Physics 2305

FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS
Spring 2011

Instructor
Almas Khan, 308 Robeson Hall; e-mail: almas@vt.edu; phone 231-2455

General Information
This course has three components: lecture, recitation, and laboratory. YOU MUST BE REGISTERED FOR BOTH
A LECTURE/RECITATION SECTION AND A LABORATORY SECTION (two CRNs).

Office Hours
Mondays 10:30am – 11:30am Wednesdays 11:30am – 12:30pm, Fridays 12:30pm – 1:30pm, exceptions
announced, and by appointment. Anytime I am in my office and I have time, you are more than welcome to talk to
me. I strongly believe in one on one discussions and help. If you need to meet me outside the office hours, you can
talk to me after class or email me for an appointment.

Textbook
University Physics, 11th or 12th Edition, by Young and Freedman together with Mastering Physics. A new book
comes with a Mastering Physics Students Access Code. If you purchased a used book, you should get a Student
Access Code from www.masteringphysics.com .

Lecture
Lectures are given mainly to supplement your study of the textbook. You are responsible for all the material on the
schedule, whether or not it is discussed in class. Thus, if class periods are to be beneficial, it is imperative that you
read the textbook material on each topic prior to the discussion of that topic in class. You are responsible for being
aware of any announcements made in class (such as changes to the schedule and/or syllabus) even if you did not
attend.

Recitations
There is one recitation period each week, and it is supervised by a GTA.
These are mostly problem solving sessions where questions about homework and additional examples and
problems will be discussed. Occasionally, new material will also be discussed.

Homework
Will be assigned through MasteringPhysics (Course ID: MPKHAN54844 ). You will be asked for your VT
student ID number. Enter this number without a space or hyphen between the first four and last five digits ! The
importance of your doing homework can hardly be overstated. Students are strongly encouraged to discuss
problems and questions among themselves, but they are not to share solutions. What you submit must be your own
work. You may use an idea gained from a discussion, but may not copy the written details. Evidence of copying
could result in your appearance before the honor court!

Tests
There are three tests and one final exam in this course. Each test is two-hour long and is scheduled on a Friday
afternoon. The dates and times for tests/exam are listed in the syllabus. All tests/exam are closed book, closed
notes, and Virginia Tech's Honor Code applies to all tests and the exam. Make-up tests are scheduled on the
Mondays following the regular tests at 7 AM, and given only for valid reasons or under unusual circumstances
brought to the instructor’s attention before the regular tests.
The final exam will NOT be cumulative. You will be permitted to bring one 8x11 double-sided “cheat sheet” and a
calculator to each test
Grading
Homework ---20%, Labs---15%, Tests---45% and Final Exam---20%.

Final Grades:
Final letter grades will be assigned according to the following:

 A 93% and above

 A- 90% - 92%
 B+ 87% - 89%
 B 83% - 86%
 B- 80% - 82%
 C+ 77% - 79%
 C 73% - 76%
 C- 70% - 72%
 D+ 67% - 69%
 D 63% - 66%
 D- 60% - 62%
 F below 60%

Honor System
The Virginia Tech Honor code applies to all graded work in this course. Students are responsible for understanding
and adhering to the Honor Code. Among other things, the Honor Code prohibits giving or receiving unauthorized
aid, assistance, or unfair advantage on academic work, including plagiarism. Prior to each test or quiz and the final
examination, the instructor will identify what aids and sources of information may be used. Copying a solution
from any source is prohibited. The assignment that a student hands in must be the product of student's own
understanding of the material.

Students with special needs

Any student who feels a need for an accommodation because of a disability (learning disability, attention deficit
disorder, psychological, physical, etc.) please make an appointment to see me during office hours.

Laboratory
The laboratory periods are designed to apply the theoretical concepts presented in the lectures to actual
situations. This time allows you to develop good observation, data-taking, and data-interpretation skills. This
component of the course is very important, and the consequences of not completing all of the experiments are
severe. YOUR FINAL COURSE GRADE WILL BE DROPPED BY ONE-THIRD OF A LETTER GRADE FOR
EVERY 2 LABS NOT SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED. For example: if two labs are missing a B+ would
become a B; if four labs are missing a B+ would become a B-. Complete information about the laboratory
procedures and policies, laboratory schedules, and TA office hours and contact information can be found at the
laboratory website (http://www.phys.vt.edu/~labs/).

Ph2305 Lab Information:

Questions regarding the Lab should be directed to Mark Pitt, not to me.
This is his e-mail Mark Pitt, Laboratory Coordinator
309 Robeson, 231-3015, pitt@vt.edu
 PHYSICS 2305: FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS I
Spring 2011
Text: University Physics by Young & Freedman

Start Laboratory
Week Date Topics Exercise
1 1/18 Orientation, Units, Estimates, Vectors, 1-D
Motion,
2-D Motion, 3-D Motion
2 1/24 Force and Newton’s Laws of Motion,
Applications of Newton’s Laws, Frictional
Forces
3 1/31 Circular Motion, Work, Work & Energy, Lab 1: Introduction to
Variable Force Motion
4 2/7 Power; Gravitational & Elastic Potential Lab 2: Changing Motion
Energy,
Conservative & Nonconservative Forces
Optional Review (50 min.)
Test 1 at 5:30 PM on 2/11
5 2/14 Force and Potential Energy, Energy Lab 3: Force and Motion
Diagrams,
Momentum &Impulse, Conservation of
Momentum
6 2/21 Elastic and Inelastic Collisions, Lab 4: Projectile Motion
Center of Mass, Rotational Kinematics
7 2/28 Rotational Energy, Parallel-Axis Theorem, Lab 5: Force, Mass, and
Torque Acceleration
Angular Acceleration, Rotation about
Moving Axis
Spring Break
8 3/14 Conservation of Angular Momentum Lab 6: Passive Forces and
Optional Review (50 min.) Newton’s Laws
Test 2 at 5:30 PM on 3/18
9 3/21 Equilibrium of Rigid Bodies, Newton’s Lab 7: Collisions and
Law of Gravitation, Weight, Gravitational Momentum Conservation
Potential Energy, Satellites
10 3/28 Planetary Motion, Oscillations, Simple Lab 8: Conservation of
Harmonic Motion, Energy in and Energy
Applications of Simple Harmonic Motion,
Damped Oscillatory Motion
11 4/4 Forced Oscillatory Motion, Fluids at Rest, Lab 9: Rotational Motion
Fluid Flow, Bernoulli’s Equation,
Temperature, Thermometers
12 4/11 Thermal Expansion, Heat, Calorimetry, Lab 10: Torsion Pendulum
Heat Transfer,
Molecular Properties of Matter
Optional Review (50 min.)
Test 3 at 5:30 PM on 4/15
13 4/18 Kinetic Theory, Heat Capacities, Lab 11: The Ideal Gas Law
Molecular Speeds and Heat Engines
Phases of Matter, Thermodynamic
Systems, First Law of Thermodynamics
14 4/25 Kinds of Thermodynamic Processes, Lab makeup week
Properties of Ideal Gas, Directions of
Thermodynamic Processes, Heat Engines,
Refrigerators
15 5/2 2nd Law of Thermodynamics Carnot Cycle,
Entropy
Final Exam: Friday, May 6, 4:25 AM to 6:25 PM Rev. 1/6/2011