 2 Solutions to Exam 2
Makeup Exam 2 Solutions to Makeup Exam 2
Exam 3 Solutions to Exam 3
Makeup Exam 3 Solutions to Makeup Exam 3
Final Exam Solutions to Final Exam

Last updated: May/05/08