121 Syllabus

First Summer Session 2002

     PHY-121 is the first part of a three-semester sequence in introductory physics offered to engineering and other science and pre-professional majors. The prerequisite for PHY-121 is MAT-270. A working familiarity with basic differential and integral calculus will be assumed.

     PHY-121 covers the subject of Newtonian mechanics including kinematics (the description of motion), and dynamics (the relation of motion to force and mass). Among the most important topics are Newton's Laws of Motion and the conservation of momentum and energy. Other topics are rotational kinematics and dynamics, Newtonian gravitation, and simple harmonic motion. A detailed list of topics can be found on the Homework and Lecture Schedule which accompanies this syllabus.

     The textbook is Fundamentals of Physics, by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker, Sixth Edition, (John Wiley & Sons, 2001.) Reading assignments and homework problems are keyed to this textbook. The Problem Supplement #1 is optional; any problems assigned from that book will also be made available on the web.

The full text of the syllabus is also available as a pdf file.

Course Format and Policies
Homework and Lecture Schedule
Reading Schedule

Online Problems May 28 - June 3 <> June 5 - June 11
June 13 - June 19 <> June 21 - June 27
Derivations: Acceleration for General Circular Motion
Parallel Axis Theorem
Course Updates 7/01 Test 4 Solutions Now Available
Answers to Even-Numbered Problems

PLACES TO GET HELP
Textbook Sites - practice tests and more
Online Tutorials - interactive instruction

Class Average Final Average Now Available
HOW TO FIGURE YOUR FINAL GRADE


TA's

Jim Corkins
Yoshiko Oharu
Wen Xu
Kevin Gibson
Kazuyuki Tamura