Syllabus for W1201: General Physics I

Spring Semester 2015

Instructor:
Email Address:
Office Location:
Phone Number:
Office Hours:
Class Time:
Class Location:
TA:
TA Office Hours:

Prof. Bradley Johnson

bjohnson@phys.columbia.edu
Pupin Hall, Room 1122
212-854-0008
Monday, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Wednesday, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM (by appointment)
Tuesday & Thursday, 6:10 PM to 7:25 PM
Pupin Hall, Room 301
Max Abitbol (mabitbol15@gmail.com)
Tuesday & Thursday, 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Pupin Hall, 7th floor graduate student lounge

Course Description
This lecture course will cover the following 18 general physics topics over 26 lectures:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

Measurement
One-Dimensional Motion
Vectors
Two and Three-Dimensional Motion
Force and Motion
Kinetic Energy and Work
Potential Energy and Conservation of Energy
Center of Mass and Linear Momentum
Rotation
Torque and Angular Momentum
Equilibrium and Elasticity
Gravitation
Fluids
Oscillations
Waves
The First Law of Thermodynamics
The Kinetic Theory of Gases
The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Textbook
The textbook for this course is Fundamentals of Physics, 10th Edition by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
(ISBN:978-1-118-23376-4). We will follow this text closely, and your practice homework problems will be
taken directly from the textbook, so it is important that you obtain a copy of the precise edition we will be
using. Note that the International Version of this book is slightly different from the version we will be
using. We will cover approximately one chapter per lecture. The precise reading assignments will be given
in due course.

Homework
Eleven homework sets are planned. Each homework set will contain approximately 10 to 15 practice problems
and 2 to 3 problems that will be graded. You will be told ahead of time which problems will be graded.
Regarding the graded problems, if your solution is correct, then you will receive 3 points. If you actually try
to solve the problem but get the wrong answer, you will receive 1 point. If you do no attempt to solve the

Syllabus for W1201: General Physics I

problem, or you make a poor attempt (in the judgment of the grader), then you will receive 0 points. Your
solutions to the graded problems should be turned in during class on the due date, with the end of class (7:25
PM) being the hard deadline. Please do not turn in solutions to the ungraded practice problems. If you
cannot attend class on the due date, you must turn in your solutions via my mailbox (Box 28) outside the
Physics Department Office (Pupin Hall, Room 704) before 7:25 PM on the due date. Note that the Physics
Department Office closes and the doors are locked at 5:00 PM. No late homework will be accepted
under any circumstances. Please staple together all of the pages of your solution set and write your
name, UNI and preferred email address in the upper right-hand corner of the first page. Your homework
solutions will be returned to you via a box outside Pupin Hall, Room 704.

Exams
We will have two exams during the term and a final exam. The first exam will be on Tuesday, February
17th and the second exam will be on Tuesday, March 31st. Both of these exams will take place in class.
The date, time and location of the final exam is TBD and will be communicated in due course. All exams
are closed book. Make-up exams are not possible. The only calculator that you will be allowed to use
in exams is the TI-30XS MultiView. This calculator is readily available in the bookstore.

Grades
Your final grade will be computed using the following weight:

20%
20%
30%
30%

Homework
Exam #1
Exam #2
Final Exam

Typically, the median final grade in this class is a B or B+.

Recitation
For more general instruction on problem solving, three recitations per week will be led by the TA. Each
of these three recitations will cover the same material. Recitation attendance will not directly impact your
grade, though recitation will help you become a better problem solver, which will improve your homework
and exam scores. The precise recitation meeting times, which were determined by polling the class are:
Tuesdays: 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Pupin 705
Wednesdays: 5:00 PM to 6:60 PM, Pupin 705
Thursdays: 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Pupin 428

Additional Help
I will have office hours twice per week. However, given the number of students in the class, meetings during
my office hours will have to be relatively short and focused, so this resource should only be used to address
very specific questions. If you do not have specific questions, then please attend recitation for more general
assistance. If recitation is not enough, please use the Physics Help Room, which is located in Pupin Hall,
Room 413. The Physics Help Room is generally open from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM most weekdays. Alternatively,
a list of physics graduate students willing to tutor (for pay) is available in the Physics Department Office in
Pupin Hall, Room 704.

Prerequisites
We will use elementary concepts from calculus. Students should therefore have some basic background in
calculus or should be concurrently taking MATH V1101, Calculus I.
syllabus compiled on Monday 2nd February, 2015 (13:50)